FLORENCE HENDERSON

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(14 February 1934 - 24 November 2016)

Florence Henderson

Stage, film and TV actress Florence Henderson was in show business from an early age. At 18 she was cast in the Harold Rome musical Wish You Were Here, while her first TV appearance was in a tribute to Rodgers & Hammerstein in 1954. She made umpteen TV shows but is best-known for playing the mother in The Brady Bunch series and its various spin-offs, plus she also played Carol Brady in The Love Boat. Her first film was Song of Norway in 1970 and then Shakes the Clown 22 years later, a black comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait. She played Grandma in The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) and in the 2000s appeared as herself in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, graced For Heaven’s Sake, was Carmen in Venus and Vegas, played Betsy Ross in The Christmas Bunny, and Mrs Robinson in Fifty Shades of Black. Florence Henderson was a huge supporter of charities and helped to raise millions in her lifetime. Her last film, Grandmothers Murder Club, is due out in 2017.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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