during a 2000 interview that "Robert didn't want to go there. I don't think he talked about it with anyone. I just don't think it was open for discussion–period. Had it ever come out that Robert Reed was gay, it probably would have caused the demise of the show. I think it would have hurt his career tremendously." Death In November 1991, Reed was diagnosed with colon cancer. When he became ill, he allowed only his daughter Karen and actress Anne Haney, a close friend, to visit him. Haney later said of Reed, "He came from the old school, where people had a sense of decorum. He went the way he wanted to, without publicity." Weeks before his death, Reed called Henderson and asked her to inform the rest of The Brady Bunch cast that he was terminally ill. He died on May 12, 1992, at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California, at age 59. Reed's death was initially attributed solely to cancer, but details from his death certificate were made public revealing that Reed was HIV-positive. It remains unknown how and when Reed contracted HIV because he kept his medical condition and private life a secret from the public until the day he died, telling only a few close friends. While Reed did not have AIDS at the time of his death, his doctor listed his HIV-positive status among "significant conditions that contributed to death" on the death certificate. He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois. Filmography Film Television Award nominations References External links 1932 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American male actors AIDS-related deaths in California Alumni of RADA American gay actors American male film actors American male Shakespearean actors American male stage actors American male television actors American television directors Burials in Illinois Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from colorectal cancer LGBT people from Illinois LGBT people from Oklahoma LGBT people from Texas Male actors from Illinois Male actors from Oklahoma Male actors from Texas Northwestern University School of Communication alumni People from Highland Park, Illinois People from Muskogee, Oklahoma People from Navasota, Texas