![]() "She is the real thing, right of of a butter churn somewhere," wrote Walter Kerr of the New York Herald Tribune. Henderson was a 19-year-old drama student in New York when she landed a one-line role in the play "Wish You Were Here." Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were so impressed they made her the female lead in a 1952 road tour of "Oklahoma!" When the show returned to Broadway for a revival in 1954, she continued in the role and won rave reviews. Henderson, in her own book, denied having any relationship with Williams, but did acknowledge a fling with former New York City mayor John Lindsay. Barry Williams, who played eldest son Greg Brady, would confess to having a crush on his TV stepmom. Numerous memoirs also kept interest in the show alive, as cast members revealed they were more than just siblings off camera. This time she was Grandma Brady opposite Shelly Long's Carol. She was also back again in 1995 when a new cast was assembled for "The Brady Bunch Movie," a playful spoof of the original show. She and Reed did return, however, for "The Brady Bunch Hour, "The Brady Brides" and "The Bradys." So did most of the original cast. Like the Beatles, there was even a Saturday morning cartoon version called "Brady Kids," although Henderson was not in that show. We were like the Beatles!" she said of the attention the show brought the cast. The blonde, ever-smiling Henderson was already a Broadway star when the show began, having originated the title role in the musical "Fanny." But after "The Brady Bunch," she would always be known to fans as Carol Brady. The eight of them became "The Brady Bunch," with a quirky housekeeper, played by Ann B. As its theme song reminded viewers each week, Henderson's Carol was a single mother raising three daughters when she met her TV husband, Robert Reed's Mike Brady, a single father who was raising three boys. Premiering in 1969, it also was among the first shows to introduce to television the blended family. ![]() It's such a gentle, innocent, sweet show, and I guess it proved there's always an audience for that," Henderson said in 1999. "It represents what people always wanted: a loving family. But well after it ended its initial run, in 1974, the show resonated with audiences, and it returned to television in various forms again and again, including "The Brady Bunch Hour" in 1977, "The Brady Brides" in 1981 and "The Bradys" in 1990. On the surface, "The Brady Bunch" resembled just another innocuous TV sitcom about a family living in suburban America and getting into a different wacky situation each week. ![]() Family and friends had surrounded Henderson's hospital bedside, Pressman said. Henderson had suffered heart failure, her manager Kayla Pressman said in a statement. Henderson died Thursday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being hospitalized the day before, said her publicist, David Brokaw. LOS ANGELES - Florence Henderson, the wholesome actress who went from Broadway star to television icon when she became Carol Brady, the ever-cheerful matriarch of "The Brady Bunch," has died, her manager and her publicist said. ![]()
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