Candice Bergen (Role) : Shirley Schmidt
Birthday : 5-9-1946
Birthplace : Beverly Hills, California, USA
Birth Name : Candice Patricia Bergen
AKA : Candace Bergen, Candice Bergan, Candace Bergan, Olga Mallsnerd
Recent Role : Shirley Schmidt on Boston Legal
Candice Bergen took birth in Beverly Hills, California. Her mother, Frances Bergen was a Powers model and her father, Edgar Bergen, was a ventriloquist, comedian, and actor. Her paternal grandparents were Swedish born immigrants. Candice Bergen is considered as one of Hollywood’s most beautiful women. Candice joined University of Pennsylvania but she didn’t take her studies very seriously and had to leave in between.
At her young age, she started appearing on her father’s radio program. In 1958, she appeared with her father on Groucho Marx’s quiz show ‘You Bet Your Life’. She once stated that she was interested to design clothes. In 1966, Candice Bergen portrayed the role of Shirley Eckert, an assistant school teacher, on ‘The Sand Pebbles’. In the very same year, she was seen playing an unfriendly university student in ‘The Group’.
The lady is good at writing and has written articles, a play, memoir ‘Knock Wood’. Her other interest is photography and has worked as a photojournalist. Bergen started working as a fashion model but soon turned to acting. She appeared in films such as Mike Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge and ‘Starting Over’. She received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress for the above two performances.
On ‘Murphy Brown’, Bergen portrayed the character of a tough television reporter. Her appearance on ‘Murphy Brown’ was extremely successful and she got seven nominations for an Emmy Award and won the award five times. After winning the fifth award, she turned down the future nominations for her role as Murphy Brown. The lady performed the role very brilliantly and was later offered to work as a real-life journalist. After ‘Murphy Brown’ went away, she got an offer to cover some stories for 60 Minutes, however she refused to work on the project, specifying that acting was her first passion and profession.
Bergen next hosted ‘Exhale with Candice Bergen’ on the Oxygen network. Her next appearances were on Miss Congeniality as the sweet-yet-demented pageant host Kathy Morningside and we next saw her portraying the mayor of New York in ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.
Candice Bergen portrayed an important character in the 2003 movie ‘View from the Top’. It was 2005 when she became a part of ‘Boston Legal’ portraying the character of Shirley Schmidt. Her performance on ‘Boston Legal’ brought her two nominations, 2006 and 2008, for Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama Series. Bergen had made guest appearances on several shows such as ‘Seinfeld’, ‘Law & Order’, ‘Family Guy’, ‘Will & Grace’, and ‘Sex and the City’. Candice Bergen has also hosted NBC’s ‘Saturday Night Live’, being the first woman to host the show. During 1976-77, she was seen portraying a guest character on the first season of ‘The Muppet Show’.
In 1981, Candice married Louis Malle, a French film director. Their only one child, a daughter Chloe Malle, died of cancer in 1995. They later got separated. As of now, Candice is married to New York real estate magnate and philanthropist Marshall Rose.
Role on ‘Boston Legal’
Candice Bergen portrays Shirley Schmidt on ‘Boston Legal’. She’s a middle aged woman and co-founder of Carne, Poole & Schmidt. The lady was once in relationship with Crane. Her father was an Alzheimer’s patient and she was often seen visiting him in the local hospital.
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