EDGAR BERGEN BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Edgar Bergen was born on February 16th, 1902 in Chicago, Illinois with the birth name Edgar John Bergen to parents, Nilla Svensdotter and Johan Henriksson Berggren, both Swedish immigrants. He grew up in Decatur, Michigan and as a young boy he developed an interest and the shills in ventriloquism from a pamphlet.
When he was sixteen years old he moved to Chicago and attended Lake View High School and also worked at a silent movie house. He was able to use his ventriloquism skill to help fund his college tuition at Northwestern university.
He did some work in vaudeville, various night clubs and some one-reel movie shorts, followed by what turned out to be his big break, working on radio. He had the, "Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy Show", in which Charlie was his 'dummy puppet'. From 1937 through 1957, his program lasted for twenty years and was one of the most popular radio shows.
It is said he was actually not one of the most technically skilled ventriloquists, as viewers could sometimes see his mouth moving, however he had such a comedic timing and excellent delivery of dialogue that he was highly liked and successful.
As he continued to mature his talent in live shows and radio, he also took to the big screen working as a film actor. Some if the films he appeared in were, "Here We Go Again" (1942), "Fun and Fancy Free" (1947), "I Remember Mama" (1948), "Captain China" (1949) and "Don't Make Waves" (1965). Then there were quite a few films where he was not actually seen on screen, but his "Alter Ego" (dummy) was seen such as in, "The Goldwyn Follies" (1938) and "You Can't Cheat on an Honest Man".
Bergen also made a number of television appearances such as hosting the television game show, "Do You Trust Your Wide" (1956-1957) and on a Christmas episode in 1957 on NBC called, "The Gisele MacKenzie Show".
Bergen and his alter ego, Charlie McCarthy were presented with an Honorary Oscar which was in the form of a wooden Oscar statuette for his creation of Charlie McCarthy. His final screen appearance was in, "The Muppet Movie" (1979) and he died shortly afterwards. This film was dedicated in his memory.
Edgar Bergen married once to Frances Westerman whom he met when he was thirty nine years old and she was only nineteen. However, the couple married on June 28th, 1945 in Mexico and had two children together, Candice and Kris. The couple remained together until Bergen passed away on September 30th, 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada in his sleep at the age of seventy five.
He was interred with his parents at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. He was elected to the Radio Hall of Fame and in 1991 and the United States Postal Service honored him with a 29 cent commemorative stamp.
Filmography
1976 Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
1972 My Sister Hank
1971 The Waltons
1969 The Red Skelton Hour
1968 Rogue's Gallery
1967 Don't Make Waves
1965 One Way Wahini
1964-1965 Burke's Law
1964 The Hanged Man
1964 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
1964 The Greatest Show on Earth
1961-1962 The Dick Powell Theatre
1962 Bachelor Father
1960 The Jack Benny Program
1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1959 Five Fingers
1954-1955 Shower of Stars
1954 Ponds Theater
1954 Kraft Theatre
1953 Mystery Lake
1950 Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in Sweden
1950 Captain China
1948 I Remember Mama
1947 Mickey and the Beanstalk
1946 Hour Glass
1942 Here We Go Again
1941 Look Who's Laughing
1939 Charlie McCarthy, Detective
1939 You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
1938 Letter of Introduction
1937 A Neckin' Party
1937 Double Talk
1936 Nut Guilty
1935 All American Drawback
1935 Two Boobs in a Balloon
1934 At the Races
1934 Pure Feud
1933 Africa Speaks
1931 Free and Easy
1931 The Eyes Have It
1931 Donkey Business
1930 Office Scandal
1930 The Operation
