By Cassie Lee
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on Murphy Brown (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmidt on the ABC drama Boston Legal (2005–2008). In films, Bergen 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 cover of Vogue before she made her screen debut in the film The Group (1966). She starred 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 starred 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), Book Club (2018) and Let Them All Talk (2020).
Candice Patricia Bergen was born May 9, 1946, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Frances Bergen (née Westerman), was a Powers model known professionally as Frances Westcott. Her father, Edgar Bergen, was a ventriloquist, comedian, and actor. Bergen’s paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants who anglicized their surname, which was originally Berggren (“mountain branch”).
Bergen was raised in Beverly Hills, California, and attended the Westlake School for Girls. As a child, she was irritated when described as “Charlie McCarthy‘s little sister” (a reference to her father’s star dummy). She began appearing on her father’s radio program at a young age and in 1958, at age 11, was a guest with her father on Groucho Marx‘s quiz show You Bet Your Life, as Candy Bergen. She said she wanted to be a clothing designer when she grew up.
She later attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she was elected Homecoming Queen and Miss University but, as Bergen later acknowledged, she did not take her education seriously. Bergen was a classmate of future President Donald Trump, who asked her out, but she did not reciprocate the invite. 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.
Before taking up acting, Bergen was a fashion model and was featured on Vogue covers. She received acting training at HB Studio in New York City.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Why do gamblers blow on dice?
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Bronx cheer
Puzzle of the Day
Why was the broom late?
Born
- John Brown (abolitionist) –
- J. M. Barrie (author) –
- Henry J. Kaiser (industrialist) –
- Hank Snow (singer) –
- Mike Wallace (journalist) –
- Albert Finney (actor) –
- Candice Bergen (actress) –
- Billy Joel (musician) –
- Rosario Dawson (actress) –
Died
- Nelson Algren (writer) –
- Alice Faye (actress) –
- Alan King (comedian) –
- Lena Horne (actress & singer) –
Events
- Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels –
- First American political cartoon debuted in The Pennsylvania Gazette –
- William F. Ford issued patent for stethoscope –
- Hindenburg completed its first flight to the United States –
- Sam and Friends debuted on television –
- Sale of birth control pills approved by FDA –
- 40-pound 4-ounce brown trout caught in Little Red River, Arkansas –
Weather
- Boston, Massachusetts, got its first May snow in 107 years –
- An EF1 tornado touched down in Washington, Vermont –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
