Florence Henderson (1934 – 2016) had an entertainment career spanning six decades.
She was a singer, recording artist, film and television actress and Broadway musical leading lady. She also hosted several long-running cooking and variety shows over the years.
She is one of those performers who will always be remembered for one role, which in her case was the part of wife and mother Carol Brady in THE BRADY BUNCH (117 episodes/1969 – 1974).
Her auto-biography LIFE IS NOT A STAGE traces her early childhood, rise up through the ranks of musical theatre, stardom and later career highlights.
Henderson was the youngest of 10 children raised in rural Indiana. She learnt to sing at age two, and after numerous early successes in musical theater debuted on Broadway in the musical WISH YOU WERE HERE in 1952.
From 1958 -1961 she became the face of General Motor’s OLDSMOBILE, appearing in many ads and sponsored tv spots for the car brand.
She was also the very first female guest host of THE TONIGHT SHOW.
Her role as matriarch Carol Brady in THE BRADY BUNCH was initially offered to her best friend Shirley Jones (now aged 91), who went on to star in a similar role as mother Shirley Patridge in THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY (1970 – 1974).
In this scene from the THE BRADY BUNCH Season Two episode titled ‘Coming-Out Party’ – Carol Brady gets a surprise diagnosis when a doctor attends the house for her daughter Cindy…
Florence Henderson appeared in a number of movies in the later part of her career, including …
She competed on DANCING WITH THE STARS at age 76 –
Her autobiography is written in a warm, down-to earth conversational tone. I finished it in a week. For a slow ‘n steady / ‘dip in–dip out’ reader, that’s the literary equivalent of a standing ovation.
ACT – TING is a 6-part mockumentary comedy series set in a failing London drama school. It’s pretty funny. If you wanted to take a look, click HERE.
Fans of GILLIGAN’S ISLAND really should click HERE.
Wow. I cannot believe it’s been a decade already, ’cause I remember blogging about her death! It was titled “What Fresh Hell?” because it was like, how is this possible, Mrs. Brady is gone? I had no idea she started so young in the Biz but I’m not surprised. And she looked pretty good dancing in her mid-70s! It was a strange, sudden death from heart attack that no one was expecting. But a full life, so not necessarily tragic. Only in the sense that Mrs. B. is gone. Waaaah! My mom took my brother and I to see the Brady kids when they were performing at the Hollywood Bowl. I’m sure I already told you this. I just remember seeing Cindy looking right at the crowd where I was standing (they were going up some stairs or something, and we caught them in transit) and she looked absolutely terrified.
That ‘waaah’ was so cool!
Love waaahs!
Thank you so much for reading this post Stacey and fabulous anecdote about Susan Olsen.