Florence Henderson

Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American singer and actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch. Henderson also appeared in film, as well as on stage, and hosted several long-running cooking and variety shows over the years. She appeared as a guest on many scripted and unscripted (talk and reality show) television programs and as a panelist on numerous game shows. Henderson was also a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2010.

Henderson hosted her own talk show, The Florence Henderson Show, and cooking show, Who's Cooking with Florence Henderson, on Retirement Living TV during the years leading up to her death at age 82 on Thanksgiving 2016 from heart failure. was born on February 14, 1934, in Dale, Indiana, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. She was a daughter of Elizabeth (née Elder), a homemaker, and Joseph Henderson, a tobacco sharecropper. During the Great Depression, she was taught to sing at the age of two by her mother, who had a repertoire of 50 songs. By the time she was eight, her family called her "Florency," and by age 12, she was singing at local grocery stores.

Henderson graduated from St. Francis Academy in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1951 and shortly thereafter went to New York City, enrolling in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She was an Alumna Initiate of the Alpha Chi chapter of Delta Zeta sorority.

Career Henderson started her career on the stage performing in musicals, such as the touring production of Oklahoma! and South Pacific at Lincoln Center.

She debuted on Broadway in the musical Wish You Were Here in 1952, and later starred on Broadway in the long-running 1954 musical, Fanny (888 performances) in which she originated the title role. She later appeared in "The Abbe and the Nymph", an episode of the 1950s TV series I Spy (not to be confused with the 1960s series of the same name). She also portrayed Meg March in a CBS-TV musical adaptation of Little Women, which aired October 16, 1958.

Henderson appeared in two episodes of The United States Steel Hour. She portrayed Mary Jane in an episodic adaptation of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which aired on November 20, 1957. She also appeared in "A Family Alliance", by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, which aired on June 4, 1958.

Henderson, along with Bill Hayes, appeared in the Oldsmobile commercials from 1958 through 1961 on The Patti Page Show for which Oldsmobile was the sponsor. In 1959, she sang "Don't Let a Be-Back Get Away", in Good News About Olds, an industrial musical for Oldsmobile. Bill Hayes and she also gave a musical performance on the January 13, 1960, broadcast of Tonight Starring Jack Paar. Henderson also appeared on Broadway in The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963).

In 1962, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theater, and the same year became the first woman to guest host The Tonight Show in the period after Jack Paar left as the show's host, and before Johnny Carson began his 30 years as the show's longest serving host in October 1962. She also joined the ranks of what was then called The Today Girl and often substituted for Dave Garroway on NBC's long-running morning show, doing weather and light news, a position also once held by Barbara Walters.

Dean Martin performing with Henderson on The Dean Martin Show, 1968She gave later musical performances on Paar's subsequent talk show in 1963, including the January 25 and February 22 broadcasts. She performed in the May 19, 1963, broadcast of The Voice of Firestone, alongside baritone Mario Sereni. She also released her albums under RCA Victor as part of her music career.

Primarily owing to her role on The Brady Bunch, Henderson was ranked by TV Land and Entertainment Weekly as number 54 on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Icons.

An avid game-show fan, Henderson was a frequent panelist on the original version of Hollywood Squares and made occasional appearances on The $25,000 Pyramid. Her other game show appearances include Password, the original Match Game, What's My Line? (as a panelist and a mystery guest), To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret, Snap Judgment, Personality, The Magnificent Marble Machine, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. She also appeared alongside her Brady Bunch co-star Robert Reed on the John Davidson-hosted version of Hollywood Squares and teamed with Reed, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight and Susan Olsen on one of the original Family Feud's All-Star weeks, where they finished in second place.

Henderson was the spokeswoman for Wesson cooking oil from 1974 to 1996. During that time, she hosted a cooking show on TNN, Country Kitchen,

In the 2000s, she was the spokeswoman for Polident denture cleaner.

Henderson also appeared with her TV children, as she did with Christopher Knight on the reality television series My Fair Brady. She was also in the sixth season of VH1's The Surreal Life.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Henderson would perform the song "God Bless America" at the Indianapolis 500, accompanied by the Purdue All-American Marching Band, at the request of the Hulman-George family, the owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and friends of Henderson's.

She appeared in the "Weird Al" Yankovic video for "Amish Paradise". In 2002, she made a memorable guest appearance on improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, participating in on-screen kisses with Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie.

From 2007 to 2009, Henderson co-hosted the daily talk show Living Live with former Designing Women star Meshach Taylor on Retirement Living TV. The show was reworked to focus on her and was renamed The Florence Henderson Show. On the July 12, 2010, edition of WWE Raw, Henderson appeared as the night's guest host.

Henderson was one of 12 celebrities competing on the 11th season of Dancing with the Stars, which premiered on September 20, 2010. Her professional partner was Corky Ballas, father of two-time champion Mark Ballas. On October 19, 2010, she was the fifth contestant eliminated.

Henderson voiced Barbara, Cleveland Brown's childhood nanny, in the episode "The Men In Me" of The Cleveland Show, which originally aired on March 25, 2012. The episode features a depressed and confused Cleveland singing a parody version of his show's theme before Barbara interjects and gets Cleveland to realize it does not matter who he is or who others perceive him to be as long as he accepts himself for who and what he is. At the end of the episode, Cleveland says, "Florence Henderson, everyone!"

Henderson made a special appearance on May 11, 2012, in a special Mother's Day episode on The Price Is Right with Drew Carey, displaying prizes, as well as one of the showcases.

