Candice Bergen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Candice Bergen
Bergen in 2025
Born	Candice Patricia Bergen (1946-05-09) May 9, 1946 (age 79) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1958–present
Spouse(s)	Louis Malle ​ ​ (m. 1980; died 1995)​ Marshall Rose ​ ​ (m. 2000; died 2025)​
Children	1
Parent(s)	Edgar Bergen Frances Bergen
Awards	Full list

Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She is famous for her roles in TV shows and movies.

Candice won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for playing the main character on the TV show Murphy Brown (1988–1998, 2018). She also played Shirley Schmidt on the ABC drama Boston Legal (2005–2008). In movies, Candice was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Starting Over (1979). She was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in Gandhi (1982).

Before acting, Candice Bergen was a fashion model. She appeared on the cover of Vogue. Her first movie was The Group (1966). She also starred in films like The Sand Pebbles (1966), Soldier Blue (1970), and The Wind and the Lion (1975). She performed on Broadway in plays such as Hurlyburly (1984) and Love Letters (2014). Her other movie roles include Miss Congeniality (2000), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Bride Wars (2009), and Book Club (2018).

Early Life and Education

Candice Patricia Bergen was born on May 9, 1946, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Frances Bergen, was a model. Her father, Edgar Bergen, was a famous ventriloquist, comedian, and actor. Candice's grandparents came from Sweden.

She grew up in Beverly Hills, California. As a child, she sometimes felt annoyed when people called her "Charlie McCarthy's little sister." Charlie McCarthy was her father's famous puppet. Candice appeared on her father's radio show when she was young. In 1958, at age 11, she was a guest on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life. She said then that she wanted to be a clothing designer.

Candice later went to the University of Pennsylvania. She was chosen as Homecoming Queen. However, she admitted she did not take her studies very seriously. She left the university after her second year. She later received an honorary doctorate from the university in 1992. Before becoming an actress, she worked as a fashion model. She also trained in acting at HB Studio in New York City.

Acting Career Highlights

Starting in Films

Candice Bergen's first movie role was in The Group (1966). She played a university student. After this film, she left college to focus on acting. She then appeared in The Sand Pebbles (1966) with Steve McQueen. This movie was very successful.

She also appeared in the comedy The Day the Fish Came Out (1967). Later, she starred in the romantic drama Live for Life (1967) in France. In 1968, she was in the British mystery film The Magus.

More Film Roles

In 1970, Candice played a socialite in The Adventurers. She then starred in Getting Straight (1970), a movie about counterculture. She also appeared in the Western Soldier Blue (1970). This film was popular in Europe.

Candice received good reviews for her role in a film directed by Mike Nichols (1971). She then had a main role in the drama T.R. Baskin (1971). She said this was her first role where she truly had to act.

After a short break, she returned to films. She was in a British heist film, 11 Harrowhouse (1974). She also made a Western with Gene Hackman and James Coburn called Bite the Bullet (1975). In 1975, she starred with Sean Connery in The Wind and the Lion (1976). She played a strong American widow who is kidnapped.

She reunited with Hackman in The Domino Principle (1977). She also appeared in A Night Full of Rain (1978) and Oliver's Story (1978).

In 1979, Candice Bergen starred with Burt Reynolds in the romantic comedy Starting Over. For this role, she was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. She played a best-selling author in Rich and Famous (1981).

In 1982, she appeared in the Oscar-winning film Gandhi. She played the photographer Margaret Bourke-White. Candice was nominated for a BAFTA Award for this role.

Television and Other Work

Starting in the 1970s, Candice Bergen often hosted Saturday Night Live. She was the first woman to host the show. She was also the first woman to join the Five-Timers Club in 1990, meaning she hosted five times. She has made guest appearances on SNL in recent years. Candice also guest-starred on The Muppet Show in its first season.

In 1984, she joined the Broadway play Hurlyburly. On television, she appeared in the miniseries Hollywood Wives (1985). She was also in the TV film Mayflower Madam (1987).

