1956–1968: Early life and television roles McCormick was born on August 5, 1956, in the
Encino section of
Los Angeles, California, to Irene (
née Beckman) and Richard McCormick, a teacher. She has three older brothers: Michael, Dennis and Kevin. She is of Irish and German descent, and was raised in a Catholic family. At age six, she won the Baby Miss
San Fernando Valley beauty pageant. In 1964, she first appeared on national U.S. television, in
Mattel commercials for
Barbie and
Chatty Cathy dolls. Through the later 1960s, McCormick appeared in two episodes of
Bewitched—in a season-one dream of Darrin's as one of his witch children named Little Endora, and then in a season-two Halloween episode as Endora herself transformed into a little girl. She also played guest roles on
I Dream of Jeannie,
Honey West, ''
The Farmer's Daughter, and My Three Sons''. In 1970, she lent her voice to a redesigned Chatty Cathy doll. McCormick attended
Taft High School in
Woodland Hills.
1969–1974: The Brady Bunch ''. Back (L-R):
Christopher Knight (Peter),
Barry Williams (Greg),
Ann B. Davis (Alice). Second row (L-R):
Eve Plumb (Jan),
Florence Henderson (Carol),
Robert Reed (Mike), Maureen McCormick (Marcia). Front (L-R):
Susan Olsen (Cindy),
Mike Lookinland (Bobby). ''.|alt= McCormick played the eldest daughter,
Marcia, who had five siblings in
The Brady Bunch, an American television
sitcom about a
blended family that aired from late 1969 to early 1974 on
ABC, on Friday nights. She had a perky and popular personality. After its cancellation, the series was later rebroadcast in
syndication for decades, as children's programming, gathering long-lasting, cross-generational popularity that led to spinoffs and movies. McCormick had a sporadic romance with her
Brady Bunch co-star
Barry Williams during the original series' run. McCormick also voiced Marcia in the first season of the ABC Saturday morning cartoon
The Brady Kids from 1972 to 1973. She recorded four albums with the
Brady Bunch cast and toured with them as well. In 1972, she released her first solo single with the songs "Truckin' Back to You" and "Teeny Weeny Bit (Too Long)". The following year, McCormick recorded an album with her
Brady Bunch co-star
Christopher Knight, a pop recording titled
Chris Knight and Maureen McCormick, which carried both duets and solo tracks. McCormick's second solo single "Little Bird", backed with "Just a Singin' Alone", had mild chart success in the western United States (reaching the top five at
KCPX in
Salt Lake City). McCormick later performed "Little Bird" on
American Bandstand, where host
Dick Clark encouraged her to follow a singing career. McCormick released another single in 1973, "Love's in the Roses", backed with "Harmonize". In 2015, archive footage of McCormick as Marcia was used for an American TV commercial advertising
Snickers chocolate bars. The commercial, which debuted during
Super Bowl XLIX, features action film star
Danny Trejo as young Marcia who (in the context of being hungry) is not acting like herself. After eating a Snickers, Marcia appears as McCormick once again.
1975–2006: Other roles and personal struggles Following the cancellation of
The Brady Bunch, McCormick spent years
addicted to
cocaine and
quaaludes, which impeded her career. McCormick later stated that she sometimes traded sex for drugs during her early 20s. She flubbed an audition with
Steven Spielberg for a part in
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), arriving for the audition under the influence of cocaine and having not slept for three days. She developed a reputation in Hollywood for being unreliable, to the point that one producer threatened that she would never work as an actress again. She also dealt with bouts of
depression and
bulimia. Despite her struggles with addiction and depression, McCormick did appear in guest roles on numerous television series throughout the 1970s and 1980s, such as
Happy Days,
Donny & Marie,
The Love Boat (as Lori Markham in S6 E11 "A Christmas Presence" 1982),
Vega$,
The Streets of San Francisco and
Fantasy Island, along with supporting roles in
The Idolmaker and
B movies such as
A Vacation in Hell (1979) and
Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979). McCormick later claimed she failed to get a role as a
prostitute or
heroin dealer for the movie
Midnight Express because she continued to be identified with her
Brady Bunch role. She reprised her role as Marcia Brady on the short-lived series
The Brady Bunch Hour from 1976 to 1977, and
The Brady Brides in 1981, which was spun off from the movie
The Brady Girls Get Married (1981). McCormick portrayed
Wendy Darling in a touring stage production of
Peter Pan, beginning in 1983. McCormick married Michael Cummings on March 16, 1985. McCormick released her debut studio album,
When You Get a Little Lonely, on April 4, 1995, as an
audio CD and
cassette. The album was later made available as a
digital download. The album was released under Phantom Hill Records, a
record label owned by her brother. McCormick promoted it with live performances in
Palmdale, California, and CD signings.
When You Get a Little Lonely received negative reviews from music critics, though McCormick's vocals did receive some praise. In a retrospective interview with
Entertainment Weekly, McCormick said that she was disappointed by the recording process for the album, and would have preferred to write at least one of her own songs. In 1997, she portrayed country singer
Barbara Mandrell in the television biopic
Get to the Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story. In 2000, McCormick was the first actress to play
Rebecca Crane on the
soap opera Passions, but she was not put on contract. In 2003, McCormick appeared as herself on an episode of the sitcom
Scrubs with references being made to her Marcia Brady character.
2007–present: Reality series and other work In April 2007, McCormick appeared on
Dr. Phil to discuss a family dispute, accusing her brother Kevin of both
elder abuse and alienating their father from his other children to gain control of his finances. The same year, McCormick joined the cast of the fifth season of
VH1's reality show
Celebrity Fit Club, hoping to lose she had gained since her mother died of cancer and needing to move her disabled brother into an
assisted living facility. McCormick lost , and in June of that year, was the individual winner of the series. McCormick released her autobiography, ''Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice
, on October 14, 2008. It debuted at number four on The New York Times bestseller list, where it stayed for three weeks. The book was published by HarperCollins and was acquired by Director of Creative Development Lisa Sharkey. While promoting the book, McCormick was a guest on many news and talk shows such as Access Hollywood, The Howard Stern Show, Good Day L.A., and Paula's Party''. Also in 2008, she joined the cast of the
CMT reality show
Gone Country, where she competed for a recording contract. This led to a spin-off reality series called
Outsiders Inn, in which she opened a
bed and breakfast in
Newport, Tennessee. In 2008, McCormick became a spokesperson for
Children International. In March 2009, McCormick appeared on
Comedy Central's roast of
Larry the Cable Guy. In 2015, McCormick appeared in the Australian version of ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', where she lasted 42 days and was the last evictee before the finale. On August 30, 2016, McCormick was revealed as one of the celebrities who would compete on
season 23 of
Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with professional dancer
Artem Chigvintsev. McCormick and Chigvintsev were eliminated on the seventh week of competition and finished in 8th place. She joined with the other surviving main cast members of
The Brady Bunch in the 2019 television series
A Very Brady Renovation on
HGTV. In 2020, she was named a global ambassador for
Special Olympics International. In 2021, McCormick paired up with contractor/decorator Dan Vickery in HGTV's new series
Frozen in Time, a home remodeling series. ==Biographical portrayals==