Show Business: The Princess Who Belched

"She's got an indiscreet voice," I remarked. 'Its full of—" I hesitated.

"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl . . .

—The Great Gatsby

Candice Bergen is not the daughter of a king, but a ventriloquist. Otherwise she conveys all the insouciance of F. Scott Fitzgerald's fabled Daisy Buchanan. Beautiful, rich, intelligent and flippant, Candice can well afford drawing-room sallies and wry self-deprecation. Recalling growing up as Edgar Bergen's daughter, she says: "One may not turn out exactly normal when you have two wooden dummies for brothers, each with his own room." Or her days with the jet set: "That was a valuable exposure to the ultimate in boredom." Or her screen performances: "I'm great at the physical stuff: running, riding, jumping. Acting—that's another story."

Indeed it is, but Candice's limited talent has not restrained runaway demands for her services. Now 24, she has starred in eight motion pictures, most of them (The Group, The Sand Pebbles, The Adventurers, Soldier Blue) requiring beauty, a Trojan endurance and little artistry. Offscreen, her talents are so plentiful that they almost drive her to dilettantism. She has modeled, shot photos for Playboy, and written articles for Vogue, Esquire, Cosmopolitan and the Los Angeles Times. In Getting Straight, Co-star Elliott Gould helped unearth a tantalizing shard of acting ability. She received $200,000 for a western. The Hunting Party, which she has recently finished shooting in Spain with Oliver Reed (Women in Love). She has just finished filming Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge in Vancouver, B.C.

Demure Deflowering. Candice is generally hailed as heiress apparent to Grace Kelly, but the princess role does not quite fit. Says she: "Basically I'm the klutz who makes a terrific entrance to the party and then trips and falls and walks around with food in her hair. That ice-maiden stuff is a big defense—it's protection. It keeps a lot of Shriners and creeps away." She greets friends with a breezy "How's your ass anyway?" In casual conversation she may burp, giggle uncontrollably and then tell about the time at Westlake School when she and several girls tried to sing Happy Birthday on one protracted belch.

Princess Grace may have dallied with Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. But Candice has been bedded by Elliott Gould in Getting Straight, deflowered by Bekim Fehmiu in The Adventurers and raped by Oliver Reed in The Hunting Party. Recalling TIME'S review of The Adventurers (March 30), she predicts more of the same for Hunting Party. "I can see the reviews now: 'Candice Bergen grimaces as she loses her virginity.' All I do in this film is get raped and have orgasms. But I've got the orgasms down pat now. It's your token ten seconds of heavy breathing, followed by my baroque expression, eyes heavenward."