Florence Henderson, known to millions for her role as matriarch Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch, has died aged 82.



According to her representatives, she died on Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, a day after being admitted to hospital.

First shown in 1969, The Brady Bunch told of single parents with children who marry to form a "blended" family.

Born in 1934 in southern Indiana, the actress began her career in theatre before turning to television.

She made her first stage appearance in New York at 19 - a one-line role in a play called Wish You Were Here.

She went on to land the female lead in a tour of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, which eventually took her to Broadway in 1954.

She subsequently played Maria in The Sound of Music and Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.