In February 2013, she began hosting a cooking show, Who's Cooking with Florence Henderson, on Retirement Living TV. Henderson hosted several times the beauty pageants Mrs. America and Mrs. World.

One of Henderson's final public appearances was at the 10th Annual Broadway Backwards Concert presented by BroadwayCares/Equity Fights AIDS. Henderson led a group performance of "There is Nothing Like a Dame" from South Pacific, which she had starred in over sixty years prior.

Charity appearances In the 2000s, Henderson became a public benefactor to the Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, Indiana. Some of the nuns there had been early educators of Henderson. She appeared in a number of their promotional videos and helped in fundraising efforts. She won money for the sisters on the game show Weakest Link and on a classic television-themed episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2001, winning $32,000 in their name. When Henderson appeared on The Surreal Life, she refused to wear a nun's habit in a comedy skit.

Personal life Henderson married her first husband, Ira Bernstein, in 1956. They had four children together before divorcing in 1985. Three of the children worked in show business, with her oldest daughter Barbara Bernstein appearing in three episodes of The Brady Bunch. In 1987, she married her second husband, hypnotherapist Dr. John George Kappas, whom she had met when he treated her for depression and stage fright in the early 1980s. They remained married until his death in 2002. Henderson had five grandchildren.

Death Henderson died on November 24, 2016, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 82. She had been hospitalized the previous day. According to her manager, Kayla Pressman, Henderson died of heart failure. Three days before her death, Henderson had attended the recording of Dancing with the Stars to support her friend and former on-screen daughter Maureen McCormick, who was a contestant. Pressman stated that Henderson was not ill prior to her sudden hospitalization and that her death was a "shock". She was cremated, and her ashes interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Awards At the 33rd Annual Gracie Awards Gala (2008), Henderson won an Individual Achievement Award and an Outstanding Host (Information or Entertainment) for The Florence Henderson Show.

She won another Outstanding Host (Information or Entertainment) at the 37th Annual Gracie Awards Gala (2012) for co-hosting Good Food, Good Deeds.

A turf horse race for 3-year old and older fillies and mares born and bred in Indiana held at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino since 2004 is named in her honor, the Florence Henderson Stakes, on the Tuesday after Labor Day in September.

Selected filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1970 Song of Norway Nina Grieg 1992 Shakes the Clown The Unknown Woman 1994 Naked Gun : The Final Insult Herself Cameo appearance 1995 The Brady Bunch Movie Grandma (Carol's mother) Cameo appearance 1996 For Goodness Sake II Video Store Customer 1998 Holy Man Herself Cameo appearance 1999 Get Bruce Herself Documentary 2003 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Herself Cameo appearance 2008 For Heaven's Sake Sarah Miller 2010 The Christmas Bunny Betsy Ross 2016 Fifty Shades of Black Mrs. Robinson 2017 Bad Grandmas Mimi Released posthumously 2018 Bathtubs Over Broadway Herself Released posthumously

Television Year Title Role Notes Refs 1954 General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein Laurey TV special 2000 The King of Queens Lily Carrie Heffernan's stepmotherEpisode: "Dark Meet" 2001 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Herself Contestant 2001 Legend of the Candy Cane Thelma (voice) TV movie 2002 Mom's on Strike Betty TV movie 2002 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Herself Guest appearance 2003 Mrs. America Pageant Herself Host 2003 The 26th Annual Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts Herself Special appearance 2004 The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special Herself TV reunion special 2006 The Surreal Life Herself Cast member 2006 Loonatics Unleashed Mallory Mastermind (voice) 3 episodes 2007 The Ellen DeGeneres Show Herself Guest appearance 2007–09 The Florence Henderson Show Host 52 episodes 2008 Ladies of the House Rose Olmstead TV movie 2009 Samantha Who? Loretta Guest appearance 2010 WWE Raw Herself Guest host 2010 Dancing with the Stars Herself Contestant, Season 11 2012 The Cleveland Show Nanny Barbara (voice) Episode: "The Men in Me" 2012 Handy Manny Aunt Ginny (voice) Episode: "Handy Manny and the Seven Tools" 2012 Happily Divorced Elizabeth Episode: "Meet the Parents" 2012 30 Rock Herself Episode: "My Whole Life Is Thunder" 2012 Matchmaker Santa Peggy Hallmark Channel TV movie 2013 Who's Cooking with Florence Henderson Host 12 episodes 2014 Trophy Wife Frances Harrison Episode: "The Wedding - Part Two" 2014 Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off Herself Episode: "Boardwalk Bites" 2016 K.C. Undercover Irma Episode: "Dance Like No One's Watching" 2016 The Eleventh Regina 2 episodes (web series short) 2016 Chelsea Herself Episode: "Ellen Page & Inspiring Role Models" 2016–2018 Sofia the First Grand Mum (voice) 2 episodes

Stage Year Title Role Notes 1949 Carousel Carrie Pepperidge 1952 Wish You Were Here The New Girl 1952 Oklahoma! Laurey 1953 The Great Waltz Resi 1954 Fanny Fanny 1961–62, 1968, 1978 The Sound of Music Maria Rainer 1963–64 The Girl Who Came to Supper Mary Morgan 1965 The King and I Anna 1967 South Pacific Nellie Forbush 1974, 1981 Annie Get Your Gun Annie Oakley

Video games Year Title Voice 1996 You Don't Know Jack Volume 2 Herself

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