Another star has fallen from the sky.<\/p>\n
Florence Henderson was everybody\u2019s mom when she played the congenial and perky Carol Brady on the popular show the \u201cBrady Bunch\u201d during the 1960s and during the 1970s. Today we say \u201cgoodbye\u201d to Henderson who passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 82 from heart failure.<\/p>\n
How did Henderson and Carol Brady become one?<\/p>\n
Henderson was filming a movie in Norway when the opportunity to appear in the \u201cBrady Bunch\u201d pilot was offered in 1969. \u00a0She was also a soprano\u00a0on Broadway and stared in musicals like \u201cThe King and I,\u201d\u00a0\u201cSouth Pacific,\u201d \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d and \u201cFanny\u201d before securing her role in television history. Henderson was the first female guest on \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d She made appearances on \u201cThe Love Boat\u201d \u201c30 Rock,\u201d <\/em>and was on\u00a0\u201cDancing With the Stars\u201d in 2010 after the “Brady Bunch” was cancelled in 1974.<\/p>\n The matriarch of the blended fictional family was often criticized for the show\u2019s plots that were wonderfully cheesy and simple. \u201cIt was really a show that was seen through the eyes of a child. It was supposed to have a little soft glow about it.\u201d However, Henderson wanted her character to be more than a stay-at-home mom on the sitcom. \u00a0She told \u201cThe HuffPost Show\u201d in 2015 that she urged the writers to change the script and to allow Carol to have a career. The reason was Henderson was a working mom with 4 kids. \u201cI begged for a job, because I\u2019ve been a working mother. I have four children. They said \u2018No, you can\u2019t.\u2019 So when we started having all of the reunions, I said, \u2018I will not come back unless you give me a job. So you know what they made me? A real estate agent!\u201d<\/p>\n We never did know what happened to Carol\u2019s husband before she married Mike Brandy as it was a mystery for years. Did she kill him? Did he leave her and the 3 girls? We almost found out in 1996 on \u201cA Very Brady Sequel\u201d\u00a0when a man claimed to be her lost husband showed up, but he was a fraud. She later joked that she actually killed her first husband. Christopher Knight played Peter Brady told \u201cEntertainment Tonight” that his television mom was very cool.<\/p>\n “There was one show where we were in the backyard with our mitts and throwing the ball around, and she was dressed like she was ready to play with us, and I think it was at that point I thought she was really cool. She could be one of the guys and very much like mom, like a mom you’d want to have, and America has responded to [her] in the same way.”<\/p>\n Henderson was born in 1934 and was raised a Roman Catholic. She was the youngest of 10 children. The New York Times<\/em> reported that her father was a sharecropper and the children cleaned other people\u2019s homes for groceries.<\/p>\n Her tough childhood did not harden her heart as Knight described Henderson as a warm person. \u00a0\u201cShe, to me, was just someone I never wanted to disappoint,” Knight explained. “I admired her so much and respected her as a child\u2026 and I’ve lived like that ever since.”<\/p>\n Barry Williams\u00a0played Greg Brady Tweeted that he was deeply saddened to hear the news of the television icon.<\/p>\n \u201cDeeply saddened,\u201d he wrote. \u201cFlorence was one of the most gracious people I have ever known, Proud to call her Mom and lifelong friend #RIPFlorence.\u201d<\/p>\n Henderson was last seen on Dancing With the Stars to support Maureen McCormick (Marsha Brady) competition on the Nov. 21. \u201cYou were fabulous,\u201d Henderson told McCormick after her performance. \u201cI\u2019m so proud.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFlorence Henderson was a dear friend for so very many years & in my <3 forever. Love & hugs to her family. I’ll miss u dearly #RIPFlorence,\u201d McCormick Tweeted.<\/p>\n How did she want to be remembered? \u00a0\u201cProbably as someone who survived for a long time in a very tough business and, hopefully, managed to retain a sense of humanity,\u201d she said in 1999.<\/p>\n She leaves 4 children and 5 grandchildren behind.<\/p>\n No one will forget the mother who captivated us and who will continue to mother another generation through syndication.<\/p>\n We say \u201cSo long\u201d to another star that has fallen from the sky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another star has fallen from the sky. Florence Henderson was everybody\u2019s mom when she played the congenial and perky Carol Brady on the popular show the \u201cBrady Bunch\u201d during the 1960s and during the 1970s. Today we say \u201cgoodbye\u201d to Henderson who passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 82 from heart failure.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-florence-henderson"],"yoast_head":"\n