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Florence Henderson, the actress who played Carol Brady in “The Brady Bunch,” has passed away. America’s favorite TV mom was 82-years-old. Henderson died Thursday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after she was hospitalized the day before, said her publicist, David Brokaw. Henderson suffered heart failure, her manager Kayla Pressman said in a statement. Family and friends had surrounded Henderson’s hospital bedside, Pressman said.
“It represents what people always wanted: a loving family. It’s such a gentle, innocent, sweet show, and I guess it proved there’s always an audience for that,” Henderson said of the hit show in 1999.
Entertainment Weekly ranked Carol Brady as No. 54 on its list of the 100 greatest TV icons.
Besides “The Brady Bunch,” Henderson frequently performed “God Bless America” at the Indianapolis 500, appeared in “Weird Al” Yankovich’s video for “Amish Paradise,” and competed on the 11th season of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Florence Agnes Henderson was born Feb. 14, 1934, in the small town of Dale in southern Indiana.
Earlier this month, Henderson revealed to Fox News Magazine that younger men were interested in her and wanting to have the ultimate MILF experience.
“On my website… I get a lot of interesting emails from younger men going, ‘We think you’re hot!’ and ‘I’d love to take you out,’ which is very sweet,” Henderson said. “And … um … I don’t know. I haven’t taken any of them up on that yet, but I might.”
She is survived by her children; Barbara, Joseph, Robert and Lizzie and five grandchildren.