Frances Bergen (born Frances Westerman; September 14, 1922 – October 2, 2006) was an American actress and fashion model. She was the wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the mother of actress Candice Bergen and film & television editor Kris Bergen.

Biography

In 1941, Frances Westerman met Edgar Bergen after a radio program when he was 38 and she was 19. Westerman, who graduated from Los Angeles High School the year before, was in the audience of Edgar Bergen's radio program as the guest of a member of his staff. Sitting in the front row, the young fashion model's long legs caught the attention of Bergen, who asked to meet her. The two were married in Mexico, after years of a long distance courtship, on June 28, 1945, and remained happily married until Edgar's death on September 30, 1978 at age 75. On May 9, 1946 the couple welcomed their first child Candice Bergen. It was 15 years later, on October 12, 1961, they had a son, Kris Edgar Bergen, who would later become a film and television editor.

As a widow, she dated actor Craig Stevens after the death of his wife of many years, Alexis Smith.