‘Murphy Brown’ Cast: Find Out Where the FYI Journalists Ended Up
Full of talent and controversy, these stars are characters on and off the screen!
Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle famously wasn’t a fan of the 1988-98 CBS sitcom Murphy Brown. But millions of viewers — and Emmy voters — were. In its 10 seasons and 247 episodes (not including a single-season revival in 2018), the Murphy Brown cast was nominated for 62 Emmys, and won 18.
Star Candice Bergen led the way with five statues for her portrayal of the iconic, ceiling-shattering, tough, brilliant, investigative reporter and news anchor. The comedy also won three Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guild awards, four Writers Guild awards, a Peabody Award and five Directors Guild awards along the way.
And the groundbreaking series won the ire of Quayle, who, during a 1992 presidential election campaign speech, called out Murphy Brown for “mocking the importance of fathers” with her decision to raise her child, Avery, as a single mom.
The ensuing discussion made family values a central focus of the Bill Clinton/George H.W. Bush/Ross Perot race (and made the “potatoe” the most infamously misspelled vegetable in history). Murphy Brown, which often referenced real-world news and journalists in its storylines, had definitive evidence of its cultural importance.
Now, more than 35 years since the series debuted, we follow the Murphy Brown cast and find out that most of them are still adding to their Hollywood resumes.
Candice Bergen as Murphy Brown
The daughter of comedian and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, Candice Bergen grew up in Beverly Hills and as a child appeared with her father on Groucho Marx’s quiz show, You Bet Your Life.
She later became a model, including on Vogue covers, and left college to focus on acting after her first movie role in The Group (1966). Next, she starred with Steve McQueen in the Oscar-nominated, The Sand Pebbles (1966).
Despite years of working with top co-stars like Sean Connery and Gene Hackman, Bergen’s big breakout didn’t come until 1979, when she earned Oscar and Golden Globe nods for the romantic comedy, Starting Over, with Burt Reynolds.
She also starred in the 1982 Oscar-winning movie Gandhi, and after becoming the first woman to host Saturday Night Live (in 1975), became the first woman in the Five-Timers Club in 1990. And just before that TV achievement, she began her most iconic role, playing the titular TV newswoman in CBS’ comedy series Murphy Brown.
A fierce, hardworking, talented investigative reporter and the star of the 60 Minutes-ish newsmagazine called FYI, single, forty-something Murphy had just returned to work after a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic when Murphy debuted in 1988.
In its original 11 seasons, Bergen won five Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys (a record she shares with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mary Tyler Moore) and two Best Actress Golden Globes.
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After the groundbreaking run of the original Murphy Brown ended in 1998, Bergen returned in 2018 for a 13-episode CBS revival season, in which Murphy hosted a cable news show called Murphy in the Morning, with the help of some of her FYI pals.
In other projects, she starred in the movies Miss Congeniality (2000) and Sweet Home Alabama (2002), guest starred as Carrie’s Vogue editor in Sex and the City (the series and the movie) and guest starred on Law & Order and Will & Grace. She also starred in the ABC legal dramedy Boston Legal, with William Shatner and James Spader.
Faith Ford as Corky Sherwood: Murphy Brown cast
Faith Ford began her career on daytime soaps, with regular roles as Muffy Critchlow on One Life to Live, and as Julia Shearer (a role previously played by Kyra Sedgwick) on Another World.
After primetime guest roles on Webster, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Cagney & Lacey, and a recurring stint on thirtysomething, she landed the role of Corky Sherwood.
Corky was a former Miss America, and a naïve newswoman who had filled in for Murphy during her time in rehab. Her FYI colleagues didn’t initially have the utmost respect for Corky, whose sunny personality made her an fan-favorite.
Ford was nominated for five Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys and two Golden Globes as Supporting Actress for playing Corky.
After Murphy Brown’s original run, Ford starred in the movies Beethoven’s 5th and The Pacifier, and starred in short-lived TV comedies Maggie Winters, Carpoolers, and The Norm Show with Norm Macdonald and Laurie Metcalf.
