Frances Bergen

Infobox Actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Frances Bergen


caption = Frances Bergen at the 62nd Academy Awards
birthname = Frances Westerman
birthdate = September 14, 1922
location = Birmingham, Alabama
deathdate = October 2, 2006 (age 84)
deathplace = Los Angeles, California
occupation = Film, television actress, model
yearsactive = 1953 - 1998
spouse = Edgar Bergen (1945-1978)

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

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama to William and Lillie Mae Westerman. In 1932 William Westerman died of tuberculosis, when Frances was ten years old. Shortly after, her mother then moved the family to Los Angeles. In 1936, she suffered a skull fracture in an auto accident, at age 14. While recuperating, she was given a Charlie McCarthy doll to cheer her up. Little did she know she'd later marry Charlie's "father" - comedian & ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. While in New York City, she became a successful John Robert Powers model. She was "the Chesterfield Girl" and "the Ipana Girl" in magazines and on billboards. As a teen, Westerman became a Powers model, and was thereafter professionally known as Frances Westcott.

In 1941, Frances Westerman met Edgar Bergen after a radio program when he was 39 and she was only 19. Westerman, who 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 the 39-year-old star, who asked to meet her. The two were married in Mexico after years of a long distance courtship, on June 28 1945. Frances had found the right person with Edgar, and together they built a loving and passionate relationship that was the envy of Hollywood until Edgar's death in 1978 at age 75.

As an actress, Frances 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", and Douglas Sirk's "Interlude" (1957).

During the 1958-1959 television season, Frances became the recurring love interest on the cult 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.

Frances also made numerous other appearances on television, with guest starring roles on "The Millionaire", "The Dick Powell Show", "Barnaby Jones", "MacGyver", and "Murder, She Wrote".

She returned to films in the 1980s, with small roles in "American Gigolo", "The Sting II", "The Muppets Take Manhattan", "The Morning After", and "Made in America", among others. She had a major part in Henry Jaglom's independently made film "Eating" (1990).

She also appeared on two episodes of "Murphy Brown", her daughter's hit show, including Part One of the series finale in 1998. She dated actor Craig Stevens after the death of his wife of many years, Alexis Smith.

Frances Bergen died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of undisclosed causes on October 2 2006, aged 84. [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15671633.htm] She was laid to rest beside her beloved late husband Edgar Bergen, in Inglewood Cemetery, in Inglewood, California.

Frances Bergen was survived by daughter Candace, her son Kris, and her granddaughter Chloé Malle (b. 1985), Candice's daughter with her late husband, French film director Louis Malle, who died in 1995.

In memory of Frances Bergen, the family suggested donations in her name be made to the American Heart Association or the Arthritis Foundation,

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0074047|name=Frances Bergen
*amg name|2:5594
*findagrave|15988537