Candice Bergen Appreciates ‘the Grace of Getting Older’

I hear you. And you’ve faced challenges — a stroke, a bike accident. Do you have any lingering health issues from that?

I’ve got a few health issues, but they’re manageable — and they’re not from the bike accident. The bike accident — I fractured my pelvis, which was a new kind of pain. I actually saw stars. You can’t move for a long time; it’s too painful. I had great care at a hospital in New York called HSS [Hospital for Special Surgery], which is for people with orthopedic injuries. 

Did you ever ride a bike after that again? Did you get back up?

No. I would not go near a bike. In fact, in Sun Valley there were some bikes, and as I walked by, I thought, Can I do this? No, I can’t. I made a shaky turn around the circle, and I got off. I said, “I can’t do it.” 

What do you like to do now to be physical for your health?

I work out with a trainer five days a week. My building has a gym. I’ve known him for years, and he worked with my husband when he was ill, and he’s just very savvy and knows his stuff. It’s very little cardio; I barely break a sweat. I said today, “You’re just trying to keep me alive, right?” It’s just to remember how to move stuff, keep your joints … to get the blood pumping a little bit. 

On the flip side, what’s the best part about getting older?

Hmm. [Laughs.] Grandkids are good. And just the grace of getting older is something to be grateful for. It’s a gift. It’s not always the purest gift, but it’s important to be grateful for it. 

Do you think you’d write another memoir or book after having written two? Is there another one in there?

I might write one about turning 80.  

I would read that.

[Laughs.] It would be a very slim little book. It would be a turning-80 manual. 

I guess we have to think of it as not everybody gets to turn 80, right?

It’s the only positive thing I can think about it, but I have to get over the denial thing. Also, turning 80 is not what it used to be. My father [world-famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen] died at 75, and at the time, I remember thinking, Well, that’s a full life. I’m 79, and it is not a full life. I count on being there for my grandson’s graduation from high school. Hopefully, my granddaughter. Well, that would make me almost historic.  

Given your priorities, what work do you still want to do?

I’m 80, there’s not a lot of work I want to do. I don’t want to do a series again. Although I loved doing Murphy Brown, that was a lot of work.

“Playing Murphy was such a gift,” Bergen says. “And I just always made the effort to insist that she not be too tough and to be kind at the end of the night.” The show ran from 1988 to 1998.

CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

You made an impact with that character. Was that your favorite character?

Yeah. Playing Murphy was such a gift. And I just always made the effort to insist that she not be too tough and to be kind at the end of the night.  

Are you like her in real life?

Not as feisty. Because Murphy was very feisty, which is what I think people loved about her.  

Is there an actor or director you’d jump at the chance to work with?

I love to work; 4:30 in the morning is nothing for me to get up. But I get into this kind of routine where I’m just very comfortable in my den. That said, it’s so much fun being an actor. And every now and then, on the set, you fall into a conversation about that: “Don’t you love what we do? We’re so lucky.” And we are. It’s just a fabulous job. 

Over the years, you talked about your dad giving you the best career advice, about not relying on your beauty.

Well, that was great. That saved me. He encouraged me to develop my other abilities. He said, “Candy, don’t rely on your beauty, because beauty goes. Develop your gifts. Develop your photography, develop your writing, develop other things and interests, because it makes for a richer life.” 

Were you not taken seriously because people were focused on your looks?

Ah, yeah. There are certain logistics if you go into a party, you go to the clutch of women who are scowling at you and make friends with them first, and then you scour the room. 

Did you have to work harder to prove that you weren’t just that pretty face?

You sort of do. My father was great. I have never been vain. And both my parents [her mother was actress Frances Bergen] were great in never making a fuss over it and dismissing it and telling me to focus on other things. It really saved me. 

You said you love acting, but what if the acting didn’t work out? Did you have a backup plan?

Well, I loved photographing, and I loved writing. Whenever I wasn’t doing a movie, I wrote articles for Esquire. I went to Africa for 10 days to be with Jane Goodall, which was a fantastic gift. My parents made an effort to keep me curious, and it worked. 

Who were your inspirations when you started out?

A very good friend of mine from college. She’s a few years older than I was. A great photojournalist, Mary Ellen Mark, was very generous in teaching me how to develop prints.… We were in college together, and we stayed friends for the rest of our lives, and she was a great influence. [Mark died in 2015.] And Eve Arnold, a photojournalist, friend and influence [Arnold died in 2012.]  

“[Reese Witherspoon] has always been lovely,” Bergen says. The pair have worked together on two films, “Sweet Home Alabama" (pictured) and “Home Again.”

Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Did you have any acting mentors who helped you along the way? Is it that kind of business?

It is. It is that kind of business, and I sure needed help, but I think early on, people just thought, Well, this is just helpless. Because I didn’t study it. I had no idea what I was doing. It was only because of my looks that I got into it. I didn’t really want to do it, but I didn’t have anything else to do. And then certain actors were helpful. You know who has always been lovely is Reese Witherspoon, [Bergen and Witherspoon worked together on the films Sweet Home Alabama and Home Again.]

Any regrets?

No. I don’t believe in them!