Murphy Brown Success

In 1988, Candice took the main role in the TV show Murphy Brown. She played a tough television reporter. This show allowed her to show her comedic talent. The series often talked about politicians and current events. The character Murphy Brown was a single mother and later battled breast cancer.

In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the show. He said the Murphy Brown character was "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone." The show then included Quayle's comments in an episode. Murphy Brown was shown watching his speech. She was surprised by his words about single mothers.

Candice Bergen's time on Murphy Brown was very successful. The show ran for ten seasons. Between 1989 and 1998, she was nominated for an Emmy Award seven times and won five. After her fifth win, she decided not to be nominated for the role anymore.

After Murphy Brown

Candice Bergen at the 65th Annual Peabody Awards in New York City, 2006

After Murphy Brown ended in 1998, CBS asked Candice to work as a real journalist for 60 Minutes. She said no, because she didn't want to mix acting with journalism.

Later, Candice hosted Exhale with Candice Bergen on the Oxygen network. From 1991 to 1998, she was the main spokesperson for the Sprint phone company.

Candice also produced and starred in the TV movie Mary & Tim (1996). She appeared in movies like Miss Congeniality (2000), where she played a pageant host. She played the mayor of New York in Sweet Home Alabama (2002). She was also in the comedy View from the Top (2003).

She had roles in the remake of The In-Laws (2003) and the thriller Footsteps (2003). She appeared in three episodes of ... and the City and one episode of its sequel series And Just Like That.... She played Enid Frick, an editor at Vogue.

Boston Legal and Recent Work

In January 2005, Candice Bergen joined the TV series Boston Legal. She played Shirley Schmidt, a founding partner in a law firm. She worked with her Miss Congeniality co-star William Shatner on this show. She played the role for five seasons. In 2006 and 2008, she was nominated for Emmy Awards for her role.

She has also made guest appearances on many other TV shows. These include Seinfeld, Law & Order, Family Guy, and Will & Grace.

Candice was in the movies The Women (2008) and Bride Wars (2009). In Bride Wars, she played a wedding planner and was also the narrator.

In 2010, she appeared in a concert reading of Evening Primrose. She also performed on Broadway in the 2012 play The Best Man and the 2014 play Love Letters.

Her later movie roles include A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014), Rules Don't Apply (2016), The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017), Home Again (2017), and Book Club (2018).

Murphy Brown Returns

On January 24, 2018, it was announced that Candice Bergen would play Murphy Brown again. The new episodes aired on CBS in the fall of 2018. The show ran for 13 episodes before it was canceled in May 2019.

Beyond Acting

Besides acting, Candice Bergen has also studied photography. She worked as a photojournalist. She has written many articles and a play. She also wrote two memoirs, Knock Wood in 1984 and A Fine Romance in 2015.

In 2000, Candice hosted her own talk show called Exhale. Guests on the show included Anne Bancroft and Diane Keaton.

In 2016, Candice started painting on handbags using paint pens. Her daughter, Chloé Malle, helps with the business. The money earned from selling the handbags goes to charity.

Personal Life

Candice Bergen and her mother, Frances Bergen, at the 62nd Academy Awards

Candice Bergen is interested in politics. In 1967, she took part in a fun protest. She and others threw dollar bills onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. This caused it to close for a short time. In 1972, she helped raise money for George McGovern's presidential campaign.

Candice's father passed away in 1978. In her memoir A Fine Romance, she wrote that her father left her out of his will. He left $10,000 to his puppet, Charlie McCarthy. She felt her father had a stronger connection with Charlie than with her. She later said that after his death, she felt more free to live her own life.

On September 27, 1980, she married French film director Louis Malle. They had a daughter named Chloe Françoise in 1985. They were married until Louis Malle passed away from cancer in 1995.

In 2000, she married Marshall Rose, a real estate developer and philanthropist from New York. They were married until his death from Parkinson's disease on February 15, 2025.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Candice Bergen para niños