By Joe Puccio

There are a number of different ways to leave a lasting impression in show business. While none are easy, guaranteed, or without the requisite rejection that every single individual in the industry regularly faces more times than can be counted, receiving an idiomatic ‘big break’ or achieving notoriety via an already successful franchise are just two of the many methods to ‘making it.’ Through hard work, sheer talent, and even a spot of luck, Caryn Richman managed to tick both boxes.

“On a personal level, I may have been the queen of iconic television shows for a minute,” Richman kidded, during a recent conversation with Generation X Wire. “They were two standout opportunities for me, playing Gidget and marrying into The Brady Bunch. It doesn’t really get any better than that for our generation and I consider myself lucky to have been a part of them.”

Involved in a variety of endeavors throughout her nearly fifty-year career, the ageless beauty is perhaps best remembered for her portrayal of Francine Lawrence, more commonly referred to as Gidget, in the sequel to the 1965 Sally Field-starring sitcom, itself a continuation of the Sandra Dee film from 1959. Rechristened The New Gidget, the reboot centered on the character, now an adult in her late 20s, and her marriage to Jeff “Moondoggie” Griffin, played by Dean Butler of Little House on the Prairie fame. Surprisingly, the whimsical spinoff actually amassed a lengthier run than its predecessor, producing a pair of seasons compared to the original’s single year.

“There was an all-out search for a petite, wholesome, perky, optimistic character that originated with Sandra Dee in the ’50s and was certainly inhabited by Sally Field in the ’60s. And I stepped into the role in a naïve way, just excited to be playing this iconic character,” Richman recalled. “The New Gidget was a load to carry for me because I was playing a title character for the first time and nobody knew if it was going to be successful or not.” Despite being unfamiliar with Los Angeles beaches and West Coast culture in general, the New York-born actress proved to be a natural fit for the part, seamlessly making it her own. “I didn’t know much about surfing or that way of life but the allure of California, the Beach Boys, and the top down in your car was enticing,” she admitted. “And now I was living it. It was a very exciting time for me.”

Richman, born in the borough of Brooklyn before moving to Queens, mainly grew up in suburban Long Island (Long Beach and Massapequa Park). “It was such an idyllic, wonderful childhood. And I don’t mean to sound like Grandma Moses at this stage of my life,” she laughed. “But you can’t help but look back and realize how much the world has changed. I loved where and how I grew up, and all of those nostalgic things like playing in the streets until the streetlights came on and landing at a friend’s home for dinner at the last minute, when an extra plate was simply put on the table.”

Although primarily known for her plentiful resume of television and film work, Richman didn’t initially set out for said path, dreaming of a musical theater career instead. “From the time that I saw Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand and then going to my first musical on Broadway, which featured Lauren Bacall, I felt that I wanted to do that. I thought it was my calling. Yet, as a traditional Long Island girl in a somewhat conservative family, that was unheard of – nice Jewish girls do not run off and become theater performers,” she smiled. In spite of her familial obstacles, she still pursued her love, in the form of high school productions, community theater, and summer camp that specialized in the arts.

Richman, who makes certain never to forget her roots, is even still friends with the camp’s musical director, Jeffrey B. Moss, today. “He brought a sense of Broadway to our sleepaway camp,” she enthused. “He was wonderful and did it professionally. It gave me a taste of what it could be like and it kind of upped our game. Even though we were kids, the bar was set a little higher because we had him.”

Yet if it wasn’t for landing a role in a Broadway production of Grease, Richman might have instead ended up as a psychiatric social worker, which she majored in at Syracuse University. “My brother, sadly, was a schizophrenic and had a lot of challenges in his life and I was very much drawn to wanting to rescue or help. That was my line of thinking,” she reasoned. “When I went on the Grease audition, I truly wasn’t even considering getting it. I had heard that I’d get to stand on the Broadway stage while auditioning and that was the extent of wanting to do it.”

Unexpectedly, Richman got several callbacks and was eventually cast in the revered musical, prompting her decision to leave college, and work her way up from an understudy to co-lead as Sandy Olsson. The play’s grueling eight-shows-per-week schedule instilled a valuable work ethic in the performer and ultimately moved its exhibition to Los Angeles at the same time as the film with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John was packing movie theaters. “John and Olivia came to one of our shows and took a bow with us. And I immediately wanted to be a movie star,” she chuckled. And the rest, as the old cliché goes, was history.

