Edgar Bergen

Birth Name:

Edgar John Bergren

Birth Place:

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Profession

Actor, Soundtrack, Writer

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
Appeared in both "The Muppet Movie" in 1979 and in "The Muppet Show․"
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
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

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