Eldin Bernecky

Eldin Bernecky was Murphy Brown's longtime house painter, friend, confidante and nanny. Despite having painted murals at Murphy's house for an extended period of time, viewers didn't see any of his works of art until season 11, when they were treated to a mural Eldin had painted in Avery Brown's bedroom which depicted Avery as a spaceman in orbit. Eldin died running with the bulls in Spain despite Avery having warned him against participating in the event.

## Adult Life

Eldin was supposed to show up to paint Murphy’s house two weeks prior to the date he finally showed up, then subsequently spread his drop cloth, ordered a pizza, and never returned. Eldin expressed to Murphy on the phone that he had no clue who she was, or that she was famous. After being given a second chance to paint Murphy’s house, he failed to show up.

Eldin became a surrogate father to Avery, aided by the fact that he was at Murphy's house more frequently than his own. He even went so far as to ask Murphy to marry him in the finale, so that Avery would have a father to take care of him in the case that anything happened to his mother.

## Personality

Eldin was frequently shown to be a playful, carefree man. After having missed his first two opportunities to work at Murphy's house, he went to paint her house for the first time and he caught her singing "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", and subsequently picked up a paintbrush and began using it as a microphone while lip-syncing along to the song. While suffering from "painter's block" and a migraine, Murphy invited him to dance with her, and he flipped her over his back spontaneously.

Despite his playfulness and seemingly lax work ethic, Eldin was very serious about specific priorities in his life, such as caring for Avery, and taking care of the environment. He was a kindhearted man who was good with animals and children, and who was an empathetic confidante, always ready to give advice and cheer up his friends.

Although Eldin was able to get a date and was, for the most part, respectful of the women in his life (Despite having displayed inherent misogyny at times due to the culture and era he was raised in), he was frequently displayed as having a severe inability to interact normally with Corky Sherwood due to his infatuation with her. This frequently made her very uncomfortable in turn, but she did run to him for help in a moment of desperation before her wedding.

Eldin was a man who appreciated the simple things in life, such as the gossip at the paint store he frequented. He was displayed as a no-frills man; for example, he was unable to handle becoming rich saw Murphy's interview being seen by 30 million viewers as comparable to having won $10 playing the lottery.

## Mentioned Paintings

* "Scenes From the Industrial Revolution", a mural on Murphy's kitchen ceiling which featured a cotton gin

## Trivia

* The hold music on his business phone was the song "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett
* Had self-admitted traits of ADD/ADHD, including being easily distracted and having problems concentrating, and having a hyperfixation on painting Murphy's entire house

## References

1. ↑ ***(Script not yet formatted, S11E12 "AWOL")***
2. ↑ ***(Script not yet formatted, S11E1 "Fake News")***
3. ↑ ***"Eldin Bernecky? Okay, you were supposed to show up to paint the inside of my house TWO WEEKS ago! I left the keys with my neighbor! She said you arrived late, spread out your drop cloth, ordered a pizza, and never came back." (Murphy, Respect 5:7-8)***
4. ↑ ***"Now, you may get away with this sort of thing with other people, but I am definitely not other people. …Murphy Brown. I’m on TV!" (Murphy, Respect 5:9)***
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 ***"Okay, Mr. Bernecky, this is Murphy Brown again. You were supposed to show up to paint the inside of my house this morning? I was there- you weren’t! You blew it!" (Murphy, Respect 7:1-2)***
6. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S10E22 "Never Can Say Goodbye, Part 2")***
7. ↑ ***"I gotta tell you, you were getting much better at the end!" (Eldin, Respect 9:4)***
8. ↑ ***(Script not yet formatted, S1E3 "Nowhere to Run")***
9. ↑ ***(Script not yet formatted, S1E18 "Funnies Girl")***
10. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S2E7 "Whose Garbage Is It Anyway?")***
11. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S6E13 "Sox and the Single Girl")***
12. ↑ ***(Script not yet formatted, S1E5 "Murphy's Pony")***
13. ↑ ***(Script not yet available and may not be first instance of this information, S2E25 "The Bitch's Back")***
14. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S2E14 "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?")***
15. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S2E26 "Going to the Chapel, Part 1")***
16. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S2E25 "The Bitch's Back")***
17. ↑ ***(Script not yet available, S3E13 "Eldin Imitates Life")***
18. ↑ ***"Y’know, 30 million people watched me on television tonight!" "Yeah? I won 10 bucks at lotto!" (Murphy and Eldin, Respect 9:17-18)***
19. ↑ ***"'Scenes from the Industrial Revolution!' I took a chance!!!" (Eldin, Respect 9:9)***
20. ↑ ***"I just finished your kitchen ceiling!" (Eldin, Respect 9:6)***
21. ↑ ***"I was just about to start a cotton gin!" (Eldin, Respect 9:12)***
22. ↑ ***"Oh, and change the message on this phone machine- nobody likes listening to “Margaritaville” for 5 minutes!" (Murphy, Respect 7:3)***
23. ↑ ***"If you could just keep the music down, ‘cause sometimes it’s hard for me to concentrate." (Eldin, Respect 9:15)***
24. ↑ ***"I hope you don’t plan on moving soon or nothing… Oh, I’m gonna be here a while!" (Eldin, Respect 9:16)***