Edgar Bergen Biography

Fast Facts

• Started out performing in nightclubs and vaudeville shows before getting his big break on the "Chase and Sandborn Radio Hour" in 1937
• Quote: "(In his last performance, the night before his death): "Every act has a beginning and an end and now it's time for me to pack up my jokes and my friends․""
• Appeared in several films, including many with Charlie McCarthy's "rival" W․ C․ Fields like "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" and "Song of the Open Road․"
• Best known as a ventriloquist who performed in radio and film with his wisecracking dummy Charlie McCarthy
• In addition to Charlie McCarthy, his cast of characters included the spinster Effie Klinker and the dull-witted Mortimer Snerd
• Performed an infamous "Adam and Eve" sketch with Mae West in 1937 that was considered so racy that the actress was banned from radio for more than a decade
• Appeared in both "The Muppet Movie" in 1979 and in "The Muppet Show․"
• The inspiration for Charlie McCarthy was a "cocky Irish newsboy" in his neighborhood, whom he took sketches of to a carpenter to have the dummy's head carved