Linda Henning (born September 16, 1944) is an American actress and singer who made two appearances in two different roles in Mork & Mindy, in Season 1's It's A Wonderful Mork and Season 2's Hold That Mork.
Biography[]
Linda Kaye Henning was born in Los Angeles to television producer Paul Henning and his wife, Ruth.
Her mother enrolled her in the children's theater group, The Peter Pan Players, to help her overcome her extreme shyness, and she performed in a number of fairy tale pieces such as "Cinderella", "Pinocchio" and "Snow White". It worked and she stayed with it into her teen years.
Henning married Petticoat Junction co-star Mike Minor in 1968. They divorced in 1973. She re-married to actor Leon Ashby Adams in 1994.
Career[]
Trained to be a dancer, Henning began to focus on acting in her late teens. Her career began in 1963. Her earliest stage acting roles include Rebel Without a Cause, Bus Stop and Gidget. She was cast as a dancer in the Ann Margret, Dick Van Dyke starring, Columbia Pictures film Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Bea Benaderet saw her in one of their productions and told Paul Henning, the Petticoat Junction (1963) creator, that she would be ideal for the role of one of the daughters on their upcoming TV series. She auditioned and landed the role of Betty Jo Bradley on Petticoat Junction (1963), on which she remained for its entire seven-year run -- and for which she is perhaps most famous.
Henning made many TV appearances from the 1960s through the 1980s on a variety of programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show, Adam-12, Happy Days, The Facts of Life and The Tonight Show. She provided the voice of Jethrine Bodine in The Beverly Hillbillies. She made dramatic appearances in Hunter, Capitol and in Sliders as Mrs. Mallory. Her many game show appearances include Family Feud, Match Game, Hollywood Squares, The Perfect Match, Three for the Money, Password, Tattletales, Showoffs, Password Plus and Body Language. She was a substitute hostess on the 1974–1976 daytime edition of High Rollers.
On stage, she appeared in numerous musicals, including High Button Shoes, Brigadoon and The Sound of Music.
Mork & Mindy[]
Linda Henning appeared twice in the show, playing two different roles:
In Season 1's - It's A Wonderful Mork - as Margaret, the editor of Rocky Mountain Illustrated, who is involved in a budding and quite heated relationship with Fred McConnell, and open to giving Mindy an opportunity for a good temp job to balance her college work. Both of which Mork wrecks when he gets too honest with her over what Fred has been saying about their relationship.
In Season 2's - Hold That Mork - as Pam Stockhaus, the Manager of the Pony Express, the Denver Bronco's Cheerleading Squad, who first resists, then gives Mork a chance at a tryout as the first Male Cheerleader.