CANDICE BERGEN
Name: Candice Patricia Bergen
Born: 9 May 1946 Beverly Hills, California, United States
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an Academy Award-nominated and
Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning American actress and former fashion model,
known primarily for her roles in sitcoms and television. She is best known for
her starring role on the television situation comedy Murphy Brown, and as
Shirley Schmidt, the legal partner of Denny Crane (played by William Shatner),
on the ABC hit comedy-drama Boston Legal. Earlier in her career she starred in
the famous Revisionist Western movie Soldier Blue.
She was born in Beverly Hills, California, the daughter of Frances Westerman,
who was known professionally as Frances Westcott when she was a Powers model,
and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Her paternal grandparents, Johan Henriksson
Berggren and Nilla Svensdotter Osberg, were Swedish-born immigrants who
Anglicized their surname. As a child, Bergen was often referred to as Charlie
McCarthy's little sister, which irritated her (Charlie McCarthy being her father's
star puppet).
Candice first appeared in 1958, at age eleven, with her father on Groucho Marx's
quiz show You Bet Your Life as Candy Bergen. She said that when she grew up she
wanted to design clothes. In 1966, Bergen played the role of Shirley Eckert, an
assistant school teacher in the movie The Sand Pebbles, which was nominated for
several Academy Awards.
Bergen has written articles, a play, and a memoir. She has also studied
photography and worked as a photojournalist. Considered one of Hollywood's most
beautiful women, Bergen worked as a fashion model but soon began acting. Despite
initial rocky reviews, she appeared in such films as Carnal Knowledge and
Starting Over, for which she received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for
best supporting actress.
On Murphy Brown, Bergen played a tough television reporter. Although the show
was a successful comedy, it tackled important issues: Murphy Brown, a recovering
alcoholic, became a single mother and later battled breast cancer. In 1992, then
Vice President Dan Quayle criticized prime-time TV for showing the Murphy Brown
character "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and
calling it just another lifestyle choice." While his remarks became comedic
fodder, they paved the way for a subsequent episode to explore the subject of
family values within a diverse set of families. Remaining true to the show's
humor, Murphy arranges for a truckload of potatoes to be dumped in front of
Quayle's residence; a reference to an infamous incident in which Quayle
misspelled the word "potato" as "potatoe". In real life, however, Bergen agreed
with at least some of Quayle's observations, saying Quayle's speech was "a
perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody
agreed with that more than I did," according to the Associated Press. Bergen's
run on Murphy Brown was extremely successful; between 1989 and 1995 she was
nominated for an Emmy Award seven times and won five. After her fifth win, she
declined future nominations for her role as Murphy Brown.
After playing the role of the successful journalist, Bergen was offered the
chance to work as a real-life journalist. After the run of Murphy Brown ended in
1998, CBS gave her the opportunity to cover some stories for 60 Minutes, an
offer she declined. She expressed that acting was her profession, journalism was
meant for her television character, and should not cross over into her own
professional life.
After Murphy Brown, Bergen hosted Exhale with Candice Bergen on the Oxygen
network. She also appeared in character roles in films, most notably Miss
Congeniality as the sweet-yet-demented pageant host Kathy Morningside; she also
portrayed the mayor of New York in Sweet Home Alabama. In 2003, she appeared in
the movie View from the Top. In January 2005, Bergen joined the cast of Boston
Legal as Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner in the law firm of Crane, Poole &
Schmidt. Bergen received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Drama Series for her performance in Boston Legal in 2006.
She has also done guest appearances on many TV shows, including Seinfeld (playing
Murphy Brown), Law & Order, Family Guy, Will & Grace (playing herself), and Sex
and the City, where she played Enid Frick, Carrie Bradshaw's editor at Vogue. A
frequent host on NBC's Saturday Night Live, Bergen appeared twice in 1975, and
once in 1976, 1987, and 1990. She is also well-known for starring in a long-running
"Dime Lady" ad campaign for the Sprint phone company.
