Florence Agnes Henderson's role as Mrs. Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch, which ran from 1969 to 1974, not only named her one of TV Land and Entertainment Weekly magazine's 100 Greatest TV Icons, it catapulted her to being a permanent cultural icon. Born in Dale, Indiana on February 14, 1934, Henderson also came from a big family of ten. She started out her career in musicals and theater productions, yet her role in the global success that is The Brady Bunch made her typify the role of a warm, caring, and perpetually smiling mother who is rational in all her advice. Indeed, it is this distinction that earned her stints in a string of television endeavors including game shows, cooking shows, talk shows, and even reality shows, the most notable of which is, of course, as a full-time and on-call therapist for the celebrities in the sixth season of VH1's The Surreal Life.
The reality show, which features celebrities who are said to have been past their primes, puts them in a Hollywood Hills mansion for two weeks while given strenuous tasked supposed to test their communal skills, all while being followed by an unforgiving camera that aimed to capture their every move. Although she was primarily on the show to give therapy to the stressed celebrities, her stint seemed to have done the opposite. For instance, after being called an immoral slut, Playboy model Andrea Lowell became one of her more outspoken critics. She attacked the Brady mom's image as being all part of an act. She said Henderson was just trying to maintain her Carol Brady bulls--- to appeal to her fan base. More toned down in his criticism is wresting star Maven Huffman, who similarly accused Henderson of coming in the mansion with an agenda – to be Carol Brady, not Florence Henderson.
(Photo courtesy of VH1)