The 22-year-old Frenchwoman, seeded 18th, produced a dazzling display to hit back from a torrid first set and book a Saturday showdown with three-times champion Venus Williams. Venus walloped and screamed her way into her sixth Wimbledon final with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic earlier in the day.
"I'm so excited to be in the final, it's a dream come true," Bartoli said after completing the biggest victory of her career.
"I was so stressed in the first set because it was my first time on Centre Court but then I just forgot about who I was playing and played the ball."
Henin, chasing the only grand slam title to elude her, looked invincible during a 22-minute first set, swishing away baseline winners at will. Bartoli, whose previous best run at a grand slam was the fourth round at last month's French Open, suddenly relaxed and began striking the ball with more confidence.
She broke for a 3-1 lead, only for Henin quickly to snuff out the danger. Henin then seemed set to regain control when a rolled backhand gave her another break to lead 4-3.
Bartoli responded in the next game with a pummelled backhand winner to make it 4-4. Henin squandered two break points at 5-5 and was made to pay when she lost her serve to love, Bartoli thrashing away a volley to level the match.
Fired up and clearly revelling in the atmosphere, Bartoli's tennis reached near perfection for the next five games as she pulled Henin all over the court. Banging double-fisted drives into the corners, crafting clever angles and delicate drop shots she gave Henin the runaround to lead 5-0.  Henin managed to stop the rot by holding serve but Bartoli showed no nerves to close out the match on her first match point when a shell-shocked Henin hit long.
Seeded 23 here after several injury setbacks, Venus has overcome a shaky start to the championships to display the type of power play that has made her bid for a fourth title at the All England Club increasingly realistic.  With a world ranking of 31, she is the lowest-ranked player to reach the women's final since computer rankings began in 1975.
Nadal, Federer win
In the men’s event, French Open champion Rafael Nadal beat Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the last four for the second successive year.
In the semifinals, the second seed will meet Serbian Novak Djokovic, who put out 10th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.  In another quarterfinal, Roger Federer, the top seed overcame Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 7-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Roddick ousted
Federer’s semifinal opponent will be Richard Gasquet of France, who knocked out third seeded American Andy Roddick 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-6.
Prefix number denotes seeding: Men (quarterfinals): 4-Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt 10-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 7-6(4), 7-6(9), 6-7(3), 4-6, 7-5; 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt 7-Tomas Berdych (Cze) 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-2; 12-Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt 3-Andy Roddick (US) 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3), 8-6.
Women (semifinals): 23-Venus Williams (US) bt 6-Ana Ivanovic (Ser) 6-2, 6-4; 18-Marion Bartoli (France) beat 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) 1-6 7-5 6-1.