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In this New York Times bestseller, acclaimed actress Candice Bergen “shows how to do a memoir right...The self-possessed, witty, and down-to-earth voice that made Bergen’s first memoir a hit when it was published in 1984 has only been deepened by life’s surprises” (The New York Times Book Review).“Candice Bergen is unflinchingly honest” (The Washington Post), and in A Fine Romance she describes her first marriage at age thirty-four to famous French director Louis Malle; her overpowering love for her daughter, Chloe; the unleashing of her inner comic with Murphy Brown; her trauma over Malle’s death; her joy at finding new love; and her pride at watching Chloe blossom. In her decidedly nontraditional marriage to the insatiably curious Louis, Bergen takes readers on world travels to the sets where each made films. Pregnant with Chloe at age thirty-nine, this mature primigravida also recounts a journey through motherhood that includes plundering the Warner Bros. costume closets for Halloween getups and never leaving her ever-expanding menagerie out of the fun. She offers priceless, behind-the-scenes looks at Murphy Brown, from caterwauling with Aretha Franklin to the surreal experience of becoming headline news when Dan Quayle took exception to her character becoming a single mother. Bergen tackles familiar rites of passage with moving honesty: the rigors of caring for a spouse in his final illness, getting older, and falling in love again after she was tricked into a blind date. By the time the last page is turned, “we’re all likely to be wishing Bergen herself—funny, insightful, self-deprecating, flawed (and not especially concerned about that), and slugging her way through her older years with bemused determination—was living next door” (USA TODAY).
One of the most memorable aspects of THE GROUP was seeing a young Candice Bergen on screen for the first time. She was so incandescently beautiful you couldn't take your eyes off of her. Over the years, I didn't pay much attention to her since I didn't care for her film work. RICH AND FAMOUS was fun and the beginning of noticing that Bergen was developing a comedic persona that was becoming more interesting. By the time she co-starred as Burt Reynold's self-absorbed ex-wife who couldn't find the pitch of a song if she fell over it, I was once again, a fan. Then MURPHY BROWN finally pushed this talented and beautiful women into the limelight and became a household name. Candice and Murphy were made for each other and I, along with millions of viewers, was a devoted fan of the show for it's entire decade-long run. Now Candice Bergen has delivered her second memoir, A FINE ROMANCE. It covers the years of her meeting and marriage to French film director, Louis Malle, the birth of her beloved daughter, Chloe, and brings us up to the present. Bergen is an observant writer who tells her story with wit, humor, and a surprising honesty. She is hilariously self-deprecating and nothing is more charming than seeing a positively gorgeous woman act like a goofball whether it is on the screen or on the page. Despite her success in films and during her freshman year on MURPHY BROWN, it took her many years to finally come to terms with her looks and her talent.Her father, who formed the center of her first memoir (KNOCK WOOD), is hardly a presence here. Meeting and falling in love with Louis Malle gets things off to a good start. Malle, an excellent director, is French and used to being the center of his own universe. He's been married and divorced twice when he meets Bergen. Their first five years together are wonderful with much traveling, setting up of their households with his family home in France and her glamorous New York City apartment. Deciding she wants a child, she becomes pregnant. The arrival of Chloe stirs something deep within her and Bergen embraces motherhood developing a bond with her daughter that is so enveloping, it pulls her away somewhat from Malle, who is a distant father, always away on a film shoot. Then MURPHY BROWN comes along and with it, and their lives are changed forever. Though Bergen never says so, the reader gets the feeling that Malle is not used to being second fiddle. The family is divided even further with Bergen and her daughter in Los Angeles where the show shoots for a big part of the year, France and New York. When Malle gets sick, Bergen is in superdrive, working long hours on her hit s***, then coming home to her sick husband and young child. Malle dies just as the MURPHY BROWN is hitting its popular peak. Mother and daughter are now an unbreakable team. And after five years, she meets and falls in love again, this time with the real estate magnate, Marshall Rose. Again, the marriage is a success.Candice Bergen emerges in these pages as a warm and funny woman who has come to terms with herself. She's not afraid to talk about Prozac, plastic surgery, or gaining weight. She's a generous colleague and always a bit insecure about her acting abilities. Surrounded by legendary pros such as Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones in a revival of THE BEST MAN on Broadway and Bergen is a mass of insecurities. But you admire her for putting herself on the line time and time again. Bergen is a good friend, a great mother, a loving daughter and sister. But what holds your attention throughout A FINE ROMANCE is the idea of a gorgeous girl navigating through life in a couture gown with her eyes crossed. Few celebrity memoirs are this readable.