She guest starred on My Name Is Earl and The Middle, and more recently, Killing It and the reboot of Night Court. Ford reprised her Corky role on the Murphy Brown reboot in 2018, but her biggest success after Murphy Brown was co-starring with Kelly Ripa in the hit ABC sitcom Hope & Faith.
Pat Corley as Phil
Pat Corley started his career as a ballet dancer in Stockton, California, and after serving in the Army during the Korean War, he moved to New York City and became a member of the Actors Studio.
He co-starred with Al Pacino and James Earl Jones in city theater, and then began working as a TV guest star in series including Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Barnaby Jones, Simon & Simon, Murder, She Wrote, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, and TV movie adaptations of Of Mice and Men and The Executioner’s Song.
Then came a regular role on Murphy Brown, playing beloved, well-connected Phil, owner of Phil’s Bar, the regular hangout of Murphy and the FYI gang. Corley was part of the series’ cast’s Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
After Murphy, Corley did voice work in the TV series adaptation of All Dogs Go to Heaven, and a movie adaptation of Tom Sawyer, as well as Hey Arnold! His final role was playing Papa in the 2006 Sundance Festival drama Come Early Morning, Corley died in 2006 in Los Angeles.
Charles Kimbrough as Jim Dial: Murphy Brown cast
Charles Kimbrough studied drama and theater in college, and earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Among his stage performances in New York were being in the original Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, and earning a Tony nomination for Sondheim’s Company.
He had also co-starred with Bergen in Starting Over, and the colleagues reunited when he won the role of serious-minded anchorman Jim Dial, Murphy’s long-time colleague who respects her (and affectionately calls her “Slugger”) and the profession of journalism above all else.
Kimbrough earned a Supporting Actor Emmy nomination for playing Jim on the original series, and reprised his role for the 2018 reboot, with Jim now retired.
Post-Murphy, he did voicework in Pinky and the Brain, The Angry Beavers, Family Guy, and The Zeta Project, and guest starred on Love Boat: The Next Wave and Ally McBeal. He also co-starred with Jim Parsons in a 2012 Broadway revival of the Pulitzer-winning play Harvey. Kimbrough died in 2023 in Culver City, California.
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Robert Pastorelli as Eldin Bernecky
Originally set on a boxing career that was ended when he was in a serious car wreck, Robert Pastorelli turned to acting, with some New York theater experience. He booked roles in movies like Outrageous Fortunes, Beverly Hills Cop II and Dances with Wolves and TV guest spots on Cagney & Lacey, St. Elsewhere, Miami Vice, and Night Court.
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These led to his role as Eldin, the quirky house painter who Murphy first to renovate her home, then to be her live-in nanny for baby Avery. Pastorelli received an Emmy nod as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Eldin.
After Murphy Brown ended, Pastorelli’s personal and professional life spiraled downward. His work was limited to a few TV movies and series guest spots, the biggest being one episode of Touched by an Angel, and a small role in the movie Be Cool that was released after his death.
Pastorelli’s girlfriend had been fatally shot inside his home in March 1999. He later told police that during a fight between the two of them, his girlfriend has taken out a gun and shot herself.
The Los Angeles coroner initially called the cause of death undetermined, and Pastorelli was exonerated. But in 2004, further examination of evidence led authorities to believe the actor’s ex had been murdered, and considered him a suspect. On March 8, 2004, Pastorelli was found dead of an overdose of morphine at his Hollywood Hills home.
Joe Regalbuto as Frank Fontana: Murphy Brown cast
Joe Regalbuto started to establish his career with a role in the short-lived Martin Short legal-themed 1979-80 sitcom The Associates. He played an evil alien in a recurring role in Mork & Mindy, a kidnapper of the Ewing babies on Knots Landing, a friend of Magnum’s on Magnum, P.I., and a jerk who verbally abused Blanche’s daughter on The Golden Girls.
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And then came Murphy Brown and the role of Murphy’s fellow investigative reporter and FYI co-star, Frank Fontana. Frank is also Murphy’s trusted best friend (with whom she has a professional rivalry).
