Florence Henderson Helped Ease Tensions During Stressful Days on “The Brady Bunch ”Set (Exclusive)

• Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen portrayed four of the six Brady siblings, alongside Maureen McCormick and Eve Plumb

• The four spoke with PEOPLE at The Chocolate Expo at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sunday, May 4, about The Brady Bunch and how its legacy continues to bring joy today

• The actors tell PEOPLE a good example in being a family, on-screen and off, was set for them by the actors who played their parents, Florence Henderson and Robert Reed

The Brady Bunch cast’s genuine family love started from the top.

Speaking with PEOPLE at The Chocolate Expo at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Sunday, May 4, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen opened up about how that family feeling between them came to be and blossomed over their years together.

“I think we all know that there’s only five other people on the planet that know what our childhood was like,” Olsen, 63, shared of her costars.

“In another venue I think they’d call us foxhole buddies,” Knight, 67, said with a laugh.

“I think that translated from the show, the chemistry we had, as evidenced by lifelong friendships, relationships. We know the ups and downs,” Williams, 70, added.

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Olsen believes that the popularity of the show was based, in part, by the fact that people could sense “the love was genuine” between the members of the fictional family.

“I know for me, and I might be speaking for the others, but they can chime in, that Bob and Florence were in a position for us to want to do this,” Knight shared, referring to onscreen parents Robert Reed and Florence Henderson.

“We didn’t want to disappoint them. And that’s at the center of a good parent relationship: a child that doesn’t want to disappoint their parents because of respect. And it was reciprocated, but that is because of the respect we had for them.”

“You also see on the show. It’s a mutual respect,” Olsen agreed. “It’s not just that the kids respect the parents. The parents respect the kids. I remember being 8 and Bob talking to me about cartoons. And I came away from him thinking he was as respectful to me as he would be to someone his age.”

The four also credited their TV parents for being able to change the mood on set when things were getting tense.

“Sometimes the set could get stressful. Even our set, we’d be behind schedule or there’d be personality struggles and Florence Henderson would just light up and say, ‘Come on now people, let’s get to work,’ ” Knight recalled.

“[She’d say,] ‘We all want to go home,’ ” Olsen added with a laugh.

“She would just light up and say, ‘I got to go. My boat’s still docked,’ ” Knight added.

The four appreciated that even with the stress of their roles and minding their on-set children from time to time, “Bob and Florence could both play … mess around and have fun.”

“As a kid. I didn’t know when to stop, so I had to be told. But they were given enough time to get punch-drunk and have fun,” Williams said. “They would play around with us all. And for the person that you place in that position to play with, it’s kind of special.”

“But we knew that we shouldn’t do that. They’re allowed to because they’re grown-ups,” Olsen said, “I teach kids, I always say, ‘Grown-ups are allowed to have fun on the set. You’re not. Because everything that goes wrong you’ll be blamed for.’ “

Olsen then remembered when football legend Joe Namath was on set for his cameo in the series, during which one of those fun moments occurred.

“Florence wrapped her arms and legs around him and said, ‘Joe, take me away from this horrible family. I’m sick of them,’ ” she said with a laugh. “And he carried her off the set.”

Read the original article on People