The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Maude

It may not be easy to stream these days (as of publication time, just two seasons are available on PlutoTV), but whether you've seen it or not, "Maude" remains an important cornerstone of the sitcom house Norman Lear built. Premiering in 1972, "Maude" was originally conceived as a spinoff to the ever-in-the-zeitgeist sitcom "All in the Family," but it soon took on a life of its own. The show starred a pre-"Golden Girls" Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, an outspoken, well-to-do liberal feminist with a knack for telling everyone around her what's what.

Maude was also a middle-aged woman, a reality that was never more apparent than in the show's most famous, controversial episode. The 1972 two-parter "Maude's Dilemma" saw Maude contemplate –- and ultimately choose –- abortion after finding herself pregnant in her late '40s. Released before the establishment of Roe vs. Wade, "Maude's Dilemma" was a lightning rod for heated conversations about reproductive rights, and remains an enduring part of the show's legacy today.

Despite the show's title, Maude wasn't the only character who helped make the sitcom a classic. Bill Macy co-starred as Maude's fourth husband, while Rue McClanahan and Conrad Bain played her next-door neighbors. All three actors have since passed away, but several key castmates in the series are still with us and working today.

While "Maude" may be remembered first and foremost as a Bea Arthur joint, the sitcom also helped solidify the career of Adrienne Barbeau, who played Maude's daughter Carol. A single mom and liberal firebrand, Carol was a popular character on the show, though Barbeau wrote in her book "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" that she eventually realized the character was objectified by audiences. After the show, Barbeau became a certifiable sex symbol, but she refused to be typecast. Just two years after "Maude" ended, she appeared as a badass final girl in John Carpenter's "The Fog."

Barbeau has made her mark in several different ways since her initial rise to fame, appearing in horror movies and TV shows, doing extensive voice acting work, writing books, acting on stage, and even dabbling in music (she released a self-titled album in 1997). On the film front, she's appeared in the 2012 best picture winner "Argo," popped up in the Carpenter classics "The Thing" and "Escape From New York," and earned cult status with roles in "Judge Dredd," "Creepshow," and "The Cannonball Run," among other films. On the TV front, Barbeau voiced Selena Kyle in "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Gotham Girls," had stints on "General Hospital," "Revenge," and "The Drew Carey Show," and starred in HBO's supernatural period piece "Carnivàle."

In a 2022 interview with Closely Observed Frames, Barbeau cited "Carnivàle" as the role she was most proud of, along with a touring performance of "Pippin" featuring an airborne trapeze performance she pulled off when she was nearly 70 years old. Barbeau has done a bit of everything, from writing several books to taking a voice role in the popular game series "God of War." Last year, she even spoke to /Film about one of her most underrated voice roles: were-cat southerner Simone Lenoir in "Scooby Doo on Zombie Island."

For the first five seasons of "Maude," child actor Brian Morrison played Carol's son Phillip. Unlike most child actors, Morrison doesn't seem to have ever opened up to the press about why he left the series, and it's unclear whether he was let go (as is often the case for kids aging out of a role) or stepped away of his own volition.

Regardless, the 28 episodes Morrison spent on "Maude" would be his last on-screen appearance as an actor, following a short career that also included stints on "Gunsmoke" and "The Wonderful World of Disney." Morrison didn't stop working in the business of movie magic, though. He began a second career as a special effects artist in 1984, working as an SFX technician on "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." He's been credited on 13 other projects since, including four "Harry Potter" movies, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," and '80s favorites like "Return to Oz" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

He also made robots for "Judge Dredd," which starred none other than his former TV mom Adrienne Barbeau.

After Morrison left the show, teen actor Kraig Metzinger stepped in to take over the role of Carol's son Phillip. Before appearing in 11 episodes of "Maude," Metzinger had a burgeoning career that included a guest appearance on "The Bionic Woman," a five-episode arc on the now-forgotten CBS Western "Sara" (he also reprised his role in the show's concluding TV movie, "Territorial Men"), and two other roles in 1976.

Like Morrison, there's not much public information about Metzinger's post-"Maude" career, but he only made one other screen appearance once the show ended. In 1978, just six months after "Maude" ended, he popped up in a single episode of "Little House on the Prairie," a season 5 outing that sees Laura grow jealous of her newly adopted brother. The appearance marked the official end of Metzinger's acting career. Hopefully, Metzinger is doing well in his post-child stardom life.

Like most family sitcoms of its era, "Maude" didn't focus solely on the blood relatives of Maude Findlay, and some of the series' best moments feature the housekeepers who kept the multigenerational Findlay home in order –- yet weren't without their own drama. Florida Evans, played by the late actor Esther Rolle, was the most famous of the housekeepers, though she left the show after three seasons to co-headline the popular spinoff "Good Times." After she departed, Hermione Baddeley's Mrs. Naugatuck took over the job, before Marlene Warfield closed out the show as the third and final housekeeper, Victoria Butterfield.

Already an award-winning stage and screen actor by the time she appeared on the show, Warfield is credited in just eight episodes of "Maude." Since the show's conclusion, Warfield has had guest spots in several acclaimed TV shows, from "The Jeffersons" to "Hill Street Blues" to "The West Wing," "E.R." and "The Shield." Her most recent credited role is in the 2011 short film "Aurora Borealis."

Future "The Love Boat" star Fred Grandy appeared in the second season of "Maude" as Chris, Carol's one-time boyfriend who disappears between seasons with no real explanation. Grandy kept plenty busy after his brief stint on the show, though. He spent nine seasons playing the MS Pacific Princess's purser, Gopher, on "The Love Boat" between 1977 and 1986 before making a major career change. In the late '80s, Grandy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Iowa as a Republican, and he later unsuccessfully ran for governor in the same state.

In the '90s, Grandy reportedly worked as President and CEO of thrift store chain Goodwill Industries, and in the early 2010s he served as the Executive Vice President of the conservative think tank The Center For Security Policy, according to the organization's website. While Grandy has appeared on screen in recent years –- he's popped up in Ryan Murphy's "Hollywood," Mindy Kaling's sitcom "The Mindy Project," and the nostalgic Netflix sequel "Fuller House," to name a few credits –- he's arguably best known for his politics at this point. Grandy also once hosted his own conservative talk radio show, but in 2011 he "resigned under alleged pressure from the D.C. station's management over comments criticizing radical Islamicism," according to DCist. It's probably safe to say that Grandy and Maude would not get along.