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Interview: Florence Henderson

By Lorrie Lynch

There were plenty of times during the five television seasons that The Brady Bunch aired (from 1969-74) that I wished my own mother could be more like Florence Henderson's near-perfect Carol Brady. Just a little older than Marcia, I wanted a room full of the kind of patience and advice Mrs. Brady doled out without ever raising her voice or making a scene. No such luck.

Fast forward 25 years. I have a daughter of my own, between the ages of Jan and Cindy. Thanks to Nick at Night, my baby thinks The Brady Bunch rules. Okay, so she does think some of those mid, 70s hair, styles are a bit weird. But I'm sure she occasionally wishes her own mom would listen with Carol Brady's attentiveness and fix momentous problems with a quick word or two. She's outta luck as well.

Carol Brady doesn't exist in real homes. Yet multiple generations admire and respect her, which pleases Florence Henderson no end. When I tell Henderson that I actually prefer my child's attachment to The Brady Bunch over almost anything else that's on television today, she "hmms" knowingly. She hears it all the time, often from young parents. It's no wonder Henderson, now 65, embraces her so.

Henderson: Carol Brady allows me to come in the door and for people to feel comfortable and go, 'Oh, I know her. She's a nice lady.' Then they find out I'm a little different than Carol and they get to know Florence. I think it's a wonderful gift.

So, it's not a persona you're trying to shed?
Oh, no. I know some people have done things that have taken on the life that The Brady Bunch has resent it. But I think you have to cherish your past and that includes where you came from. Because people are curious, they're interested. And they just happen to have such affection for this show. It would be rude if I didn't respect that.

You're about to take on a new venture - co-hosting a post-Today show program. And as I was reading up on you, I realized you live in California and the show is in New York.
My life has never been easy. When I got The Brady Bunch (taped in California), I was living in New York. It's like all the major events of my life have always been difficult. But I am so excited about this opportunity, I feel like a kid.

You SOUND like somebody who's new at the business and you're a veteran.
I'm just so enthusiastic. My goal has always been to be like a female George Burns. Having had the opportunity to work with him so many times, especially at the end of his life, I felt so inspired by him all the time. I totally agreed with him. We would talk about how lucky we were to find something that we loved when we were kids and to just grow more in love with it as time goes on. That's the way I feel about this business.

That's fabulous. So many people grow disillusioned.
Yeah, I know. They get jaded and they look at everything as if it's a chore, the demands and all that. Listen, I would do it for nothing. Of course, I don't tell them that.

So are you going to move to New York?
I'm trying to take it as it comes. I live on a boat, which is in the midst of renovation. All I know is that I'm leaving for New York (in August). What I'm taking, I don't know yet. I figure the good Lord will put me in the right place and hopefully I'll have the right clothes on. I think what we're going to do is bring the boat through the Panama Canal. My husband has always wanted to do that. So I think we'll do that and have the boat in Florida for the winter.

When I first went to New York I was right out of high school, I was 17 years old, and I had never seen a building over two stories high. I flew there and got off this plane and went, 'Wow.' I was scared, but I felt like I was coming home in a sense. And I lived there for many years. So I f eel like that today. Like I'm coming home.

And you're coming home to Today as well. I read that you were a "Today girl" in 1960. What was that?
It was 1959 and '60. Essentially, it was a much smaller version of what Katie does. She's one of my heroes, Katie Couric. She's just so incredible. In person, she is one of the funniest, wittiest, wickedest...she's precious. She's right up my alley. But when I started, we did interviews. I sang, y'know, I'm a singer. I had that added thing. Hopefully, I'll be singing on the new show.

What will the new show be like?
One of the exciting things about it is it's going to unfold and we'll find where our strengths lie. I started in live television and I've done a lot of live TV and that's really the thing that I love best. I love flying by the seat of my pants.

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