Marcia Henderson

Marcia Anne Henderson (July 22, 1929 – November 23, 1987), later known professionally under her married name Marcia Anne Prestlien, was an American actress born in Andover, Massachusetts, and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Henderson, she graduated from Williamstown High School in 1947, where she was active as a cheerleader, basketball and soccer player, and editor of the school newspaper, also contributing articles to two professional newspapers in the area. She went on to complete her formal training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1949.

Henderson made her Broadway debut in 1950 playing Wendy in the musical adaptation of Peter Pan, a production distinct from the more widely remembered 1954 version starring Mary Martin. This staging featured Jean Arthur in the title role and Boris Karloff in the dual roles of George Darling and Captain Hook. Critics at The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune praised Henderson's performance, and she received a 1949–50 Theatre World Award for the role. The production ran for 321 performances before closing on January 27, 1951. She also held the lead role in the touring company of The Moon Is Blue and performed in the inaugural play of the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1955.

Her film work began in earnest in 1953, when she appeared in Thunder Bay alongside James Stewart and All I Desire with Barbara Stanwyck. That same year she received co-star billing in Back to God's Country with Rock Hudson and The Glass Web with Edward G. Robinson. In 1954 she appeared in the drama Naked Alibi with Sterling Hayden, followed by the western Canyon River in 1956 and The Wayward Girl in 1957. Her 1962 film Deadly Duo gave her the opportunity to play dual roles as twin characters.

Henderson built a substantial television career alongside her film work. She played Kathleen Anderson on The Aldrich Family in one of her first regular television roles, and in 1951 co-starred in Two Girls Named Smith, a Saturday program broadcast on ABC. From 1954 to 1955 she co-starred with Peter Lawford in the NBC situation comedy Dear Phoebe. In 1958 she had a lead guest role in an episode of The Restless Gun with John Payne. The following year she appeared in the short-lived series World of Giants, playing secretary and personal assistant Dorothy Brown alongside Marshall Thompson and Arthur Franz, and made guest appearances on Bat Masterson with Gene Barry, on an episode of Wanted Dead or Alive titled "The Hostage" with Steve McQueen, and on The Deputy in the episode "The Silent Gun" with Henry Fonda.

On October 15, 1950, Henderson married medical student Robert Brodsky in New York City; the couple divorced in December 1953. She married actor Robert Ivers in 1961, and together they had two daughters, Alenda and Mallory. Beginning in 1957, Henderson was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, a condition that severely curtailed her acting career through the 1960s. She was subsequently diagnosed with lupus as well. Henderson died on November 23, 1987, in Yakima, Washington, at the age of 58.