Polly Bergen won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in Helen Morgan.
26 Facts About Polly Bergen
2.
Polly Bergen hosted her own weekly variety show for one season, was a regular panelist on the TV game show To Tell the Truth, and later in life had roles in The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives.
3.
Polly Bergen wrote three books on beauty, fashion, and charm.
4.
Polly Bergen is the inspiration behind Mother Goose in The Land of Stories.
5.
Polly Bergen appeared in many film roles, most notably in the original Cape Fear opposite Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum.
6.
Polly Bergen had roles as the romantic interest in three Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy films in the early 1950s: At War with the Army, That's My Boy, and The Stooge.
7.
Polly Bergen was featured in a number of Westerns during the 1950s, including Warpath, Arena, and Escape from Fort Bravo.
8.
Polly Bergen starred in the horse racing comedy Fast Company; she starred as the first female commander-in-chief in Kisses for My President; and as the wife of James Garner in the romantic comedy Move Over, Darling, which starred Doris Day.
9.
Polly Bergen received an Emmy Award for her portrayal of singer Helen Morgan in the episode The Helen Morgan Story of the 1950s television series Playhouse 90.
10.
Polly Bergen recorded an album in 1957 titled, Bergen Sings Morgan, which included the song "Bill".
11.
Polly Bergen was a regular panelist on the game show To Tell the Truth during its original run.
12.
Polly Bergen earned two Emmy Award nominations for her role as Rhoda Henry, wife of Captain "Pug" Henry, in two miniseries: The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance.
13.
Polly Bergen starred in a 2001 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies at the Belasco Theater and received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
14.
In 2004, Bergen played Fran Felstein on HBO's The Sopranos, the former mistress of Johnny Soprano and John F Kennedy.
15.
From 2007 to 2011, Polly Bergen had a guest role in Desperate Housewives as Stella Wingfield, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination.
16.
Polly Bergen was a semi-regular cast member of Commander-in-Chief as the mother of Mackenzie Allen, the fictional president of the United States, played by Geena Davis.
17.
Polly Bergen had once played the first female president of the United States in the movie Kisses for My President.
18.
Polly Bergen created lines of jewelry and shoe brands, and wrote three books on beauty.
19.
Polly Bergen was married to actor Jerome Courtland from 1950 to 1955.
20.
Polly Bergen converted from Southern Baptist to Judaism upon marrying Fields.
21.
Polly Bergen was married to entrepreneur Jeffrey Endervelt in the 1980s.
22.
In 1991, Polly Bergen spoke about having had an abortion, for inclusion in the book The Choices We Made: Twenty-Five Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion.
23.
On March 31,1993, Brandon Lee died accidentally on the set of The Crow, and in early April, Polly Bergen held a memorial at her home in Los Angeles with 200 of Lee's family, friends, and business associates attended.
24.
Polly Bergen was an active advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment, women's education, and Planned Parenthood.
25.
Polly Bergen died of natural causes on September 20,2014 at her home in Southbury, Connecticut, surrounded by family and close friends.
26.
Polly Bergen had been diagnosed with emphysema and other ailments in the late 1990s.