Photo
- Caption: Candice Bergen
- Description:
Candice Bergen as Kathy Morningside in Miss Congeniality
Born: May 9, 1946 in Beverly Hills, CA
Biography
American actress Candice Bergen was a celebrity even before she was born. As the first child of popular radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his young wife Frances, Candice was a hot news item months before her birth, and headline material upon that blessed event (her coming into the world even prompted magazine cartoons which suggested that Edgar would try to confound the nurses by "giving" his new daughter a voice). Candice made her first public appearance as an infant, featured with her parents in a magazine advertisement. Before she was ten, Candice was appearing sporadically on dad's radio program, demonstrating a precocious ability to throw her own voice (a skill she hasn't been called upon to repeat in recent years); at 11 she and Groucho Marx's daughter Melinda were guest contestants on Groucho's TV quiz show You Bet Your Life. Candice loved her parents and luxuriated in her posh lifestyle, though she was set apart from other children in that her "brothers" were the wooden dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd - and Charlie had a bigger bedroom than she did! Like most 1960s teens, however, she rebelled against the conservatism of her parents and adopted a well-publicized, freewheeling lifestyle - and a movie career. In her first film, The Group (1965), Candice played a wealthy young lesbian - a character light years away from the sensibilities of her old-guard father. She next appeared with Steve McQueen in the big budget The Sand Pebbles (1966), simultaneously running smack dab into the unkind cuts of critics, who made the expected (given her parentage) comments concerning her "wooden" performance. Truth to tell, Candice did look far better than she acted, and this status quo remained throughout most of her film appearances of the late 1960s; even Candice admitted she wasn't much of an actress, though she allowed (in another moment that must have given papa Edgar pause) that she was terrific when required in a film to simulate an orgasm. Several films later, Candice decided to take her career more seriously than did her critics, and began emerging into a talented and reliable actress in such films as Carnal Knowledge (1971) and The Wind and the Lion (1975). Most observers agree that Candice's true turnaround was her touching but hilarious performance as a divorced woman pursuing a singing career - with little in the way of talent - in the Burt Reynolds comedy Starting Over (1979). Candice's roller-coaster offscreen life settled into relative normality when she married French film director Louis Malle; meanwhile, her acting career gained momentum as she sought out and received ever-improving movie and TV roles. In 1988, Candice began a run in the title role of the television sitcom Murphy Brown, in which she was brilliant as a mercurial, high-strung TV newsmagazine reporter, a role that won Ms. Bergen several Emmy Awards. While Murphy Brown capped Candice Bergen's full acceptance by audiences and critics as an actress of stature, it also restored her to "headline" status in 1992 - when, in direct response to the fictional Murphy Brown's decision to become a single mother, Vice President Dan Quayle delivered his notorious "family values" speech
Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is an FBI agent with a reputation for being aggressive and hard-nosed, who has long wanted to duplicate the career of her deceased mother, also an FBI agent, who died in the line of duty. Her cantankerous nature, though, has made her few friends, excepting her trusting, sensitive partner Eric Matthews (Benjamin Bratt). However, her true abilities are put to the test when she is called upon to infiltrate a Miss United States pageant after a terrorist threatens to bomb it. Gracie, who prides herself on her toughness, must now feminize her behavior to effectively participate in the pageant with the aid of Victor Melling (Michael Caine), a pompous consultant who dreams of whisking away Gracie's past self and creating "Gracie Lou Freebush" for an appreciative, all-American audience. After her arduous conversion, Gracie must play the role of beauty queen and FBI agent, and try not to blow her undercover outfit. Miss Congeniality, which was produced by star Bullock, features television stalwarts William Shatner and Candice Bergen in supporting roles
Cast
Sandra Bullock Gracie Hart
Michael Caine Victor Melling
Benjamin Bratt Eric Matthews
William Shatner Stan Fields
Ernie Hudson McDonald
John DiResta Agent Clonsky
Candice Bergen Kathy Morningside
Heather Burns Cheryl "Rhode Island"
Melissa DeSousa Karen "New York"
Steve Monroe Frank Tobin
Crew
Donald Petrie Director
Sandra Bullock Producer
Katie Ford Co-producer, Screenwriter
Marc Lawrence Screenwriter, Executive Producer, Screen Story
Marc Lawrence Screenwriter, Executive Producer, Screen Story
Ed Shearmur Composer (Music Score)
Laszlo Kovacs Cinematographer
Bruce Berman Executive Producer
Ginger Sledge Executive Producer
Scott Grossman Choreography
Raymond Prado Additional Photography, Second Unit Director Of Photography
Raymond Kluga Art Director
Denise Chamian Casting
Susie de Santo Costume Designer
Billy Weber Editor
Ellen H. Schwartz First Assistant Director
Steve Schnur Musical Direction/Supervision
Peter Larkin Production Designer
Barbara Haberecht Set Decorator, Set Designer
Randy Smith Huke Set Decorator
Caryn Lucas Short Story Author
Steffan Olsson Songwriter
John Pritchett Sound/Sound Designer
David Hankins Supervising Sound Editor
- Actor/Actress/Director:
- Movie:
- Id: 4096548
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