Candice Bergen's Real Name: Candice Patricia Bergen

Quick answer: The actress is known professionally as Candice Bergen. Britannica and Encyclopedia.com independently give the fuller form Candice Patricia Bergen and date her birth to May 9, 1946. Britannica places the birth in Los Angeles, California; Encyclopedia.com places it in Beverly Hills, California. This page records both place-names (Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name Candice Patricia Bergen. Britannica says she was born into Hollywood royalty, that her mother was a professional model and her father was the ventriloquist and radio comedian Edgar Bergen, that she appeared as a small child on her father's radio show, and that her first screen appearance was with him in a 1958 episode of You Bet Your Life. It says she attended the University of Pennsylvania but was expelled after two years. Encyclopedia.com independently names her parents as Edgar Bergen and Frances Bergen, a fashion model, and says she attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1965.

Career highlights

Britannica says her first film role was in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966), followed the same year by The Sand Pebbles, and later names Carnal Knowledge (1971) and The Wind and the Lion (1975). It says her comedic role in Starting Over (1979) brought an Academy Award nomination, and that she played the photographer Margaret Bourke-White in Gandhi (1982). Encyclopedia.com independently records a 1979 honor for Starting Over and a 1982 BAFTA nomination for Gandhi. Britannica says she is best known for playing the title character in the sitcom Murphy Brown (1988–98, 2018), was nominated for Emmy Awards seven consecutive times, won five times (1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1995), and later declined further nominations. Encyclopedia.com independently lists five Emmys for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Murphy Brown, but dates those wins to 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, and 1995. This page records both sets of years rather than treating them as the same list. Britannica also names later work in Miss Congeniality (2000) and Boston Legal (2005–08), which brought two more Emmy nominations.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Candice Bergen or Candice Patricia Bergen are looking for the same American actress, the daughter of Edgar Bergen. Independent sources support the fuller form used in the title.