Edgar Bergen

Advertise Here

Purchase Edgar Bergen Products Here

February 16, 1903

September 30, 1978 aged 75 in Las Vegas, Nevada USA

Edgar John Bergen

Frances Bergen (28 June 1945 - 30 September 1978) (his death) 2 children

Actor

1976 Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

1972 My Sister Hank (TV movie)

1971 The Waltons (TV series)

1969 The Red Skelton Show (TV series)

1968 Rogue's Gallery

1967 Don't Make Waves

1965 One Way Wahini

1964-1965 Burke's Law (TV series)

1964 The Hanged Man (TV movie)

1964 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)

1964 The Greatest Show on Earth (TV series)

1961-1962 The Dick Powell Show (TV series)

1962 Bachelor Father (TV series)

1960 The Jack Benny Program (TV series)

1960 Sunday Showcase (TV series)

1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson (TV series)

1959 Five Fingers (TV series)

1954-1955 Shower of Stars (TV series)

1954 Kraft Television Theatre (TV series)

1953 Mystery Lake

1950 Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd in Sweden (short)

1950 Captain China

1948 I Remember Mama

1947 Mickey and the Beanstalk (short) (voice) (uncredited)

1946 Hour Glass (TV series)

1942 Here We Go Again(voice)

1941 Look Who's Laughing

1939 Charlie McCarthy, Detective (voice)

1939 You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

1938 Letter of Introduction

1937 A Neckin' Party (short)

1937 Double Talk (short)

1936 Nut Guilty (short)

1935 All American Drawback (short)

1935 Two Boobs in a Balloon (short)

1934 At the Races (short)

1934 Pure Feud (short)

1933 Africa Speaks -- English (short)

1931 Free and Easy (short)

1931 The Eyes Have It (short)

1931 Donkey Business (short)

1930 Office Scandal (short)

1930 The Operation (short)

Writer

1942 Screen Snapshots Series 21, No. 7 (short) (additional material - uncredited)

1941 Look Who's Laughing (uncredited)

Appearances

1979 The Muppet Movie (voice)

1978 Disneyland (TV series documentary)

1978 Mickey's 50 (documentary)

1977 Dinah! (TV series)

1970-1977 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (TV series)

1977 The Muppet Show (TV series)

1977 The Brady Bunch Hour (TV series)

1976 The Good Old Days of Radio (TV documentary)

1975 The American Film Institute Salute to Orson Welles (TV special)

1975 The Lion Roars Again (documentary short)(uncredited)

1973 The Merv Griffin Show (TV series)

1972 The Great Radio Comedians (TV documentary)

1971 This Is Your Life (TV series)

1971 Mantrap (TV series)

1970 Happy Days (TV series)

1970 The David Frost Show (TV series)

1970 The Phynx

1970 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV series) (uncredited)

1968 The Jackie Gleason Show (TV series)

1968 The Dean Martin Show (TV series)

1968 The Jonathan Winters Show (TV series)

1968 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (TV series)

1966 The Andy Williams Show (TV series)

1964-1966 The Hollywood Palace (TV series)

1952-1965 What's My Line? (TV series)

1964 The Celebrity Game (TV series)

1964 The Joey Bishop Show (TV series)

1955-1961 The Ed Sullivan Show (TV series)

1956-1961 I've Got a Secret (TV series)

1961 Here's Hollywood (TV series)

1960 This Is Your Life (TV series)

1959 The Strawberry Blonde (TV movie)

1959 Disneyland '59 (TV documentary)

1959 The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show (TV series)

1959 The Jack Benny Program (TV series)

1959 Frances Langford Presents (TV series)

1958 December Bride (TV series)

1958 The Bob Crosby Show (TV series)

1958 You Bet Your Life (TV series)

1958 The Steve Allen Show (TV series)

1957 The Gisele MacKenzie Show (TV series)

1957 Screen Snapshots 1856: The Mocambo Party (short)

1957 The Heart of Show Business (short)

1956 Do You Trust Your Wife (TV series)

1955 The Colgate Comedy Hour (TV series)

1954 Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Stars on Parade (documentary short)

1953 The 25th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1951 In Town Today (TV movie)

1951 Ford Festival (TV series)

1950 One Hour in Wonderland (TV special)

1950 Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Famous Feet (documentary short) (uncredited)

1950 Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy (TV movie)

1947 Fun & Fancy Free

1947 Is Everybody Listening? (documentary short)

1944 Song of the Open Road

1943 Stage Door Canteen

1943 Show-Business at War (documentary short)(uncredited)

1942 Screen Snapshots Series 21, No. 7 (short)

1940 Screen Snapshots: Seeing Hollywood (short)

1939 Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 6 (documentary short)

1938 Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 2 (documentary short)

1938 Unusual Occupations (documentary short) (uncredited)

1938 Hollywood Handicap (short)

1938 Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 9 (documentary short)

1938 The Goldwyn Follies

1937 Bring on the Girls (short)

Academy Awards

1938 Won Honorary Award For his outstanding comedy creation, Charlie McCarthy (wooden statuette).

Screen Actors Guild Awards

1979 Won Life Achievement Award

Walk of Fame

Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 6767 Hollywood Blvd. Television At 6425 Hollywood Blvd.

[ View All Photos ]

Still the most famous ventriloquist in entertainment history, Edgar Bergen and his top-hatted, monocled dummy Charlie McCarthy were the stars of one of radio's most enduring variety shows, running from 1937 to 1956. The show joined the Radio Hall of Fame in 1990. Bergen's luck was to have created in Charlie an amusing, wisecracking comic persona that was funny in its own right, regardless of the fact that he was never the most technically accomplished ventriloquist. Bergen had taught himself ventriloquism at the age of eleven.

Starting out in vaudeville and some movie shorts, such as the partnership with the Ritz Brothers in The Goldwyn Follies (1938), Bergen and his puppet pal ironically found real success in radio. It is said that Bergen was seen doing his act at a Hollywood party by Noel Coward, who then recommended him to appear on Rudy Vallee's show. The popularity of Bergen and Charlie's radio appearances with W. C. Fields and their banter peppered by double entendre, led to a film, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939). This led to a vehicle of their own: Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939), Bergen also made several solo appearances as a supporting actor, most notably in I Remember Mama (1948). His last appearances were in Michael Winner's acidic salute to old Hollywood, Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), and in The Muppet Movie (1979), released after his death and dedicated to his memory. The Muppet Show creator Jim Henson said that Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were the reason he became interested in puppetry. Bergen is the father of actress Candice Bergen, and remains the only ventriloquist to have been awarded an honorary Oscar (1938). Aptly, the statuette was made of wood.

"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?" - Charlie McCarthy

Served as the first president of the Television Academy.

Reportedly left $10,000 in his will to his dummy Charlie McCarthy through The Actors Fund. The money was intended to preserve Charlie and keep him in good shape. Charlie's original name was Charlie Mack, named after the man who originally sculpted him.