Candice Bergen

Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress and former fashion model. She won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her ten seasons as the title character on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown (1988–98, 2018–present). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmidt on the ABCdrama Boston Legal (2005–08). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Starting Over (1979), and for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Gandhi (1982).
Bergen began her career as a fashion model and appeared on the front cover of Vogue before she made her screen debut in the 1966 film The Group. She went on to star in The Sand Pebbles (1966), Soldier Blue (1970), Carnal Knowledge (1971), and The Wind and the Lion (1975). She made her Broadway debut in the 1984 play Hurlyburly, and went on to star in the revivals of The Best Man (2012) and Love Letters (2014). From 2002 to 2004, she appeared in three episodes of the HBO series Sex and the City. Her other film roles include Miss Congeniality (2000), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), The Women (2008), Bride Wars (2009), and Book Club (2018).
== Early life ==
Bergen was born in Beverly Hills, California.[2] Her mother, Frances Bergen (néeWesterman), was a Powers model who was known professionally as Frances Westcott.[3] Her father, Edgar Bergen, was a famous ventriloquist, comedian, and actor. Her paternal grandparents were Swedish-born immigrants who anglicizedtheir surname, which was originally Berggren ("mountain branch").
As a child, Candice was irritated at being described as "Charlie McCarthy's little sister" (referring to her father's star dummy).[4]
She began appearing on her father's radio program at a young age,[5] and in 1958, at age 11, 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.
She later attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she was elected both Homecoming Queen and Miss University, but, as Bergen later acknowledged, she failed to take her education seriously and after failing two courses in art and opera, she was asked to leave at the end of her sophomore year. She ultimately received an honorary doctorate from Penn in May 1992.[6]
She worked as a fashion model before she took up acting, featured on the covers of Vogue.
== Career ==
=== Early work ===
In 1966, Bergen made her screen debut playing a university student in The Group, directed by Sidney Lumet, who knew Bergen's family. The film delicately touched on the subject of lesbianism.[7]
She did it while studying college and elected not to return, instead playing the role of Shirley Eckert, an assistant school teacher in The Sand Pebbles (1966) with Steve McQueen. The movie was nominated for several Academy Awardsand was a big financial success. It was made for 20th Century Fox.[8]
She guest starred on an episode of Coronet Blue, whose director Sam Wanamaker recommended her for a part in The Day the Fish Came Out (1967) directed by Michael Cacoyannis, distributed by Fox but a huge flop. Fox signed her to a long-term contract.[8]
She was announced for the role of Anne in The Valley of the Dolls[9] but did not appear in the film.
Bergen went to France to appear in Claude Lelouch's Live for Life (1967) opposite Yves Montand, popular in France but not the US.[7]
In 1968, she played the leading female role in The Magus, a British mystery film for Fox starring Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn, that was almost universally ridiculed on its release and another flop.
She was featured in a 1970 political satire, The Adventurers, based on a novel by Harold Robbins, playing a frustrated socialite. Her fee was $200,000.[10] Reviews were terrible but the film made money.[11] Bergen called it a "movie out of the 1940s."[12]
Bergen played the girlfriend of Elliott Gould in Getting Straight (1970), a counter-culture movie which was commercially popular. She said it took her career in "a new direction... my first experience with democratic, communal movie making."[12]
She also starred in the controversial Western Soldier Blue (1970), a worldwide hit but a failure in its homeland, perhaps because of its unflattering portrayal of the U.S. Cavalry. The film's European success led to Bergen's being voted by British exhibitors as the seventh-most popular star at the British box office in 1971.[13]
Bergen received some strong reviews for her support role in Carnal Knowledge(1971), directed by Mike Nichols. Bergen did a Western with Oliver Reed, The Hunting Party (1971), then had the lead role in a drama T.R. Baskin (1971). She described the latter as the first role "that is really sort of a vehicle, where I have to act and not just be a sort of decoration" saying she'd decided "it was time for me to ge serious about acting."[12]
Bergen was absent from screens for a number of years. She returned with a support part in a British heist film, 11 Harrowhouse (1974), then did a Western with Gene Hackman and James Coburn, Bite the Bullet (1975).
In 1975, she replaced Faye Dunaway at the last minute to co-star with Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion, as a strong-willed American widow kidnapped in the Moroccan desert.
Bergen was reunited with Hackman in The Domino Killings (1977) for Stanley Kramer and hosted Saturday Night Live.[14] A frequent host on Saturday Night Live, she was the first woman to host the show and the first host to do a second show. She was also the first woman to join the Five-Timers Club, when she hosted for the fifth time in 1990. Bergen guest-starred on The Muppet Show in its first year, appearing in several skits, an episode now available in a DVD collection.
She did A Night Full of Rain (1978) for Lina Wertmüller and was the love interest of Ryan O'Neal's character in the Love Story sequel, Oliver's Story (1978).[15] She had taken photographs for many years and around this time starting exhibiting them in galleries.[16]
=== Comedy films ===
Bergen's father died in 1979. She later said:
Bergen appeared in the Burt Reynolds romantic comedy Starting Over (1979), for which she received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for best supporting actress.
