![]() Avg.User Rating: Rate this person: Actor Born: February 16, 1903 in Chicago, IL Death: September 30, 1978 in Las Vegas, NV Biography:Edgar Bergen was still in grammar school when he sent away for a 25-cent ventriloquism instruction book. By the time he was 11, Bergen was driving his family crazy with his prankish voice-throwing. While attending medical school at Northwestern University, Bergen paid his tuition by performing a small-time ventriloquist act; it wasn't long before he dropped out of college to hit the vaudeville and tent-show circuit. After a tour of Europe and South America, Bergen filmed a series of one-reel short subjects for Vitaphone between 1930 and 1935; even in these early efforts, top billing went not to Bergen but to his creation, the impish, top-hatted dummy Charlie McCarthy. From time-to-time Bergen would test out other wooden alter egos, including hayseed Mortimer Snerd and man-hungry Effie Clinker, but Charlie would remain his star attraction. After gaining nationwide fame through his appearances on Rudy... Full Biography
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