Florence Agnes Henderson, perhaps best known as Carol Brady from The Brady Bunch, was born in Dale, Indiana, on February 14, 1934. Her father, Joseph Henderson, worked as a sharecropper while her mother, Elizabeth Elder, stayed home to take care of Henderson and her nine siblings. Henderson attended school at St. Francis Academy in Owensboro, Kentucky, where she graduated in 1951. Having developed an impressive singing voice at a very young age, she decided to expand her talents by attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City upon her graduation.

Growing up during the Depression wasn’t easy for the young Henderson.

She spent a lot of her time working in tobacco fields alongside her father and siblings. At the age of 12, Henderson began singing at local stores in exchange for food. Her struggles as a child and her journey throughout the years later became the subject of Henderson’s one woman show titled All the Lives of Me…A Musical Journey.

At 17 years old, Henderson began performing on stage. Her incredible talent led to roles on and off Broadway as well as several television and film roles. Her first major television role was that of Carol Brady in the long running series The Brady Bunch. She later starred in several Brady Bunch spin-offs, including The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Girls Get Married, The Brady Brides, The Bradys and The Brady Bunch Movie. Most recently, Henderson has appeared in the 2008 movie For Heaven Sakes, the 2009 movie Venus & Vegas as well as the ABC television series Samantha Who? Henderson’s great works have earned her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well as a TV Land Pop Culture Award for her role in The Brady Bunch.

In January 1956, Henderson married theatrical manager Ira Bernstein. The couple share four children, Barbara, Joseph, Robert and Elizabeth. After 28 years of marriage, the couple divorced. Henderson remarried in August of 1987 to Dr. John Kappas, a hypnotherapist. Kappas died in 2002 and Henderson currently remains single. Aside from acting, Henderson spends much of her time as a motivational speaker as well as a supporter of the Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, Indiana. She currently resides in Los Angeles. Henderson will be remembered for many years to come as one of America’s strongest women as well as one of television’s greatest and most loved mothers.