She portrayed a best-selling author in Rich and Famous (1981) with Jacqueline Bisset.[18]
In 1982, Bergen appeared in the Oscar-winning film Gandhi in which she portrayed documentary photographer Margaret Bourke-White. Bergen was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.[19]
In 1984 she joined the Broadway cast of Hurlyburly.
On television, Bergen appeared as Morgan Le Fay in Arthur the King (1985) and in the miniseries Hollywood Wives (1985). She was Burt Reynolds' romantic interest in Stick (1985), and for TV appeared in Murder: By Reason of Insanity(1985) and Mayflower Madam (1987).[20]
In addition to acting, Bergen has written articles, a play, and a memoir, Knock Wood (1984). She has also studied photography and worked as a photojournalist.
=== Murphy Brown ===
In 1988, she took the lead role in the sitcom Murphy Brown, in which she played a tough television reporter. The series provided her with the opportunity to show her little-seen comic talent, and although primarily a conventional sitcom, the show did tackle important issues. Murphy Brown, a recovering alcoholic, became a single mother and later battled breast cancer. In 1992, Vice PresidentDan 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."[21]
Quayle's disparaging remarks were subsequently written into the show, with Murphy shown watching Quayle's speech in disbelief at his insensitivity and ignorance of the reality of the lives of single mothers. A subsequent episode explored the subject of family values within a diverse set of families. The Brown character arranges for a truckload of potatoes to be dumped in front of Quayle's residence, an allusion to an infamous incident in which Quayle erroneously directed a school child to spell the word "potato" as "potatoe". In reality, Bergen agreed with at least some of Quayle's observations, saying that while the particular remark was "an arrogant and uninformed posture", as a whole, it was "a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody agreed with that more than I did."[22] Bergen's run on Murphy Brown was extremely successful. The show ran for ten seasons and between 1989 and 1998, Bergen was nominated for an Emmy Award seven times and won five. After her fifth win, she declined future nominations for the role.[23]
Throughout the same time frame as Murphy Brown, Bergen also appeared as the main spokesperson for a Sprint telephone ad campaign.
She produced and starred in the TV movie Mary & Tim (1996).
=== Post-Murphy Brown ===
After playing the role of Murphy Brown, Bergen was offered a chance to work as a real-life journalist. After the run of Murphy Brown ended in 1998, CBS approached her to cover stories for 60 Minutes, an offer she declined, with the conviction that she didn't personally want to blur the lines between actor and journalist.
After Murphy Brown, Bergen hosted Exhale with Candice Bergen on the Oxygen network.[24]
She also appeared in character roles in films, including Miss Congeniality (2000), where she played villainous pageant host Kathy Morningside; she also portrayed the mayor of New York in Sweet Home Alabama (2002) and appeared in the Gwyneth Paltrow flight-attendant comedy, View from the Top (2003).
She had roles in The In-Laws (2003), Footsteps (2003), a thriller, and a semi recurring role on Sex and the City, where she played Enid Frick, Carrie Bradshaw's editor at Vogue.[25]
=== Boston Legal and beyond ===
In January 2005, Bergen joined the cast of the television series Boston Legal as Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner in the law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. She played the role for five seasons. In 2006 and 2008, she received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
She has also made guest appearances on many other TV shows, including Seinfeld (as herself playing Murphy Brown), Law & Order, Family Guy, and Will & Grace (playing herself). She has also featured in a long-running "Dime Lady" ad campaign for the Sprint phone company.
Bergan could be seen in The Women (2008) and Bride Wars (2009) as Marion St. Claire, New York's most sought-after wedding planner, who also serves as the narrator of the story.
From its launch in 2008, Candice Bergen was a contributor for wowOwow.com, a website for women to talk culture, politics and gossip. The website closed in 2010.
She was in The Romantics (2010) and had an occasional role on House as Lisa Cuddy's mother, starting in Season 7, including the 2011 episodes "Larger Than Life" and "Family Practice".
In 2010, she appeared in a one-night only concert semi staged reading of Evening Primrose by Stephen Sondheim.[26] She has also appeared on Broadway in the 2012 revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man and the 2014 revival of Love Letters.
Later performances included A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014), Beautiful & Twisted (2015), Rules Don't Apply (2016),The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017), Home Again (2017) and Book Club (2018).
=== Murphy Brown reboot ===
On January 24, 2018, it was announced that Candice Bergen would be reprising her role as Murphy Brown for a series revival to be aired on CBS in the 2018-2019 season.
