Christopher Knight (actor)

Summary

Christopher Anton Knight (born November 7, 1957)[2] is an American actor and businessman. He is best known for playing Peter Brady in the 1970s series The Brady Bunch. He has since gone on to become a businessman and enjoyed a semi-resurgence in the public eye with television appearances in the 2000s. He founded an online furniture company Christopher Knight Home in 2012.[3][4]

Christopher Knight
Knight in October 2010
Born
Christopher Anton Knight

(1957-11-07) November 7, 1957 (age 66)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • businessman
Years active1967–present
Known forPeter Brady in The Brady Bunch
The Brady Kids
A Very Brady Christmas
The Bradys
Spouses
Julie Schulman
(m. 1989; div. 1992)
Toni Erickson
(m. 1995; div. 2000)
(m. 2006; div. 2012)
Cara Kokenes
(m. 2016)

Early life and work edit

Knight was born in New York City, New York, the son of Wilma and Edward Knight, an actor.[5] Knight's father was born Edward Kozumplik, to parents from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Knight's mother was Jewish.[6][7]

 
Knight as middle son Peter on The Brady Bunch in 1973

After the end of his Brady Bunch appearances, Knight's acting career consisted mostly of making guest appearances on other television shows (Happy Days, The Love Boat), and occasional film roles (Just You and Me, Kid, Curfew, Good Girls Don't, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere). He reunited with his former Brady costars in the holiday TV movie A Very Brady Christmas (1988). Before the Brady Bunch series, he had had some small television roles, including an appearance on the first season of Mannix, in a 1967 episode called "Coffin for a Clown".

Computer career edit

In 1988, Knight, a self-described "geek", left acting to pursue a business career in the computer industry. He got a job as an account sales manager for Martec, Inc. and landed that company's first million-dollar sales deal within his first 18 months on the job, for which he was named Employee of the Year. In 1989, he was named Vice President of Design System Marketing and Sales at New Image Industry.

In 1991, he co-founded Visual Software, a pioneering 3D graphics company. In 1995, he founded Kidwise Learningware, a company that manufactures interactive educational products. In 1996, he joined the keyboard manufacturer Adesso, and in 1997, he became Vice President of Marketing at iXMicro, a video hardware company. In 1998, he founded his own TV tuner company, Eskape Labs; it was purchased by Hauppauge Computer Works in 2000.[2]

Return to television edit

Continuing to pursue TV opportunities, Knight appeared on VH1's fourth season of The Surreal Life. The show garnered Knight more attention than he had received in quite some time, in part because he appeared shirtless on the show, revealing a well-built body. During his stint on the show, he began a romance with castmate model Adrianne Curry, winner of America's Next Top Model cycle 1, who is almost 25 years younger than Knight. After the show, the two moved in together and got engaged, as documented on the VH1 series My Fair Brady, which premiered on September 11, 2005. The series was renewed for another season, and the couple wed in Curry's hometown of Joliet, Illinois, on May 29, 2006, in a Gothic-style wedding.[8]

Knight participated in VH-1's retrospective miniseries, I Love The '70s: Volume II. He, his family, and friends appeared on the season finale of NBC's Celebrity Family Feud on July 29, 2008. During the 2008–09 television season, Knight hosted the syndicated game show, Trivial Pursuit: America Plays. He has hosted a series of Jonathan Goodson-produced game show specials for the Michigan Lottery, Make Me Rich. The first special was scheduled for October 16, 2009, with a second scheduled for February 2010. The show aired periodically until early 2012.[9] Knight joined the other Brady Bunch cast members in the 2019 television series A Very Brady Renovation on HGTV.[10] In 2021, he starred in the Lifetime Christmas movie, Blending Christmas, alongside his Brady Bunch co-stars Barry Williams, Mike Lookinland, Susan Olsen, and Robbie Rist.[11]

In 2022, Knight, Williams, and Lookinland competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Mummies". They were eliminated in the third episode, which aired as the October 3 "TV Theme Night" alongside Daymond John as "Fortune Teller".[12]

Personal life edit

Knight has been married four times.[13] Knight proposed to his third wife, model and reality television personality Adrianne Curry, on the season finale of My Fair Brady, on VH1, which aired on November 6, 2005. The show was renewed for a second season that began in June 2006, and focused on the couple's wedding preparations. The couple wed in Curry's hometown of Joliet, Illinois, on May 29, 2006, in a gothic-style wedding. Knight's manager, Phil Viardo, told a celebrity gossip website on May 29, 2011, that Knight and Curry were announcing their separation. The date was the couple's fifth wedding anniversary.[14] On February 2, 2012, on G4's Attack of the Show, Curry said the divorce had been finalized.[15] He married his fourth wife, Cara Kokenes, in November 2016.[13]

