John F. Kennedy
Famous Military Veterans
Marilyn Monroe
Anthony Weiner
My Ghost Story
I Survived
Babe Ruth
Johnny Cash
Georgia O'Keefe
I Survived
Quick Facts
- NAME: Florence Henderson
- OCCUPATION: Television Actress
- BIRTH DATE: February 14, 1934 (Age: 79)
- EDUCATION: American Academy of Dramatic Arts
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Dale, Indiana
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius
Best Known For
Quiz
Think you know about Biography?
Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.
Play NowFlorence Henderson. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:03, May 26, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153.
Florence Henderson. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153 [Accessed 26 May 2013].
"Florence Henderson." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 26 2013, 03:03 http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153.
"Florence Henderson," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153 [accessed May 26, 2013].
"Florence Henderson," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153 (accessed May 26, 2013).
Florence Henderson [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 26] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153.
Florence Henderson, http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153 (last visited May 26, 2013).
Florence Henderson. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/florence-henderson-9542153. Accessed May 26, 2013.
Synopsis
Actress Florence Henderson was born on February 14, 1934, in Dale, Indiana. She appeared on Broadway and also starred in the national tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. Henderson was The Tonight Show’s first female guest host. In 1969 she landed the role that made her famous, Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch. The sitcom ran for five years. Starting in 2008, she hosted The Florence Henderson Show.
Early Career
Actress Florence Henderson was born on February 14, 1934, in Dale, Indiana. The youngest of 10 children, Henderson began performing at an early age. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and quickly started a successful theater career. Rodgers & Hammerstein selected her for the lead in the national tour of Oklahoma, and she appeared on Broadway in Noel Coward's The Girl Who Came to Supper.
Acting Career
In 1970, she made her first feature film, The Song of Norway and she was a regular guest on variety and talk shows with Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen and Dean Martin. Henderson holds the distinction of being the first woman ever to guest host The Tonight Show.
'The Brady Bunch'
The role for which Henderson is most famous came in 1969. For five years, she played the quintessential sitcom mom Carol Brady on TV's The Brady Bunch. The show was a hit, and became increasingly popular in re-runs. It is now considered a cultural icon of the '70s, spawning two feature "spoof" films in the mid-'90s.
Recent Work
Since then, Henderson worked as a producer on the Nashville Network's Country Kitchen for nine seasons, and guest starred on numerous sitcoms, including Roseanne, and as a recurring character on Dave's World. In 1999, Henderson joined NBC News as c-ohost of the morning show Later Today.
In 2008 Henderson became the host of her own show, The Florence Henderson Show which was nominated for an Emmy in 2010.
Personal Life
Henderson has four children, Barbara, Lizzie, Joseph, and Robert, with her first husband Ira Bernstein, to whom she was married from 1955 to 1985. She married hypnotherapist John Kappas in 1987. He passed away in 2002.
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
profile name: Florence Henderson profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
TV Moms: 1960s
View groupAs traditional family structures changed in America, so did the women of 1960s television. Mary Tyler Moore began wearing the pants in the family, when she traded in her housedress for capris on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Florence Henderson played the head of a blended family on The Brady Bunch, and Lucille Ball starred as a widow with big career aspirations on The Lucy Show. These shows, and others like them, reflected the burgeoning 1960s feminist movement. Their popularity among female viewers also proved a growing national interest in women's equality.
TV Moms: 1960s 5 people in this group
-
The Ed Sullivan Show Guests
View groupOriginally called Toast of the Town, The Ed Sullivan Show ran from 1948-1971 on CBS and was an American staple in the 50s and 60s. The American variety show featured the Who's Who of celebritydom over the decades, including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Tony Bennett, Carol Channing, Lucille Ball, The Jackson 5, and The Doors.
The Ed Sullivan Show Guests 215 people in this group
-
Cast of Dancing with the Stars
View groupThe famous dance-competition show Dancing with the Stars has seen more than a dozen seasons and a gamut of stars, including Apolo Anton Ohno, Kirstie Alley, Joey Fatone, Jennifer Grey, David Hasselhoff, Buzz Aldrin, Brandy, Wynonna Judd, Dorothy Hamill, D.L. Hughley and Aly Raisman. Learn more about the show's contestants, who, for a period, swapped their skills as athletes, actors, musicians, comedians, TV personalities and politicians for a chance to show off their footwork on national TV.
Cast of Dancing with the Stars 92 people in this group