== Bergen Bags ==
In 2016,[27] Bergen began hand-painting,[28] with paint pens,[29] on handbags, with the business[30] overseen by Chloe Malle,[31] and the proceeds benefiting charity.[32][33][34][35]
== Personal life ==
A political activist, Bergen accepted a date with Henry Kissinger. During her activist days she participated in a Yippie prank when she, Abbie Hoffman, and others threw dollar bills onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1967, leading to its temporary shutdown. In 1972, she served as a fundraiser and organizer for George McGovern's presidential campaign.[36]
Bergen and former boyfriend Terry Melcher lived at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles, which was later occupied by Sharon Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski. Tate and four others were murdered in the home in August 9, 1969, by followers of Charles Manson.[37] There was some initial speculation that Melcher may have been the intended victim,[38] although Melcher, his former roommate Mark Lindsay, and Vincent Bugliosi have all indicated Manson was aware that Melcher was no longer living at that address at the time of the murders.[39][40]
On September 27, 1980, she married French film director Louis Malle. They had one child, a daughter named Chloé Françoise, in 1985. The couple was married until Malle's death from cancer on Thanksgiving Day in 1995.[41] Bergen has traveled extensively and speaks French fluently. She has been married to New York real estate magnate and philanthropist Marshall Rose[42] since 2000.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1966	The Group 	Lakey Eastlake 	
1966	The Sand Pebbles 	Shirley Eckert 	
1967	The Day the Fish Came Out 	Electra Brown 	
1967	Live for Life 	Candice 	
1968	The Magus 	Lily 	
1970	The Adventurers 	Sue Ann Daley 	
1970	Getting Straight 	Jan 	
1970	Soldier Blue 	Cresta Maribel Lee 	
1971	Carnal Knowledge 	Susan 	
1971	The Hunting Party 	Melissa Ruger 	
1971	T.R. Baskin 	T. R. Baskin 	
1974	11 Harrowhouse 	Maren Shirell 	
1975	The Wind and the Lion 	Eden Pedecaris 	
1975	Bite the Bullet 	Miss Jones 	
1977	The Domino Principle 	Ellie Tucker 	
1978	A Night Full of Rain 	Lizzy 	
1978	Oliver's Story 	Marcie Bonwit 	
1979	Starting Over 	Jessica Potter 	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1981	Rich and Famous 	Merry Noel Blake 	
1982	Gandhi 	Margaret Bourke-White	
1984	2010 	SAL 9000 	Voice only; credited as Olga Mallsnerd
1985	Stick 	Kyle McClaren 	
2000	Miss Congeniality 	Kathy Morningside 	
2002	Sweet Home Alabama 	Mayor Kate Hennings 	
2003	View from the Top 	Sally Weston 	
2003	The In-Laws 	Judy Tobias 	
2008	Sex and the City 	Enid Frick 	
2008	The Women 	Catherine Frazier 	
2009	Bride Wars 	Marion St. Claire 	
2010	The Romantics 	Augusta Hayes 	
2014	A Merry Friggin' Christmas	Donna Mitchler 	
2016	Rules Don't Apply 	Nadine Henly 	
2017	The Meyerowitz Stories 	Julia 	
2017	Home Again 	Lillian Stewart 	
2018	Book Club 	Sharon Myers 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1967 	Coronet Blue 	Enid Toler 	Episode: "The Rebels"
1969 	The Kraft Music Hall 	Various 	Episode: "The Woody Allen Special"
1975–2018	Saturday Night Live 	Herself 	7 episodes
1976 	The Muppet Show 	Herself 	Episode: "Candice Bergen"
1985 	Hollywood Wives 	Elaine Conti 	2 episodes
1985 	Arthur the King 	Morgan le Fay 	Television film
1985 	Murder: By Reason of Insanity	Ewa Berwid 	Television film
1987 	Trying Times 	Barbara 	Episode: "Moving Day"
1987 	Mayflower Madam 	Sydney Biddle Barrows	Television film
1988–98,
2018–present	Murphy Brown 	Murphy Brown 	247 episodes
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy(1989, 1992)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1989–90, 1992, 1994–95)
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1990–91, 1993–96)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1991, 1993)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (1995–96)
Pending—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy
1992 	Seinfeld 	Murphy Brown 	Episode: "The Keys"
1994–95 	Understanding 	Narrator 	4 episodes
1996 	Mary & Tim 	Mary Horton 	Television film
1997 	Ink 	Murphy Brown 	Episode: "Murphy's Law"
2000 	Family Guy 	Gloria Ironbox 	2 episodes
2002–04 	Sex and the City 	Enid Frick 	3 episodes
2003 	Footsteps 	Daisy Lowendahl 	Television film
2004 	Law & Order 	Judge Amanda Anderlee	Episode: "The Brotherhood"
2004 	Will & Grace 	Herself 	Episode: "Strangers with Candice"
2005 	Law & Order: Trial by Jury 	Judge Amanda Anderlee	3 episodes
2005–08 	Boston Legal 	Shirley Schmidt 	84 episodes
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2006, 2008)
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2007–09)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
2011 	House 	Arlene Cuddy 	3 episodes
2013 	The Michael J. Fox Show 	Beth Henry 	Episode: "Thanksgiving"
2014 	Beautiful & Twisted 	Bernice Novack 	Television film
2015 	Battle Creek 	Constance 	Episode: "Mama's Boy"
2016 	BoJack Horseman 	The Closer (voice) 	Episode: "Stop the Presses"
== Awards and nominations ==
Category:1946 births 
Category:1940s births 
Category:People from Los Angeles, California
Category:American actresses
Category:American voice actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses