Born in Chicago of Swedish immigrants,
John and Nellie Berggren, Edgar Bergen became a ventriloquist as
a boy, designing his famous dummy, Charlie McCarthy, when
he was eleven years old. (He used a history book illustration of
a cocky Irish newsboy as his model.) Bergen attended the School of
Speech at Northwestern. He got his start in radio in 1937 and in
the same year, he was awarded a special Academy Award for his short
films and musicals. Bergen continued an active career until 1978,
when after performing his last scheduled show at Caesar’s Palace
in Las Vegas, he died soon after. His daughter Candice plays the
eponymous role in the "Murphy Brown" television series.
