Actress Frances Bergen dead at 84

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Actress Frances Bergen, wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and mother of actress Candice Bergen, has died in Los Angeles at age 84.

Bergen died from a prolonged illness Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

The model who portrayed "the Chesterfield girl" and "the Ipana girl" in magazines and on billboards appeared in several films and TV shows in the 1950s, but eventually set her own ambitions aside to be a foil for her husband and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, the Times said.

In a 1990 interview, Bergen told The Times "it was impossible" to have her "own identity" in the shadow of her popular spouse, who died in 1978.

She picked up her acting career in the 1980s with roles in "American Gigolo," "Rich and Famous" and "The Sting II," but by then, instead of being "Edgar's wife," she was "Candy's mother."

At auditions, "I thought the casting director would be thinking, 'Oh, I wish it was her daughter but instead here comes Mother Bergen,'" she said.

But, the wife and mother said she had no regrets and would not have traded her family for a career.

In addition to Candice, she is survived by a son, Kris, and a granddaughter.