Florence Henderson

Born in February 1934 in Dale, Indiana, Florence Henderson sang and danced from early childhood, attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York from the age of 17. She had a bit-part role in Joshua Logan's Wish You Were Here (1952), which brought an offer to play the lead in the first national tour of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's Oklahoma! in 1953. After this and a brief spell in theater in Los Angeles, she returned to New York to star in Logan's Fanny (1954). In the late '50s and early '60s she appeared in leading roles in touring productions of sev...