- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFrances Westerman
- The daughter of William and Lillie Mae Westerman, her father died of tuberculosis when she was ten years old. Her mother then moved the family to Los Angeles.
She suffered a skull fracture in an auto accident when she was 14. While recuperating, she was given a Charlie McCarthy doll to cheer her up. Little did she know she'd later marry Charlie McCarthy creator, famous comedian and ventriloquist, Edgar Bergen.
Graduated from Los Angeles High School, where she was a pom-pom girl. At 19, Frances was in the audience of Edgar Bergen's radio program as the guest of a member of his staff. Sitting in the front row, her long legs caught the attention of the 39-year-old star, who asked to meet her. They were married in Mexico after a year of long distance courtship.
- IMDb mini biography by: S. Wolfsberger
- SpouseEdgar Bergen(June 23, 1945 - September 30, 1978) (his death, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsWilliam Albert WestermanLillie Mabel HowellParry Eustis Boyd
- Mother of actress Candice Bergen and actor Kris Bergen.
- Once desired to become a chanteuse and had several engagements in major supper clubs but gave it up because she felt family came first.
- One of her best film roles came at age 68 as the matriarch in writer-director Henry Jaglom's drama Eating (1990).
- Moved to Los Angeles with her mother at the age of 10 after her father died.
- As a Powers model she was known as Frances Westcott
- The [public] reaction to my husband was astounding. We'd be out to dinner or dancing and people would come up and tap him on the shoulder and ask, 'Where's Charlie? Where's Charlie?' I must admit at one point I thought, 'If I hear the name Charlie one more time, I'll . . .' I was proud of my husband, he was so talented, but selfishly, once in awhile you do feel, 'What about me?'
- I was raised by a Southern lady in a mid-Victorian manner and that's the way it was in those days. I didn't talk back to my husband. I was taught that you do have to compromise and not assert yourself as much as you might want. FB - in discussing her unfulfilled career ambitions
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