Celebrity Biographies
Polly Bergen
She succeeded as a singer, television presenter and actress with titles such as “Cape of Terror”. Polly Bergen passed away at the age of 84 on September 20, 2014, at her residence in Southbury, Connecticut. Since the 90s she suffered from pulmonary emphysema.
Nellie Paulina Burgin (her real name) was born on July 14, 1930 in Knoxville (Tennessee). When she was 14 years old, she was signed as a singer on a radio station. Before long she was touring with small bands throughout California. Her first job in the cinema consisted of giving the voice to a singer who sounds on the radio in El ídolo de barro .
Hal B. Wallis, director of Paramount, offered him an exclusive contract. She played a saloon singer in the B-western Across the Rio Grande , and was later cast as the lead alongside Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis , in titles like The Crazy Singer and That’s My Boy .
He subsequently appeared in numerous film and television titles. Highlights include her work as the daughter of the commanding officer of a fort, at Fort Bravo , by John Sturges , and especially the role of the wife of Gregory Peck , a lawyer persecuted by a psychopath ( Robert Mitchum ) in the classic Cape Terror .
Polly Bergen found time to star in numerous Broadway musicals, write three books, and found her own beauty company. She remained active as an actress for a long time, playing roles late in life as the former lover of the leading man’s father on The Sopranos , the mother of Geena Davis on Mrs. President , and Felicity Huffman on Desperate Housewives .