Frank is a talented journalist, but is insecure in his personal life, especially about the toupee the producers of FYI insist he wear on the air. Regalbuto earned a best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy nomination for playing Frank.
He also returned for the reboot season of Murphy Brown, with Frank co-hosting hosting Murphy in the Morning with Murphy and Corky. Regalbuto also started directing episodes of the original Murphy towards the end of the show’s run, and he has since directed episodes of Titus, Greetings from Tucson, Out of Practice and the Murphy Brown revival. On the acting front, Regalbuto has made guest appearances on Touched by an Angel, Ally McBeal, JAG, Criminal Minds, NCIS, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Grant Shaud as Miles Silverberg
Shaud, who was a journalism major in college, had a breakout guest appearance on the sitcom Kate & Allie, leading to his role as Miles, the young, nervous, and talented FYI executive producer (and eventually husband to Corky). He later returned for the rebooted season of Murphy Brown, where Miles was a the EP of Murphy in the Morning.
Shaud’s resume since Murphy Brown has includes roles in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Touched by an Angel, Pushing Daisies, Law & Order, Medium, The Good Wife, Younger, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Lily Tomlin as Kay Carter-Shepley: Murphy Brown cast
Comedian, actress, writer, singer, and producer Lily Tomlin has had a career that spans more than 50 years and has seen her win seven Emmy Awards, two Tonys, a Grammy, a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, a Peabody Career Achievement Award, and a Kennedy Center Honors Award.
Highlights of her prolific career: performing on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In sketch comedy show, her Grammy-winning comedy album This Is a Recording, her Oscar-nominated role in Nashville, the movie 9 to 5, and The West Wing. In season nine, after Grant Shaud left Murphy Brown, Tomlin’s Kay Carter-Shepley replaced Miles as the FYI producer.
Most recently, Tomlin reunited with her 9 to 5 co-star Jane Fonda for the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie, which earned Tomlin four Emmy nominations. She also voiced Aunt May in the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and earned a Golden Globe nod for her performance in Grandma, the 2015 dramedy movie that filmmaker Paul Weitz said was inspired by Tomlin.
Haley Joel Osment as Avery Brown
Before The Sixth Sense made him a child superstar, Haley Joel Osment played Murphy Brown’s son Avery for six episodes, including appearing during the story in which Murphy dealt with a cancer diagnosis.
Playing Forrest Gump’s son was already behind him, and The Sixth Sense earned him Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, so Osment, at just 11-years-old, was already enjoying a thriving career. He would go on to projects like Pay It Forward, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Secondhand Lions on the big screen. A
s an adult he had memorable recurring roles and guest appearances on Alpha House, Comedy Bang! Bang!, Silicon Valley, The Eric Andre Show, and What We Do in the Shadows.
Jake McDorman as Avery Brown: Murphy Brown cast
Jake McDorman’s breakout role came in the 2007-11 ABC Family college dramedy Greek, and had also starred in the short-lived CBS series adaptation of the Bradley Cooper film Limitless. He also had a recurring role on Shameless when he was chosen to play the all grown up version of Avery Brown on the 2018 revival season of Murphy Brown.
Avery had followed in mom’s footsteps as a TV news journalist, but in a twist, he starred in series rival to Murphy in the Morning, providing a liberal viewpoint on a conservative news network.
After the unfortunately brief run of Murphy Brown’s return, McDorman starred in the romantic comedy Happiest Season and Jerry & Marge Go Large. He had roles in The Right Stuff, Dopesick, Mrs. Davis and Class of ’09. And, like the younger version of Avery, he has also guest starred on the brilliantly funny FX vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows.
Tyne Daly as Phyllis
TV and theater legend Tyne Daly joined the revival season of Murphy Brown as Phyllis, sister of Phil and the new owner of Phil’s Bar. The role was a welcome return to TV for the actress who won four Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmys for Cagney & Lacey, two Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Emmys for the Christy and Judging Amy, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and won a Tony Award.
Since her role on Murphy, she has guest starred on Grey’s Anatomy, the CBS comedy Mom, and the CBS political drama Madam Secretary, which co-starred her brother, Tim Daly.
