Born in Chicago, Illinois. While still in high school he conceived the idea for his ventriloquist dummy, Charlie McCarthy, which cost $35 but soon helped pay his way through Northwestern University. After college he made the vaudeville circuit in the US and Europe, then got a start on radio with Rudy Vallee. Bergen and Charlie McCarthy appeared in a dozen film shorts for the Vitaphone company between 1933 and 1935. After their radio success, with the "younger" dummy Mortimer Snerd included, they appeared in feature films, reaching the height of their popularity in the late 30s. In 1937, Bergen won a special Academy Award for the creation of Charlie. After WWII, Bergen appeared mostly in nightclubs, and in 1956 he began hosting a daytime TV quiz show, "Do You Trust Your Wife?" He later appeared in several films, sans dummies, in straight character roles. He bequeathed Charlie McCarthy to the Smithsonian Institution. His daughter is actress Candice Bergen (b. 1946). * Special Award 1937: "For his outstanding comedy creation, Charlie McCarthy." Winner presented a wooden Statuette. 1 Special Award