What 'Brady Bunch' Star Robert Reed Taught Christopher Knight About Gay Men

"Brady Bunch" actor Christopher Knight recalled his experiences working with his TV dad, Robert Reed, in an interview with HuffPost Live this week.

Describing Reed as "the epitome of a father figure," Knight called the actor, who was HIV positive at the time of his 1992 death, "not just an icon" but "a personal hero."

Although Reed never came out as gay in the public sphere, he "was as good or better a father figure than my own dad," Knight, who played Peter Brady, recalled. "So I learned very early that if that was what gay was, it has no measure in the ability of somebody to be a fine representation of a good human being."

Doctors said that Reed's HIV status hastened his death, which was first attributed solely to colon cancer, according to People magazine.

Knight's new celebrity crime re-enactment miniseries, "Heartbreakers," will debut Aug. 13 on Investigation Discovery.