Candice Bergen Biography Quotes 30 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Candice Bergen was born on May 9, 1946, in Beverly Hills, California, into a household where show business was part of daily life. Her father, Edgar Bergen, was a celebrated ventriloquist whose characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd were fixtures of American popular culture, and her mother, Frances Bergen (born Frances Westcott), was a successful model and actress. Growing up in Hollywood, she saw the mechanics of fame up close and navigated an unusual family dynamic in which a wooden figure was one of the most recognizable presences around the house. She had one younger brother, Kris, and from an early age absorbed both the allure and the demands of performance.

Education and Early Steps
Bergen attended the Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles and later enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. Already in demand as a model and fascinated by photography, she did not complete her degree, instead moving into professional work that made swift use of her poise and camera-ready presence. Teen magazine covers led to photography assignments and then to acting opportunities at a moment when American film was opening itself to new subjects and more nuanced female characters.

Breakthrough in Film
Her screen debut came in The Group (1966), directed by Sidney Lumet, where she played the enigmatic Lakey in an ensemble of women finding their way in a shifting society. The same year she appeared opposite Steve McQueen in Robert Wise's The Sand Pebbles, which helped solidify her as a serious dramatic performer. She followed with Soldier Blue (1970) and the acclaimed Carnal Knowledge (1971), directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Jack Nicholson, a film that probed sexual politics with rare frankness for its time. In Starting Over (1979), with Burt Reynolds and Jill Clayburgh under the direction of Alan J. Pakula, Bergen earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, displaying a deft comic touch alongside her dramatic skills. She also portrayed famed photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), a nod to her long-standing interest in the still image.

Television, Comedy, and Murphy Brown
Although she hosted Saturday Night Live multiple times early in its run, it was television in prime time that would bring Bergen her most indelible role. In 1988, creator Diane English cast her as the sharp-tongued, fiercely principled investigative journalist at the heart of Murphy Brown. The series blended workplace comedy with pointed commentary about media, politics, and gender, and it assembled a memorable ensemble that included Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, Charles Kimbrough, Grant Shaud, and Robert Pastorelli. The show's cultural impact peaked in 1992 when then, Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the character's choice to have a child as a single mother, prompting a national conversation about family and values. Bergen won five Emmy Awards and multiple Golden Globes for the role, later stepping aside from Emmy consideration to allow others in the category more recognition. The character proved enduring enough to return in a 2018 revival that addressed the contemporary media landscape.

Later Work on Screen
Bergen continued to move between film and television with ease. On Boston Legal, created by David E. Kelley and co-starring James Spader and William Shatner, she played formidable attorney Shirley Schmidt, earning further award nominations and reaffirming her skill at balancing wit with gravitas. On the big screen she embraced comedy again in Miss Congeniality (2000) opposite Sandra Bullock and Michael Caine, and in Sweet Home Alabama (2002). Later ensemble films such as The Women (2008) and Book Club (2018), alongside Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Mary Steenburgen, found audiences who appreciated her seasoned presence and dry humor. She joined director Steven Soderbergh for Let Them All Talk (2020), sharing scenes with Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest, and reprised her role in Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023).

Photography and Writing
Parallel to her acting, Bergen cultivated a serious engagement with photography, contributing to magazines and pursuing assignments that reflected her eye for composition and character. She published two memoirs: Knock Wood (1984), a clear-eyed look at her unusual upbringing and early career, and A Fine Romance (2015), a more intimate account of marriage, motherhood, and creative life. The books, praised for their candor and humor, highlighted not only her professional accomplishments but also the personal steadiness that sustained them.

Personal Life
In 1980, Bergen married French filmmaker Louis Malle, a partnership that connected her to a different tradition of cinema and lasted until his death in 1995. They had one daughter, Chloe Malle, who later built a career in journalism and editing. In 2000 Bergen married New York philanthropist and real estate developer Marshall Rose. Earlier in her life she had a well-known relationship with record producer Terry Melcher; the two lived for a time at the Cielo Drive house in Los Angeles that would later become infamous for the Manson murders after they had moved out. Throughout the decades, friends and collaborators from Diane English to long-time castmates on Murphy Brown and Boston Legal have often noted her professionalism, intelligence, and generosity on set.

Legacy and Influence
Candice Bergen's career traces a distinctive arc: a model and emerging actress in the late 1960s who overcame typecasting to claim a space as a sophisticated comedienne and authoritative dramatic lead; a television star whose Murphy Brown helped redefine the possibilities for women leads on network TV; and a mature performer who continues to find roles that make use of her timing, voice, and wry observational style. The people around her, from Edgar and Frances Bergen to colleagues like Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Faith Ford, James Spader, and Meryl Streep, mark the breadth of her associations and the trust she has earned. Through film, television, photography, and writing, she has left a durable imprint on American culture, embodying both a particular moment in Hollywood history and the continuing evolution of roles for women across media.

Our collection contains 30 quotes who is written by Candice, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Friendship - Funny - Mother - Live in the Moment.