Filmography edit

Film edit

Year Title Role Notes
1979 Just You and Me, Kid Roy
1989 Curfew Sam
1993 Good Girls Don't Montana
1995 The Brady Bunch Movie Coach
1997 Nowhere Mr. Sighvatssohn
2000 Family Jewels The Guru
2003 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Christopher Knight
2005 L.A. Dicks Bernie Taylor
2006 Fallen Angels Belmont
2008 Light Years Away David Sommers
2009 American Pie Presents: The Book of Love Alumnus Guy #3
2012 The Lords of Salem Keith 'Lobster Joe' Williams Scenes deleted
2012 Letting Go The Boss
2014 Guardian Angel Brian Casey
2017 Where the Fast Lane Ends Cooley Swindell
2017 Prisoner Brad Short
2023 Truelove: The Film Himself Documentary about Williams syndrome

Television edit

Year Title Role Notes
1967 Mannix Josh "Coffin for a Clown"
1968 Gunsmoke Jimmy "The Miracle Man"
1969–1974 The Brady Bunch Peter Brady Main role
1972 The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie Peter Brady (voice) "The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island"
1972–1973 The Brady Kids Peter Brady (voice) Main role (credited as "David E. Smith" in season 2)
1974 ABC Afterschool Special Joe "Sara's Summer of the Swans"
1976 One Day at a Time Pete "Barbara's Emergence"
1976–77 The Brady Bunch Hour Peter Brady Main role
1977 The Bionic Woman Bobby "Max"
1978 Happy Days Binky Hodges "Be My Valentine"
1978 CHiPs Wes Miller "Family Crisis"
1979 Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker Nick TV film
1979–80 Joe's World Steve Wabash Main role
1980 Valentine Magic on Love Island Jimmy TV film
1981 The Brady Girls Get Married Peter Brady TV film
1981 Another World Leigh Hobson Guest role
1984 Masquerade Hank Totten "Oil"
1984 The Love Boat Peter Barkan 1 episode
1988 A Very Brady Christmas Peter Brady TV film
1989 Day by Day Peter Brady "A Very Brady Episode"
1990 The Bradys Peter Brady Main role
2001 The Weakest Link Himself "Brady Bunch Special Edition"
2006 That '70s Show Josh "We Will Rock You"
2008-2009 Trivial Pursuit: America Plays Himself Host
2010, 2018 The Bold and the Beautiful Dr. Andrews 2 episodes
2014 Heartbreakers Hurley Fontenot TV miniseries
2018 The Last Sharknado: It's About Time Grandpa Clarke TV film
2019 A Very Brady Renovation Christopher Knight 7 episodes
2021 Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch[16] Peter Brady Paramount Plus TV special
2021 Blending Christmas Brian TV film
2022 The Masked Singer Mummy Group costume with Barry Williams and Mike Lookinland

References edit

  1. ^ "Christopher Knight". Biography.com. The Biography Channel. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Christopher Night Biography" Archived February 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Biography.com/ Retrieved January 6, 2010
  3. ^ Nas, Leena (June 13, 2021). "Here's A Story: How Christopher Knight Went From Brady Bunch To Viral Furniture Giant". TheRichest. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  4. ^ "'The Brady Bunch' actor Knight stars in online business". Easy Reader News. October 26, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  5. ^ Moran, Elizabeth (1995). Bradymania!: Everything You Always Wanted to Know--and a Few Things You Probably Didn't. Adams Pub. ISBN 9781558504189.
  6. ^ Woehlk, Erika. "Bradypedia: The Complete Reference Guide to Television's the Brady Bunch".
  7. ^ Adrianne Curry Myspace post, February 19, 2009
  8. ^ "Knight and Curry Plan Gothic Wedding", San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2006.
  9. ^ "Michigan Lottery Debuts New TV Game Show", Michigan.gov, October 8, 2009.
  10. ^ Lee, Luaine (September 8, 2019). "Bradys go 'home' again for HGTV". Baltimore Sun. p. A&E 4.
  11. ^ Jones, Marcus (May 19, 2021). "Lifetime reunites High School Musical, Brady Bunch stars for holiday movies". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  12. ^ Schneider, Michael (October 5, 2022). "'The Masked Singer' Reveals Identities of 'Devastated' Mummies and Fortune Teller: Here's Who They Are". Variety. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Dugan, Christina (November 28, 2016). "Brady Bunch Star Christopher Knight on How 'Second Mom' Florence Henderson Made Him 'Shine'. People.
  14. ^ Collins, Emma. "Hollyscoop Exclusive: Adrianne Curry and Christopher Knight Split" Archived May 31, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Hollyscoop.com, May 28, 2011.
  15. ^ Attack of the Show G4 February 2, 2012
  16. ^ "'Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch' Delivers a Satisfying Twist on a Beloved Sitcom: TV Review". June 30, 2021.

External links edit