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Brady Bunch Actress Ann B Davis Dies

Ann B Davis, the actress who played the housekeeper in The Brady Bunch, has died aged 88.

Ms Davis played Alice Nelson for five years in the sitcom, which ran between 1969 and 1974.

Officials said she died on Sunday morning at University Hospital, San Antonio, Texas.

Bill Frey, a retired bishop and friend of Ms Davis, said she suffered a fall on Saturday at her home in the city. The cause of death has not been confirmed.

More than a decade before scoring her role in The Brady Bunch, Ms Davis played a razor-tongued secretary on another stalwart TV sitcom, The Bob Cummings Show, for which she won two Emmy Awards.

She also appeared on Broadway and in occasional movies.

Mr Frey said he had got to know her well after she re-embraced her Christian faith and left Hollywood behind.

He said: "The public image of her that people have is an accurate image of a strong, wonderful, lively human being.

"The only part that's inaccurate about that is she had trouble relating to small children, and she doesn't cook."

Maureen McCormick, who played teenager Marcia Brady in the show, said: "How blessed I am to have had her in my life. She will be forever missed."

Eve Plumb, who played Jan Brady, called Ms Davis "an amazing lady."

The Brady Bunch was not a huge hit during its time on the air, but it grew in popularity and won several viewer-voted awards in the 1990s and 2000s.

As The Brady Bunch theme song reminded viewers each week, the Bradys combined two families into one.

Florence Henderson played a widow raising three daughters when she met her TV husband, Robert Reed, a widower with three boys.

Ms Davis' character, Alice Nelson, was constantly solving household problems.