Many sides to TV star's long career

Anyone who only knows Florence Henderson as the mom on "The Brady Bunch" is missing out on huge chapters in the career of a real showbiz dynamo.

Henderson has worked nonstop in just about every medium for more than 50 years, from the Broadway stage to the recording studio. She recounts the highs and lows of her life on stage and off in the autobiographical one-woman show "All the Lives of Me ... A Musical Journey," which kicked off its national tour recently at Sunset's Catalina Bar & Grill in Los Angeles.

"It starts with my childhood and has a lot of music and humor," Henderson says. "People tell me it's moving. Not everything is peaches and cream."

As she embarked on this latest endeavor, Henderson also reached a major milestone in her life: Today she turns 75 years old.

"You say that and I say, 'You're kidding me,' " she says in a telephone interview. "I hear people say this, but I'm so active and I do so much and feel so good. I guess I'm very blessed; I feel 35."

She also remains remarkably youthful looking and fit.

"Looking at her and seeing her energy, she wears me to the bone," says Glen Roven, the four-time Emmy-winning composer who collaborated with Henderson on the show. "She's a real lesson to all of us in terms of keeping going and enjoying every minute of life."

The show debuted last year at Feinstein's in New York City and got raves for its between-songs patter in addition to Henderson's well-known singing ability.

Among the musical numbers she's doing are "Moonshine Lullaby" from "Annie Get Your Gun," the Barry Manilow-penned "I Am Your Child" and "One" from "A Chorus Line," in honor of the late Robert Reed, who played her "Brady Bunch" husband.

The show's title "All the Lives of Me" is by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, who were Henderson's mentors. She also asked comedy writer Bruce Vilanch to contribute some material to her opening number.

"A lot of people from (younger) generations think I'm just an actress, so when they come and hear me sing, it's, 'Wow!'" she says. "Every 'Brady Bunch' hiatus, I was off doing a musical. It's part of the fabric of my career."

Henderson chose an experienced hand in Roven, who has produced the Tony Awards and one-woman shows for Liza Minnelli and Patti LuPone. He thinks audiences will be entertained and surprised.

"It's a very, very moving show," Roven says. "Florence really tells it all — the truth and nothing but the truth. She gets into it all. I always say Florence is salty but not bitter."

Henderson has loved all phases of her career in show business. .

"The minute I got into my first show, I thought, 'Oh, my God, this is my vocation.' " she says. "I did some Broadway shows and I got into TV in the late '50s and I thought, 'This is a great medium. It's fast.'

"Everything was live then. I did Oldsmobile commercials, then I did concerts and nightclubs, and before you knew it, I was working in five different unions. I diversified very, very young. That's all I ever wanted: to be in the business at a pretty top level until I was 95. I didn't need to be a big flash in the pan."

Henderson will appear on the hit show "Samantha Who?" as Christina Applegate's grandmother and Jean Smart's mother. The episode, slated for later this spring, also features Tony winner Christine Ebersole as her other daughter.

On this show, Henderson will be a far cry from Carol Brady. She says of the character: "Nobody loved me, and why should I love these two girls? She's a tough broad."

The door is open for some return appearances, which Henderson hopes will happen because she had such a good time on the show. "Jean Smart is to die for. And Christina Applegate? I haven't been that impressed with a young actress in so many years."