Frances Bergen (née Westerman; September 14, 1922 – October 2, 2006) was an American actress and fashion model. She was the wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the mother of actress Candice Bergen and film and television editor Kris Bergen.

Early life

In 1932, her father died of tuberculosis, when Frances was ten years old. Shortly after, her mother moved the family to Los Angeles. She graduated from Los Angeles High School.

Career

As an actress, Bergen had supporting or minor roles in a number of films. She made her debut in '' Titanic'' (1953), after which she appeared in Robert Z. Leonard's '' Her Twelve Men'' (1954), and Douglas Sirk's '' Interlude'' (1957). During the 1958-1959 television season, Frances became the recurring love interest on the western show '' Yancy Derringer'' as Madame Francine, the strong willed but beautiful owner of a members-only gambling house in New Orleans set in 1868. She also was featured on a 1956 record, ''The Beguiling Miss Frances Bergen,'' accompanied by accordionist Art Van Damme. Bergen also made numerous other appearances on television, with guest starring roles on '' The Millionaire'', '' The Dick Powell Show'', '' Barnaby Jones'', ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the MacGyver (1985 TV series), 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in Mac ...

'', and ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

''. She returned to films in the 1980s, with small roles in '' American Gigolo'' (1980), '' The Sting II'' (1983), '' The Star Chamber'' (1983), '' The Muppets Take Manhattan'' (1984), '' Hollywood Wives'' (1985) (starring her famous daughter), '' The Morning After'' (1986), and '' Made in America'' (1993). She also had a major part in

Henry Jaglom Henry David Jaglom (born January 26, 1938) is an English-born American actor, film director and playwright. Life and career Jaglom was born to a Jewish family in London, England, the son of Marie (née Stadthagen) and Simon M. Jaglom, who wor ...

's independently made film ''

Eating Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food. In biology, this is typically done to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and nutrients and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive – ...

'' (1990). She appeared on two episodes of '' Murphy Brown'', her daughter's hit show, including Part One of the series finale in 1998.

Personal life

In 1941, Frances Westerman met Edgar Bergen after a radio program when he was 38 and she was 19. Westerman, who had graduated from Los Angeles High School the year before, was in the audience of Edgar Bergen's radio program as the guest of a member of his staff. Sitting in the front row, the young fashion model's long legs caught the attention of Bergen, who asked to meet her. On June 28, 1945, the two were married in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, after years of long distance courtship. They remained happily married until Edgar's death on September 30, 1978, at age 75. On May 9, 1946, the couple welcomed their first child, Candice Bergen. Fifteen years later, on October 12, 1961, they had a son, Kris Edgar Bergen, who would later become a film and television editor.

Death

On October 2, 2006, aged 84, Bergen died at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

in Los Angeles of undisclosed causes following "a prolonged illness".

Filmography

References

External links

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Frances Bergen, 84, Actress and Model, Dies
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on October 8, 2006
In Loving Memory Of Frances Bergen, 84, Actress and Model
Light a candle for her on ILMO.me {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergen, Frances 1922 births 2006 deaths Female models from Alabama American film actresses American people of German descent American television actresses Actresses from Birmingham, Alabama 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women