Polly Bergen

1958's Authority Move

Polly Bergen won the Emmy for Best Actress in 1958 for The Helen Morgan Story. It was a commanding performance. No one expected a nightclub singer to convey that self-destructive vulnerability on camera. But she did.

Born in Knoxville in 1930 as Nellie Paulina Burgin, she was the daughter of an engineer who sang in local choirs, and she learned the craft purely by imitation. By age twenty, she had a contract with RCA Victor and was recording jazz and traditional pop albums.

Hollywood spotted her early.

Between 1951 and 1953, she appeared in three films with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. These were supporting roles designed to showcase her voice and looks in titles such as At War with the Army and The Stooge. But Bergen wanted more than to be the female foil to a pair of comedians.

The Face of Psychological Terror

In 1962, she landed the role that changed how the industry saw her. She played Peggy Bowden in The Cape Fear. The shoot was a real psychological ordeal. Robert Mitchum accidentally ended up hitting her during the boat assault scene. That raw, anguished performance permanently moved her away from lighthearted comedies.

And the gamble paid off.

In 1964, she starred in Kisses for My President. It was the first time American cinema imagined a woman occupying the Oval Office. The film was a comedy, but its subtext about female power was too progressive for mid-1960s society.

A Millionaire Before a Producer

Bergen never trusted studio paychecks blindly. In 1965, she founded her own cosmetics brand with an initial investment of three thousand dollars. She personally designed the formulas and packaging for her beauty products.

She sold the company to Fabergé in 1973 for close to eight million dollars. That deal made her one of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry. But the money did not pull her away from the stage.

In 1983, she appeared in the miniseries The Winds of War. Her role as Rhoda Henry restored her critical prestige and earned her another Emmy nomination. Television became her natural refuge in the decades that followed.

Between 2007 and 2011, she appeared in ten episodes of Desperate Housewives as the mother of Felicity Huffman. She kept her aristocratic presence and a voice that smoking had made deeper and more personal over time.

She died at her home in Southbury on September 20, 2014 from complications of chronic emphysema. She was 84 years old and left three children and an estate managed through several family trusts.