Florence Henderson of ‘The Brady Bunch,’ ‘Dancing with the Stars’ dead at 82

There’s some incredibly sad news that is coming out late this Thanksgiving evening. Florence Henderson, an iconic television actress best known for playing Carol Brady on “The Brady Bunch,” passed away at the age of 82, one day after being hospitalized. The news was confirmed by her publicity to the Associated Press.

The death comes as a bit of a blindside, given that there was not any word out there suggesting that her health was in any poor condition. Earlier this year, we saw her attend a taping of “Dancing with the Stars” in support of her former co-star Maureen McCormick, who was competing for the Mirrorball Trophy. She too had previously appeared on the show, and is pictured above with her partner Corky Ballas. While she didn’t come close to winning, her spirit on there was infectious and that helped to make her all the more beloved.

Florence’s role as Carol carried her across several years of the classic “Brady Bunch” sitcom, but that was only the beginning. She appeared in several other different spin-offs themed around the show, reprised the character on some other classic sitcoms, and even came back and had a role on the movie remake. She’d continued to work even up to this year, where she had roles on “K.C. Undercover” and a variety of other jobs. She’s one of those people who clearly loved what she did, and will be very much missed as a result of it. As a result of this, we’re sure severla networks will come up with ways to properly honor her.

One other sad but morbid bit of news is that Florence is the first former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant, at least of the U.S. version, to have left us.

Thoughts and condolences go out to her family, and everyone who loved her, during what has to be an incredibly difficult time.