The Dime Lady - The nickname that actress Candice Bergen earned while she was
commercial spokesperson for Sprint Telephone Company which advertised their low
"Dime-a-Minute" promotions from 1996 to 1999.
The tongue-in-cheek TV spots followed a reluctant Candice Bergen as she tried to
elude the many fans (at grocery stores, diners and on the airplane) who were
continually asking her "Is it true..." questions concerning Sprint's inexpensive
Dime-a-Minute phone rates.
In one 30-second spot, a waitress serving Ms. Bergen in a diner turns to the
cook and yells, "Hey Rocco, look! It's the Dime Lady." To which Ms. Bergen wryly
replies, "Looks like Sprint's really started something."
The other spots feature similarly humorous situations in a grocery store and
then in an airplane. In the grocery, she's approached by shoppers who are wowed
by the Sprint Sense dime-a-minute rate. On the plane, she's flying to Hawaii to
escape her "Dime Lady" nickname, only to be greeted at the terminal by people
carrying banners that read, "Aloha, Dime Lady," and "Hey Candice. Can You Spare
A Dime?" Eventually, Candice (on the TV spots) took to dressing in disguises to
hide from her adoring public.
TRIVIA NOTE: On the final first-run episode
of her comedy MURPHY BROWN/CBS/1988-98 Murphy's son, Avery uses his mother's
Sprint card to track down their friend Eldin Bernecky the painter (Robert
Pastorelli), to let him know his mother had cancer. Eldin was living in Spain in
a tiny peasant village at the base of the Pyrenees.
As Eldin reunites with
Murphy, Avery approaches and says ,"Do you know you could call anywhere in the
world on Sunday for only a dime." Murphy replies "Yeah, I knew that, Honey. Now
why don't you go set another place at the table."
Born May 8, 1946 in Beverly Hills, California, Candice Bergen is an Emmy
Award-winning television and film actress. She is the daughter of acclaimed
ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.
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