As Gen Xers can attest, it doesn’t get much more classic than The Brady Bunch. Richman first entered the Brady universe in 1988, playing Nora, the wife of eldest child Greg (Barry Williams), in the TV movie A Very Brady Christmas, before reprising the role in the CBS comedy-drama The Bradys two years later. Unfortunately, the series was short lived and lasted only six episodes before being canceled, its tonal change from the original show likely being a primary reason. “Marcia was an alcoholic, and Bobby had been in a car accident and was paralyzed, and Greg and Nora were having challenges. So, there were inklings of problems written in, and I don’t think it was The Brady Bunch that people wanted to see,” she believed. “We were competing with Thirtysomething at the time, which was hugely popular. We used to joke that we were trying to make Bradysomething. If they had sort of Gidgetized it, then maybe it would’ve been different. But it just didn’t work.”

Despite its rather swift demise, Richman cherished her time on the set, getting to know the entire seminal cast, including Robert Reed and Florence Henderson. “Robert was always a consummate professional even though I don’t think doing the show at that stage of his life was his first choice. But he was always respectful,” she clarified. “Florence was everything you thought she’d be. She was mama to everyone, emanating warmth. She really felt like our female captain. The entire experience was surreal.”  

Richman also enjoyed success with soap operas, the popular, often melodramatic, genre that once ruled the airwaves before being narrowed down to a handful of survivors. “I did Texas (Another World spin-off) on NBC for three years, starting in 1980, and what it did was take me from being a very inexperienced and mediocre actress to something more. I came off that soap opera having a craft,” she commented. “And it was so much fun.”

Although it was brief, Richman also had a memorable stint on the still-running The Young and the Restless in 1991, temporarily stepping into the pivotal role of Lauren Fenmore during Tracey E. Bregman’s maternity leave, in addition to a host of parts on shows such as Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Party of Five, and American Crime Story.

And had fate had something else in mind for Richman, she might’ve even had a fruitful profession as a singer. The renaissance woman was, in fact, one third of Tuxedo Junction, a ’70s vocal group that sang ’40s era music in a disco style. “Tuxedo Junction had one hit album, and they were three studio singers, so we weren’t on that first one; we’re like Milli Vanilli,” she kidded. “The song “Chattanooga Choo Choo” hit the disco charts and the executives realized they needed to form a group. So, me and two other girls were put together.” The trio performed around the country, playing venues such as the legendary Copacabana in New York City, before the changing musical landscape ended the unit. “Disco basically died,” she conceded. “The members were Midge Barnett, a dear friend to this day, Leisha El-Soukary, who sadly is no longer with us, and me. I’ve always considered it to be more like musical theater than anything else, but I found the experience to be quite fun.”

Currently, Richman is focused on yet another facet of entertainment – her podcast Chatterbinge. Along with co-host actor/author Ed Kalegi, the duo engages in riveting and thought-provoking conversations with a plethora of guests on a weekly basis, from celebrities to writers to scientists. “I’m enjoying the conversations and really honing the part that listens, which is such an important part of communication. That skillset is very different from acting and I’m finding that it’s, weirdly, helping me in my acting work,” she added. Speaking of such, Richman is still busy with her most familiar line of work as well, appearing in A Christmas Murder Mystery, available on Prime Video, and Hypernormalized, a post-COVID artificial intelligence thriller on the horizon, directed by Justin McConnell.

If that isn’t enough, Richman’s number one love is a selfless one that is unrelated to anything Hollywood oriented. “My dream is to start an animal sanctuary,” she volunteered. “It’s manifested for me more with cats based on my schedule but at one point my partner and I had 14 rescue cats that we built a catio (cat patio) for.”

It’s clear that Richman’s passion runs deep, no matter the cause or objective.  

“I feel like a lucky person,” she declared. “I just put one foot in front of the other and keep going and see what the world has to offer.”

Listen to Chatterbinge here or here.
Rent A Christmas Murder Mystery on Prime Video here.