The Shady Truth Of '70s Sitcom Stars

Whether the all-singing, happy-clappy antics of "The Partridge Family," the wartime heroics of "M*A*S*H," or the domestic trials and tribulations of "The Brady Bunch," the 1970s birthed a whole host of iconic network TV sitcoms which are still enjoyed across America half a century on. But while they constantly brought the funny into the nation's homes, many of its regular faces had little to laugh about away from the confines of a studio set.

Indeed, descents into drink and drug addiction, financial woes, homelessness, mental health battles, eating disorders, domestic abuse, and several less sympathetic problems that were entirely self-inflicted. You name it, and it's likely that at least one of the genre's most high-profile faces has gone through it. From David Cassidy and Danny Bonaduce to Susan Olsen and Scott Baio, here's a look at 14 tales that suggest being a star of the '70s sitcom was something of a curse.

Bob Hogan charmed the pants off America as the titular military leader in "Hogan's Heroes," the long-running CBS sitcom which concluded in 1971. But behind that family-friendly exterior, the actor — who also had a short-lived eponymous show later that same decade — was a sexual deviant.

Indeed, Crane not only bedded a vast number of women while married, but he also often captured these encounters on camera. And he was more than happy to share this side of him with his fellow cast members, including 17-year-old Richard Dawson. In 2002, the latter recalled to ABC News how he was first pulled aside by the funnyman and shown his pornographic exploits.

"The first 10 or 15 minutes, it was very interesting," Dawson remarked. "Unnerving. I gotta tell you: it was a little shocking to see Colonel Hogan au naturel. Couldn't watch "Hogan's" the same way again after that." Of course, Crane's life also ended in lurid circumstances when he was brutally murdered in 1978. Although John Henry Carpenter, a close friend, was charged with homicide in the 1990s, he was later acquitted, and several decades on, his death remains one of Hollywood's biggest unsolved mysteries.

David Cassidy had the world at his feet in the early 1970s as the breakout star of the musical sitcom "The Partridge Family." But the multi-talent, who played oldest sibling Keith in the ABC smash, struggled to cope with his teen idol status. And he soon became a victim of the demon drink.

Cassidy had grown up with an alcoholic father — fellow singer/actor Jack once downed no fewer than 15 Scotch and sodas in front of him and died in an inebriated state when a lit cigarette caused his sofa to catch fire. And while he initially managed to cover up his addiction from the public, the "How Can I Be Sure" singer became a tabloid fixture in the 2010s because of it.

Indeed, Cassidy was arrested on multiple occasions for driving while under the influence. And during 2017's A&E documentary "The Last Session," he admitted (via AARP) a recent collapse while performing wasn't caused by Alzheimer's as he'd first stated. "I did it to myself, to cover up the sadness and the emptiness. There is no sign of me having dementia at this stage of my life. It was complete alcohol poisoning." Tragically, the star's addiction resulted in fatal organ failure before the show aired.

Unfortunately, David Cassidy wasn't the only "The Partridge Family" cast member who found it difficult to deal with fame. Danny Bonaduce, who played freckled middle son Danny Partridge in the ABC hit, also succumbed to the child star curse in a big way.

Indeed, in 1990, the actor was arrested in Daytona Beach for trying to procure cocaine, ironically at an event designed to warn children off drugs. A year later, he found himself in trouble with the law again when he cut the face and broke the nose of a trans prostitute. And who can forget his altercation with Jonny Fairplay at the 2007 Fox Reality Awards, which left the latter with a broken toe and several teeth short?

Bonaduce's descent, however, began when "The Partridge Family" ended in 1974. In fact, within a few years, the actor, who also has a serious medical condition, was so broke he was forced to live in his car. "It was totally embarrassing to be famous and homeless," he later told "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" (via ABC News). "I'd wake up, kind of wipe my eyes, and I'd go right through the little arch and I'd be in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, where everybody's footprints are. I was still famous and people had no idea I lived behind the dumpster ..."

Then there was Susan Dey. The Illinois native sadly developed an eating disorder during her four-year run as eldest daughter Laurie in "The Partridge Family." And several decades on, she was still struggling to keep her demons at bay.

"I'm not in the clear yet — I'm still trying to overcome my anorexia," Dey revealed in a 1993 interview with The Enquirer (via Hello!). "It's something that has been plaguing my life. Beating a severe eating disorder is something you cannot do alone." If that wasn't enough, the actor also found herself addicted to alcohol, something which was exposed by the press in the most underhanded way.

Indeed, one tabloid reportedly sent a plant into an AA group Dey had been part of for a year and subsequently published their findings. "I usually don't talk about it because I feel it's my business and nobody else's," an understandably furious Dey later told Parade (via The Sun).

