Polly Bergen obit

Polly Bergen Dies at 84; Emmy-Winning Actress

She was not on the list.

Polly Bergen, an actress, singer and businesswoman who won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her portrayal of the alcoholic torch singer Helen Morgan and was nominated for another 50 years later for her role on “Desperate Housewives,” died on Saturday at her home in Southbury, Conn. She was 84.

Her publicist, Judy Katz, confirmed the death but did not specify a cause.

Ms. Bergen’s career highlights included a chilling turn as the menaced wife of a lawyer (Gregory Peck) stalked by a psychopathic convict (Robert Mitchum) in the 1962 film “Cape Fear,” five years as a panelist on the CBS game show “To Tell the Truth” and a Tony-nominated performance as a gritty former showgirl in the 2001 revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Follies.”

The song Ms. Bergen performed in that show, “I’m Still Here,” could well have served as her own defiant anthem.

As a teenager, she began her career singing hillbilly songs on the radio and quickly found roles in movies. Her early credits include the 1949 western “Across the Rio Grande,” in which she played a saloon singer, and three films in which she appeared with the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

She made her Broadway debut in the 1953 revue “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac” in a cast that also featured Hermione Gingold, Billy De Wolfe and Harry Belafonte. Determined to make an impression as a vocalist, Ms. Bergen overexerted herself, injured her throat and had to leave the show and undergo surgery.

She was less than thrilled with the quality of the movies she was offered as a contract player in Hollywood, although there were a few exceptions, including “Cape Fear” and “The Caretakers” (1963), in which she convincingly played an inmate in a mental institution ruled by a dictatorial nurse played by Joan Crawford. She also had roles in several light comedies, including “Move Over, Darling” (1963), with Doris Day and James Garner, and “Kisses for My President” (1964), in which she starred as the nation’s first female president.

Ms. Bergen made a number of popular recordings, beginning with “Little Girl Blue” in 1955, and was a familiar presence on television. She was on “To Tell the Truth” from 1956 to 1961, and she hosted her own variety series on NBC in the 1957-58 season. Her performance in the title role of “The Helen Morgan Story,” a 1957 episode of the anthology series “Playhouse 90,” won her an Emmy for “best single performance.” She was also prominently featured in a long-running advertising campaign for Pepsi-Cola.

Ms. Bergen, who died on Saturday at 84, with James Garner in a photograph shot during the filming of the 1963 movie "Move Over, Darling." 

In the mid-1960s, she began selling a line of Polly Bergen Cosmetics, which she eventually sold to Fabergé. She followed that with Polly Bergen Jewelry and Polly Bergen Shoes. She soon became a successful entrepreneur as well as the author of three advice books: “Fashion and Charm” (1960), “Polly’s Principles” (1974) and “I’d Love to, but What Will I Wear?” (1977). She was also an advocate for women, especially on the subject of reproductive rights.

Ms. Bergen’s three marriages ended in divorce. Her third husband, Jeffrey K. Endervelt, was an investor in companies who turned to her whenever he needed money, which proved to be often. By the time she and Mr. Endervelt were married, Ms. Bergen’s own ventures had made her a millionaire. Over the course of their marriage, however, her fortune vanished, with the stock market collapse of 1987 serving as the final blow. The couple divorced in 1990, and Ms. Bergen, awash in debt, began to claw her way back to financial stability.

She returned to television and appeared in a number of dramas and mini-series, including “The Winds of War” (1983) and a sequel, “War and Remembrance” (1988), which reunited her with Mr. Mitchum. Her performances in those mini-series as the unfaithful and alcoholic wife of a serviceman earned her Emmy nominations.

Ms. Bergen’s infrequent movie credits in the 1990s included “Cry-Baby,” John Waters’s madcap portrait of delinquent high school students in the 1950s, in which she played a snooty society matron. She also appeared in “Once Upon a Time ... When We Were Colored” (1996), as a woman who befriends a young black student in the segregated South.

Ms. Bergen and Mark Hamill rehearsing for the Broadway production of "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" in 2003. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Nellie Paulina Burgin was born on July 14, 1930, in Knoxville, Tenn. She was in her early teens when her family moved to Los Angeles, and she soon began singing on the radio and in nightclubs.

Those performances brought her to the attention of executives at Paramount Pictures, who signed her to a contract. She made her movie debut as a cantina singer in “Across the Rio Grande” (1949), whose credits listed her as Polly Burgin. In her next film, “At War With the Army” (1950), the first of the three she made with Martin and Lewis (the others were “The Stooge” and “That’s My Boy”), she became Polly Bergen. After Paramount, she was signed by MGM, but soon walked away from her contract because of dissatisfaction with her roles. She then began to work in television.

Ms. Bergen was plagued by physical problems that kept her from singing for more than 30 years. In 2000, she began a cautious return. When she appeared in New York at Feinstein’s at the Regency, Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that her performance “was, in a word, great.”

She returned to Broadway the following year in “Follies.” In an interview with The Times before the show opened, she expressed her delight at once again being able to do “that which gives me so much joy.”

