Candice Bergen’s fiery flub has made her “infamous” in one Swiss town.
The Murphy Brown actress, 80, recalled the time she accidentally set a landmark in Switzerland on fire during the Wednesday, July 8, episode of Ted Danson‘s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast.
Bergen revealed that it was in 1960 that her visit to “the nicest restaurant” in Gstaad, Switzerland, went up in flames.
“It wasn’t just any restaurant either. It was the nicest restaurant,” Bergen told Danson. “It was the Olden in Gstaad, in a ski resort where the school I was going to was set, and I had snuck out because I was only 14. I wasn’t allowed to go out at night, so I’d snuck out.”
Bergen recalled sitting at a table with some of the older girls from her school, drinking wine and eating meat fondue, which she explained is meat “flavored in fat.”
“I said, ‘Oh, let’s flavor the fat. Let’s put some wine in the fat,'” Bergen continued, admitting that when she followed through with her culinary inspiration, “this flame went up onto the ceiling of the restaurant” and set the curtains on fire.
Everyone was evacuated from the restaurant, and although the Olden was eventually able to be repaired and reopen, Bergen faced some serious consequences for her error. “I was not allowed out for the rest of the year, and quite rightly,” she confessed.
The Boston Legal star’s transgression wasn’t easily forgotten by the people of Gstaad. Bergen revealed that when she returned to the town four decades later with her then-husband, Marshall Rose, she was quickly recognized.
“We were walking in the village, and a very nice-looking older ski instructor said, ‘Excuse me, but aren’t you Candice Bergen?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ And he said, ‘Aren’t you the woman who burned down the Olden?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am,'” she joked. “So my name had lived on. Infamous.”
This story was originally published by Parade on Jul 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.