Tam Spiva

Hubert Tamblyn Spiva, Jr., known as Tam Spiva (born June 18, 1932)^[1]), is a television screenwriter in Pacific Palisades, California, who is best known for his work on ABC's The Brady Bunch situation comedy (1969–1974), starring Florence Henderson and Robert Reed,^[2] and CBS's family drama Gentle Ben (1967–1969) starring Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard.^[3]

Background

Originally from the small city of Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, Spiva was the son of Hubert Spiva, Sr. (1899-1939), a former foreign correspondent, and the former Lilla Ellenor Stewart (1906–1959), who married in 1929. They operated the Webster Printing Company and the former The Minden Herald and The Webster Review newspapers, forerunners of the Minden Press-Herald. Lilla Spiva, a scion of a prominent Webster Parish family, was a daughter of Minden attorney Daniel Webster Stewart, Sr. (1857-1935), and his wife, the former Alice Leona Reagan (1871-1954).^[4] She was a niece of William Green Stewart, a farmer and a former president of the Webster Parish School Board, for whom the since defunct William G. Stewart Elementary School in Minden is named. Another uncle, E. L. Stewart, was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives at the time of her birth.^[5] Known as "Babe", Lilla Spiva managed the papers after her husband's death at the age of forty^[6] and was herself publisher and society editor of the Minden Herald and a member of the Louisiana Press Association.^[7] On January 23, 1960, the press association posthumously honored her for her journalistic accomplishments.^[8]Hubert Spiva is interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Webb City in Jasper County in southwestern Missouri.^[9] Lilla is interred with other Stewart relatives at the historic Minden Cemetery.^[5] Spiva's aunt, Lilla's sister, was Mary Amanda Stewart (1903–1994), whom he visited in the Stewart home, later the Farley home, when he returned to his hometown.^[10]

Tam Spiva was first married to the former Martha Emily Farrow Brown, and the couple had a daughter, Alizon Farrow Spiva. He then wed the former Laura Lee Dulberger, and the couple had a daughter, Mary Amanda, and a son, Reagan Anthony. He now lives with his third wife, Phyllis Ellen Spiva, and stepdaughter, Danielle. There are hence four living Spiva children, including Danielle.

The family home in which Tam Spiva grew up in Minden, Louisiana, is located at the intersection of East and West/Elm streets near the Webster Parish Library

Career

Spiva graduated from the defunct Western Military Academy in Alton in Madison County in western Illinois, near St. Louis and then Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago. He also studied at the London School of Film Technique. His early free-lance writing was rewarded in the script for the 1965 film Island of the Lost. In addition to The Brady Bunch and Gentle Ben, Spiva garnered credits for two other ABC series, The FBI starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Dan August starring Burt Reynolds.^[11]

Here is a list of programs written by Spiva for The Brady Bunch:

• "Peter and the Wolf"
• "Tiki Caves"
• "Pass the Tabu"
• "A Fistful of Reasons"
• "The Slumber Caper"
• "Grand Canyon or Bust"
• "The Brady Braves"
• "Hawaii Bound"
• "The Big Sprain"

and for Gentle Ben:

• "Jennifer"
• "Mama Jolie"
• "The Wayward Bear, Part 1"
• "The Wayward Bear, Part 2"
• "Fire in the Glades"^[12]

References

External links

• Tam Spiva at the Internet Movie Database