Although his career-defining role is undoubtedly Kenickie in the classic musical "Grease," Jeff Conaway was also regularly beamed into the nation's homes as struggling thespian Bobby Wheeler in ABC sitcom "Taxi." Unfortunately, the troubled star later became more renowned for his substance abuse issues than his talents.

In 2008, Conaway openly discussed his misuse of painkillers, cocaine, and the demon drink while appearing on the reality show "Celebrity Rehab," the VH1 reality show he departed before the graduation ceremony. Tragically, his inability to stay clean cost him his life. Just three years later, the star fell into a coma after a prescription medication overdose, and his family had to make the agonizing decision to switch his life support off.

"It's sad that people remember his struggle with drugs," Kathryn Boole, Conaway's manager, remarked to the Associated Press (via ABC News). "He has touched so many people." And she also revealed her client had been desperately trying to combat his addiction. "If it hadn't been for his back pain, I think he would have been able to do it."

From Officer Bill Gannon in "Dragnet" to Colonel Sherman Potter in "M*A*S*H," Harry Morgan became renowned for playing figures in positions of authority. But the star, who also reprised his latter character in the spinoff "AfterMASH," found himself on the wrong side of the law in 1997 when he was charged with spousal battery.

Harry was arrested at his Brentwood home after his wife, 11 years his junior, phoned the cops to report a physical attack. According to the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Morgan had suffered bruises to her arm, swelling to one of her feet, and a cut close to her eye following a fallout at a nearby dinner party before gradually becoming more hostile. In fact, her injuries were so severe, she was forced to seek hospital treatment.

Harry, who'd been married to Barbara for more than a decade, was subsequently taken into custody. However, the case was dropped once the actor concluded an anger management and domestic violence program lasting six months.

The late Robin Williams' status as a national treasure took a bit of a hit in 2018 when his co-star on "Mork and Mindy" revealed he regularly acted inappropriately on set. Yes, while speaking to Dave Itzkoff, a reporter for the New York Times writing a biography on the funnyman, Pam Dawber disclosed she was often "flashed, humped, bumped, grabbed," while shooting the classic ABC sitcom.

"I had the grossest things done to me by him," said Dawber, now married to "NCIS" star Mark Harmon, (via The Guardian) before stating she was personally never offended. "If you put it on paper you would be appalled. But somehow he had this guileless little thing that he would do — those sparkly eyes. He'd look at you, really playful, like a puppy, all of a sudden. And then he'd grab your tits and then run away. And somehow he could get away with it. It was the 70s, after all."

These claims were backed up by director Howard Storm, who recalled how Williams would often grab Dawber's derriere out of boredom, and producer Garry Marshall, who argued the comic's ultimate life goal was to embarrass his co-star. But while Dawber shrugged off such handsiness, others viewed the comic's conduct as completely unacceptable. This is just one of several stories that have come out since Williams died in 2014.

Best known for playing Tommy Bradford Jr., the child of a newspaper columnist and housewife in the ABC hit "Eight is Enough," Willie Aames is another '70s sitcom star who fell on hard times. And particularly in the '00s when his car was repossessed, he fell into bankruptcy, and he made an attempt on his own life.

The latter occurred shortly after Maylo Upton, the woman he'd been married to for 22 years, started divorce proceedings. Living in a rented Los Angeles room, Aames pilfered a whiskey bottle from his landlord and ended 20 years of sobriety. Unfortunately, mixed with the anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications he was also taking at the time, the alcohol soon had a near-fatal effect.

"It got so bad, I put a knife to my throat and cut myself in six places," Aames told Radar Online about his state of mind. "The police came, put me in handcuffs and whisked me away. I was completely devastated ... I kept asking, 'What did I do wrong?'"

In contrast to his "Sanford and Son" character Fred, a junkyard dealer who struggled to make ends meet, Redd Foxx was raking in the megabucks in the 1970s. In fact, at the height of his success, the actor made $4 million in just 12 months. Unfortunately, money management didn't appear to be his strong suit.

In fact, Foxx's spending got so out of hand that in 1983 he was forced to declare bankruptcy. And his financial woes continued throughout the decade, thanks to various income tax issues and lawsuits. By 1989, he pretty much only had the bed he slept in to his famous name.

"I could have gotten in touch with Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor or Frank Sinatra or somebody who knows that, you know, I have been helpful to a lot of people," Foxx told The Los Angeles Times, referring to how he'd have settled things in hindsight. Sadly, things didn't get much better for the sitcom star, and he died two years later, still very much penniless.