After “Follies,” Ms. Bergen appeared in a Broadway revival of “Cabaret” in 2002; in the short-lived two-character drama “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” on Broadway in 2003, with Mark Hamill as her co-star; and in a number of television shows, including ABC’s “Commander in Chief” and “Desperate Housewives.” Her work on “Housewives” earned her a nomination as outstanding guest actress in a comedy series. She also appeared in an episode of “The Sopranos” as the mistress of Tony Soprano’s late father.

Ms. Bergen is survived by a daughter, PK Fields; a son, Peter Fields; a stepdaughter, Kathy Lander; and three grandchildren.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1949      Champion            Singer   Uncredited

1949      Across the Rio Grande    Singer   (as Polly Burgin)

1950      The Men              Singer   Uncredited

1950      At War with the Army    Helen Palmer     A Martin & Lewis comedy

1951      That's My Boy    Betty 'Babs' Hunter         A Martin & Lewis comedy

1951      Warpath              Molly Quade     

1952      The Stooge         Mary Turner       A Martin & Lewis comedy

1953      Cry of the Hunted            Janet Tunner

1953      Half a Hero          Herself-Guest Appearance          

1953      Fast Company    Carol Maldon    

1953      Arena    Ruth Danvers    

1953      Escape from Fort Bravo Alice Owens      

1954      The Blue Angel Herself-Host      

1962      Cape Fear            Peggy Bowden

1963      The Caretakers Lorna Melford   Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama

1963      Move Over, Darling         Bianca Steele     A Doris Day - James Garner comedy

1964      Kisses for My President U.S. President Leslie Harrison McCloud  

1967      A Guide for the Married Man      Technical Adviser (Clara Brown)                

1984      Velvet   Mrs. Vance         

1987      Making Mr. Right             Estelle Stone     

1989      Mother, Mother               Barbara Cutler   Short film

1990      Cry-Baby              Mrs. Vernon-Williams     A comedy directed by John Waters

1995      Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde Mrs. Unterveldt               

1995      Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored      Miss Maybry     

2005      Paradise, Texas Beverly Cameron             

2006      A Very Serious Person    Mrs. A  

2012      Struck by Lightning          Grandma            

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1954–55               The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse             Herself/Host     

1956–61               To Tell the Truth               Herself 165 episodes

1957      Playhouse 90     Helen Morgan   "The Helen Morgan Story" (episode 33)

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie

1957–58               The Polly Bergen Show Herself 18 episodes

1960      The George Burns Show                Herself Guest

1961      Alfred Hitchcock Presents             Crystal Coe          Episode: "You Can't Trust a Man"

1961      Wagon Train      Kitty Allbright     Episode: "The Kitty Allbright Story"

1962      What's My Line Herself Episode: "January 28, 1962

1962      Belle Sommers Belle Sommers Movie

1973      Thriller Suzy Hunter        Season 1, Episode 4 “An Echo of Theresa”

1974      Death Cruise      Sylvia Carter       Movie

1975      Murder on Flight 502      Mona Briarly      Movie

1977      79 Park Avenue                Vera Keppler      Movie

1977      Telethon              Dorothy Goodwin            Movie

1978      How to Pick Up Girls!      Dana Greenberg               Movie

1981      The Million Dollar Face Jo Burns               Movie

1982      Born Beautiful   Marion Carmody              Movie

1982      The Love Boat    Dana Pierce        3 episodes

1983      The Winds of War            Rhoda Henry      Miniseries (6 episodes)

Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie

1984      Fantasy Island    Esther Brandell Episode: "Lady of the House/Mrs. Brandell's Favorites"

1985      Hotel     Elizabeth Hastings            Episode: "Images"

1985      Murder, She Wrote         Dr. Jocelyn Laird               Episode: "School for Scandal"

1988      Addicted to His Love       Vivien Langford                 Movie

1988      She Was Marked for Murder       Laura Lee Webster          Movie

1988–89               War and Remembrance                Rhoda Henry      Miniseries (6 episodes)

Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie

1988      My Two Dads     Evelyn Taylor     Episode: "Joey's Mother-in-Law"

1989      Jake and the Fatman       Emma Julian       Episode: "By Myself"

1989      The Haunting of Sarah Hardy       Emily Stepford Movie

1989      My Brother's Wife            Myra Gilbert       Movie

1990      Steel Magnolias                Clairee Belcher Unsold pilot

1991      Lightning Field   Carol      Movie

1991–92               Baby Talk             Doris Campbell 23 episodes

1992      Lady Against the Odds    Cleo Storrs          Movie

1993      Arly Hanks           Ruby Bee             Movie

1994      Burke's Law        Rachel Doucet   Episode: "Who Killed the Starlet?"

1995      The Surrogate    Sandy Gilman     Movie

1996      In the Blink of an Eye      Murial   Movie

1996      For Hope              Molly Altman     Movie

1998      Touched by an Angel      Stella     Episode: "Deconstructing Harry"

2004      The Sopranos     Fran Felstein      Episode: "In Camelot"

2005–06               Commander in Chief       Kate Allen            10 episodes

2006      Candles on Bay Street    Rosemary            Movie

2007–11               Desperate Housewives Stella Wingfield                 10 episodes

Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film