Name: Candice Patricia Bergen
Born: 9 May 1946 Beverly Hills, California, United States
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an Academy Award-nominated and
Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning American actress and former fashion model,
known primarily for her roles in sitcoms and television. She is best known for
her starring role on the television situation comedy Murphy Brown, and as
Shirley Schmidt, the legal partner of Denny Crane (played by William Shatner),
on the ABC hit comedy-drama Boston Legal. Earlier in her career she starred in
the famous Revisionist Western movie Soldier Blue.
She was born in Beverly Hills, California, the daughter of Frances Westerman,
who was known professionally as Frances Westcott when she was a Powers model,
and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Her paternal grandparents, Johan Henriksson
Berggren and Nilla Svensdotter Osberg, were Swedish-born immigrants who
Anglicized their surname. As a child, Bergen was often referred to as Charlie
McCarthy's little sister, which irritated her (Charlie McCarthy being her father's
star puppet).
Candice first appeared in 1958, at age eleven, with her father on Groucho Marx's
quiz show You Bet Your Life as Candy Bergen. She said that when she grew up she
wanted to design clothes. In 1966, Bergen played the role of Shirley Eckert, an
assistant school teacher in the movie The Sand Pebbles, which was nominated for
several Academy Awards.
Bergen has written articles, a play, and a memoir. She has also studied
photography and worked as a photojournalist. Considered one of Hollywood's most
beautiful women, Bergen worked as a fashion model but soon began acting. Despite
initial rocky reviews, she appeared in such films as Carnal Knowledge and
Starting Over, for which she received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for
best supporting actress.
On Murphy Brown, Bergen played a tough television reporter. Although the show
was a successful comedy, it tackled important issues: Murphy Brown, a recovering
alcoholic, became a single mother and later battled breast cancer. In 1992, then
Vice President Dan Quayle criticized prime-time TV for showing the Murphy Brown
character "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and
calling it just another lifestyle choice." While his remarks became comedic
fodder, they paved the way for a subsequent episode to explore the subject of
family values within a diverse set of families. Remaining true to the show's
humor, Murphy arranges for a truckload of potatoes to be dumped in front of
Quayle's residence; a reference to an infamous incident in which Quayle
misspelled the word "potato" as "potatoe". In real life, however, Bergen agreed
with at least some of Quayle's observations, saying Quayle's speech was "a
perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody
agreed with that more than I did," according to the Associated Press. Bergen's
run on Murphy Brown was extremely successful; between 1989 and 1995 she was
nominated for an Emmy Award seven times and won five. After her fifth win, she
declined future nominations for her role as Murphy Brown.
After playing the role of the successful journalist, Bergen was offered the
chance to work as a real-life journalist. After the run of Murphy Brown ended in
1998, CBS gave her the opportunity to cover some stories for 60 Minutes, an
offer she declined. She expressed that acting was her profession, journalism was
meant for her television character, and should not cross over into her own
professional life.
After Murphy Brown, Bergen hosted Exhale with Candice Bergen on the Oxygen
network. She also appeared in character roles in films, most notably Miss
Congeniality as the sweet-yet-demented pageant host Kathy Morningside; she also
portrayed the mayor of New York in Sweet Home Alabama. In 2003, she appeared in
the movie View from the Top. In January 2005, Bergen joined the cast of Boston
Legal as Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner in the law firm of Crane, Poole &
Schmidt. Bergen received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Drama Series for her performance in Boston Legal in 2006.
She has also done guest appearances on many TV shows, including Seinfeld (playing
Murphy Brown), Law & Order, Family Guy, Will & Grace (playing herself), and Sex
and the City, where she played Enid Frick, Carrie Bradshaw's editor at Vogue. A
frequent host on NBC's Saturday Night Live, Bergen appeared twice in 1975, and
once in 1976, 1987, and 1990. She is also well-known for starring in a long-running
"Dime Lady" ad campaign for the Sprint phone company.