Mary Kay Bergman
South Park's lead female voice from the 1997 debut until her death in 1999.
Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also briefly credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the official voice of the Disney character Snow White from 1989 to 1999 and the lead female voice actress on the adult animated television series South Park from the show's debut in 1997 until her death in 1999. In 1997, she was cast as nearly every female character in South Park after giving Trey Parker and Matt Stone ideas they originally did not have.
Her characters included Liane Cartman, Sheila Broflovski, Shelly Marsh, Sharon Marsh, Carol McCormick, and Wendy Testaburger. Although the show appealed to Bergman's "dark sense of humor", she was credited as Shannen Cassidy (taken from Shannen Doherty and David Cassidy) in the first two seasons due to the concerns that her voice role as Snow White would be taken out if the Walt Disney Company knew that she was in South Park. On November 11, 1999, Bergman wrote two suicide notes and shot herself in the head. Shortly after she died, her widower, Dino Andrade, established the Mary Kay Bergman Memorial Fund.
Quick Facts
- Born
- June 5, 1961
- Died
- November 11, 1999
- South park
- Lead female voice actress, 1997 debut until 1999 (credited as Shannen Cassidy in seasons 1-2)
- Characters
- Liane Cartman
- Sheila Broflovski
- Shelly Marsh
- Sharon Marsh
- Carol McCormick
- Wendy Testaburger
- Disney
- Official voice of Snow White, 1989-1999
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The show became one of Bergman's favorite projects.
- However, after South Park became a success, Shannen Cassidy began to receive copious amounts of fan mail and Bergman decided to abandon the alias.
- On March 2, 2000, during an interview at the Paley Center for Media, Parker and Stone spoke about Bergman and the challenge of replacing her work, stating they realized that "one person wasn't going to do it" because of her talent, and that it would take "a lot of talented voice people".
- At age 16, Bergman received her first professional acting job in the television film Return Engagement, which starred Elizabeth Taylor.
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