'DWTS': Barry Williams honors TV mom Florence Henderson

Barry Williams pays tribute to late ‘Brady Bunch’ co-star Florence Henderson on ‘DWTS’

Alfonso Ribeiro in a blue suit, Barry Williams in a red suit and Peta Murgatroyd in a red dress, all standing on a stage

Oct. 11, 2023 1:35 PM PT

Here’s the story of a man named Barry, who paid loving tribute to his TV mom during the latest episode of “Dancing With the Stars.”

Actor Barry Williams took a moment to honor his late “Brady Bunch” co-star Florence Henderson after performing a tango with partner Peta Murgatroyd on Tuesday’s installment of “Dancing With the Stars.” Williams played Greg, the eldest of the Brady children, while Henderson portrayed Carol, the matriarch of the family, in the classic sitcom.

Asked by co-host Julianne Hough if he was “channeling something” during his “DWTS” performance Tuesday, Williams said, “As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Florence Henderson was on this show,” he explained, harking back to the 11th season of the competition program.

“She was a friend but a mentor as well, and she is the one who encouraged me to do ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ So I’m feeling Florence here.”

Henderson came in eighth place on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2010, while Williams just advanced to the fourth round of Season 32.

In a recent interview with People magazine, Williams recalled Henderson asking him to “carry the torch” after she was eliminated from the competition. Henderson died in 2016 at age 82.

“Being familiar with my theatrical background, she felt that I could do very well,” he said.

Williams famously had a crush on Henderson during their time together on “The Brady Bunch,” which ran for five seasons from 1969 to 1974. Some even speculated that the teen actor was romantically involved with his TV mother behind the scenes — but that rumor was recently debunked by their co-star Susan Olsen, who insisted that “there wasn’t anything going on with them except for mutual respect and love.”

“She was very kind to him,” Olsen told Fox News earlier this year. “She let him take her out for her birthday. So I don’t like the implication that’s been out there that something was going on with them.”

According to the Huffington Post, Williams reminisced about their birthday date — which ended with Henderson giving him a kiss on the cheek — and clarified the extent of his feelings for his castmate in his 1992 memoir, “Growing Up Brady.”

“When those little things called hormones start kicking in, you get excited by even inanimate objects. It wasn’t that I sought to bed her. I just wanted to spend time with her,” Williams wrote.

“It was flattering that she gave me any attention at all.”

Barry Williams pays tribute to late ‘Brady Bunch’ co-star Florence Henderson on ‘DWTS’

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