Early life

Henning was born in Los Angeles, California, to television producer Paul Henning and Ruth Henning. She began to focus on acting in her late teens.

Career

Her earliest stage acting roles include: The Reluctant Dragon, Rebel Without a Cause, Bus Stop and Gidget. She was cast as a dancer in the Columbia Pictures film Bye Bye Birdie (1963). She has appeared in numerous musicals including High Button Shoes, Brigadoon and The Sound of Music.

Henning made many TV appearances during the 1960s and 1970s on a variety of programs. She appeared in guest roles in network television shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, Adam-12, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy and The Tonight Show. She also provided the voice of Jethrine Bodine in The Beverly Hillbillies.

She made dramatic appearances in Sliders as Mrs. Mallory, Hunter and Capitol. Her many game show appearances include Family Feud, The Match Game, Hollywood Squares, The Perfect Match, Three for the Money, Password, Tattletales, Showoffs, Password Plus and Body Language. Henning also became a substitute hostess on the 1974-1976 daytime edition of High Rollers.

Her most notable role was as Betty Jo Bradley in the CBS series Petticoat Junction, which ran from 1963 until 1970. She was only one of three cast members, along with Edgar Buchanan and Frank Cady, to remain throughout the show's entire run and appeared in all but two of the 222 episodes (the exception being the season 1 episode Bobbie Jo and The Beatnik and the season 2 episode Have Library, Will Travel). She was billed for the first five seasons of the series as Linda Kaye. From season 6 (Fall 1968) until the show was cancelled, she was billed by her full name. In some episodes in later years, Henning and her television sisters (played by Meredith MacRae and Lori Saunders) would sing trios and she often sang duets with co-star Mike Minor, who played Steve Elliott. The series was cancelled in 1970 due to declining ratings. In 2016, she appeared on a MeTV commercial promoting the show being shown again.

In 1968, a year after Henning's screen marriage to Mike Minor's character in Petticoat Junction, the couple married in real life. They were divorced in 1973 and had no children. Minor's father was the producer Don Fedderson.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]