Mike Lookinland Net Worth

What Is Mike Lookinland's Net Worth?

Mike Lookinland is an American actor who has a net worth of $2 million. Mike Lookinland gained enduring fame as Bobby Brady, the youngest boy in the beloved sitcom "The Brady Bunch" (1969-1974). Cast at just nine years old, his portrayal of the mischievous but lovable Bobby made him a household name and defined his early acting career.

Following the original series, Lookinland reprised his role in various Brady spin-offs including "The Brady Bunch Hour," "The Brady Brides," and the reunion movies "A Very Brady Christmas" and "The Bradys." Like many child actors, he struggled with the transition to adult roles and the challenges of being typecast.

Behind the scenes, Lookinland battled alcohol addiction in his early twenties before successfully achieving sobriety. After his Brady years, he made occasional television appearances but gradually stepped away from acting to pursue other interests.

In a significant career pivot, Lookinland established a concrete business in Utah, where he has worked for decades as a skilled craftsman creating decorative concrete. He has occasionally returned to the entertainment world for Brady Bunch reunions and documentaries, including HGTV's 2019 "A Very Brady Renovation," which reunited the original cast to restore the house used for exterior shots in the series.

Despite leaving Hollywood, Lookinland's cultural impact as Bobby Brady remains significant in television history, representing an enduring piece of Americana.

Early Life

Mike Lookinland was born Michael Paul Lookinland on December 19, 1960, in Mount Pleasant, Utah. His father, Paul, was a school principal, and his mother, Karen, was an amateur photographer who sometimes photographed Mike and his "Brady Bunch" co-stars. Lookinland has an older sister named Theresa, and his younger brother, Todd, starred in the film "The Blue Bird" alongside Elizabeth Taylor. The family was involved with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and after moving to California, Mike attended the Chadwick School, graduating in 1978. While starring on "The Brady Bunch," Lookinland and a few of his young castmates attended the Hollywood Professional School. He briefly attended the University of Utah, but he dropped out to work as a camera operator and production assistant.

Career

Lookinland's acting career began when he was 7 years old, and within two years, he had starred in numerous commercials for companies such as Cheerios and Band-Aid. In 1969, Mike became a household name when he began playing youngest son Bobby Brady on "The Brady Bunch" after turning down the role of Eddie Corbett on "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Since his sandy-colored didn't match the hair color of his TV siblings, his hair was dyed dark brown until the last two seasons of the show. "The Brady Bunch" aired 117 episodes over five seasons, and Lookinland reprised his role in "The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie" (1972), "The Brady Kids" (1972–73), "The Brady Bunch Hour" (1976–1977), "The Brady Girls Get Married" (1981), "A Very Brady Christmas" (1988), "Day by Day" (1989), and "The Bradys" (1990) as well as the 2021 Paramount+ special "Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch." He also starred in the web series "Building Brady" (2018–2019) and the HGTV series "A Very Brady Renovation" (2019), which followed "The Brady Bunch" cast as they renovated their former TV home. Mike also had an uncredited role as a camera operator in the 2000 television film "Growing Up Brady," and in 2001, he competed against his "Brady Bunch" castmates on "The Weakest Link" and won a consolation prize of $20,000 for the charity Sierra Club.

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In 1971, Lookinland appeared in the TV movies "The Boy from Dead Man's Bayou" and "Dead Men Tell No Tales," guest-starred on "Funny Face," and voiced Oblio in the animated film "The Point." In 1974, he co-starred with Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, and Fred Astaire in "The Towering Inferno," which grossed $203.3 million at the box office and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Mike then guest-starred on "The Secrets of Isis" (1975) and "Little House on the Prairie" (1977), and he appeared in the Stephen King miniseries "The Stand" (1994) and the TV movie "Gambler V: Playing for Keeps" (1994). He played himself in the 2003 David Spade comedy "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star," and his former "Brady Bunch" co-stars Florence Henderson, Christopher Knight, Barry Williams, and Maureen McCormick also appeared in the film.

Lookinland worked as a camera operator for many years and served as second assistant camera on "The Stand" as well as the films "China O'Brien" (1990), and "A Midnight Clear" (1992) and the TV movies "Roswell" (1994) and "Parallel Lives" (1994). Mike worked as first assistant camera on the TV series "Promised Land" (1996) and "Everwood" (2003–2005), the TV movies "Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare" (1995) and "The Maldonado Miracle" (2003), and the films "The Rage" (1997), "The Way of the Gun" (2000), and "Dark Matter" (2007).

Brady Bunch Salary

At the peak of the show's run, each child actor received a salary of $1,100 per week—a respectable sum for a young performer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but far from the kind of payday associated with modern television stars. Adjusted for inflation, $1,100 in 1970 would be equivalent to roughly $8,500 per week in today's dollars.

Brady Bunch Residuals

Despite the enduring popularity of "The Brady Bunch" in syndication, the child actors from the series do not receive residual payments for these reruns. During the show's original run from 1969 to 1974, standard contracts for actors included residuals only for the first 10 reruns of each episode. Susan Olsen, who portrayed Cindy Brady, explained that this arrangement was typical for that era, and the initial residuals were exhausted by around 1979. Consequently, the child actors have not earned residuals from the show's numerous airings since then. In contrast, adult cast members like Florence Henderson and Robert Reed negotiated contracts that provided ongoing residuals, highlighting the disparities in compensation agreements at the time.

Mike Lookinland (Photo by Rob Latour/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Personal Life

Mike married Kelly Wermuth on May 1, 1987, and they welcomed son Scott on July 6, 1990, followed by son Joseph on August 6, 1993. Scott played his father in "Growing Up Brady," and Mike and Kelly worked together on "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" and "Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers" as a production assistant and an extra, respectively. Lookinland has described himself as a Deadhead, and he has attended 100+ Grateful Dead concerts. In 1989, the California-based band Wonderful Broken Thing named their debut album "Looking For Mike Lookinland."

In 1997, Mike was arrested after totaling his car on a Utah highway while his blood alcohol level was 0.258% (Utah's legal limit was 0.08%). He was fined $1,500 and ordered to serve 24 hours of community service. After the accident and arrest, Lookinland realized that "the choice between sobering up or drinking became the choice of living or dying," and he gave up alcohol.

Awards and Nominations

Mike and his "Brady Bunch" castmates received a Pop Culture Award at the 2007 TV Land Awards. In 2005, Lookinland shared a TV Land Award nomination for Favorite Singing Siblings with Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, and Susan Olsen.

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