Susan Olsen didn't exactly make herself the most popular member of "The Brady Bunch" when her public behavior put an end to a planned revival. Indeed, according to Variety in 2024, the actor, who played youngest child Cindy in the '70s phenomenon, had worried CBS Studios bosses with her penchant for hate speech, with a social media beef from eight years earlier cited as an example.

Indeed, Olsen was given her marching orders from the radio show "Two Chicks Talkin' Politics" in 2016 after she launched a homophobic attack toward one of its openly gay previous guests. Taking to Facebook, the former sitcom star used the other f-word to describe Leon Acord-Whiting on multiple occasions while also calling him a coward.

Having kept the receipts, the latter demanded Olsen be fired and LA Talk Radio obliged. The actor later insisted she'd never been sacked and that she'd been a victim of fake news, telling Fox News, "... It was all part of my punishment for admitting that I voted for [Donald] Trump."

Former professional boxer Tony Danza got his big showbiz break in 1978 when he was cast in "Taxi." As an amateur boxer named Tony, the role wasn't exactly a big stretch. But it turned the New Yorker into a small-screen superstar. Unfortunately, the actor still seemed determined to prove he was still useful with his fists in the real world.

Indeed, in 1984, Danza and a close pal were found guilty of assaulting William Sawyer, a Manhattan hotel security guard – a year after Danza almost died in a ski accident. The actor was sentenced to three years' probation and community service lasting 250 hours, with Judge Richard D. Carruthers summarizing (via The New York Times), "You took the law into your own hands. You assaulted a man who was engaging in only one activity, that activity being to restore order.”

Things could have been a lot worse for the star, who by this point was fronting his own sitcom, "Who's the Boss?" It was only a strong argument from his lawyer about the disruption to the latter that prevented a 12-month jail term. A repentant Danza later admitted to the press he felt like a jerk, claiming he'd provide the best community service in community service history.

Thanks to his role as fresh-faced Chachi Arcola in "Happy Days," the oft-shady Scott Baio was one of the biggest heartthrobs of the '70s sitcom world. But his behavior in recent years has left many fans regretting his poster on their walls.

In 2018, amid spouting all kinds of conspiracy theory nonsense on social media, Baio found himself accused of sexual misconduct by a co-star on his '80s sitcom "Charles in Charge." Responding to the star's support for Donald Trump, Nicole Eggert tweeted (via ABC News), "Ask [Baio] what happened in his garage at his house when I was a minor. Creep." She then proceeded to give further disturbing details about his alleged behavior. 

Baio subsequently issued a strong denial on Facebook Live, insisting that although he and Eggert did have a one-off sexual encounter, it was entirely consensual and legal. But expanding on the allegations in an interview with "Megyn Kelly Today," the latter reiterated (via The Hollywood Reporter) she'd been underage — 14 years old to be exact — when Baio first started molesting her "probably once a week" and that he'd taken her virginity when she was 17, one year below the age of consent in California. "I got really good at putting it in a box and saying, 'That's not me. That didn't happen to me,'" Eggert explained about why she'd taken so long to come forward. 

Mike Lookinland endeared himself to the nation during his five-year stint as the youngest member of "The Brady Bunch," Bobby. But as he admitted on "Oprah: Where Are They Now" several decades later, his early fame came at a cost.

"The problem for me was, I lived my childhood in my 20s," Lookinland remarked (via HuffPost) about his hard-partying era and subsequent descent into alcoholism. "You should really try to live your childhood when you're a child, because if you do it when you're 26, it can be dangerous."

The actor went on to explain that he developed an immediate taste for alcohol, but that it got so strong that he was putting his life at risk. "When it became clear that the choice wasn't between sobering up or drinking, but the choice was actually between living or dying, then it became a simple choice for me." Thankfully, Lookinland, who has two kids with the wife he met at college, has continued to maintain his sobriety since the late '90s.

Life imitated art in 1974 when Meredith Baxter and David Birney, who'd just played husband and wife in the short-lived sitcom "Bridget Loves Bernie," tied the knot in real life. The showbiz couple spent 15 years together and had three kids before heading for the divorce courts. Unfortunately, as the bride later revealed in her tell-all memoir, it wasn't the happiest of marriages.

In 2011's "Untitled," Baxter revealed she was regularly abused, both physically and emotionally, by her on and off-screen partner. "It was so sudden and unexpected, I couldn't tell you which hand hit me, or even how hard," she recalled (via ABC News) about the first time things got violent. "I do recall thinking, 'I'd better not get up because he's going to hit me again.'"

Baxter also admitted she turned to drink to help deal with the abuse inflicted but that she hadn't touched a drop since 1990, the year after she and Birney officially split. The latter, who died in 2022, refuted all the claims but refused to comment any further.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you need help with an eating disorder, or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.