Inside the cavernous sound stage, a visibly shaken Candice Bergen made her final bow in front of a select audience of families, friends and show business executives. Fighting tears and clutching tissues, the ensemble cast of Joe Regalbuto, Faith Ford, Charles Kimbrough, and Lily Tomlin surrounded the warm actress with the icy demeanor to exchange little hugs and fond kisses.

They had just wrapped up "Never Can Say Goodbye, Parts I & II," the 10-season-old series’ 244th and 245th episodes, made to air back-to-back in the hour-long finale that will be shown at 9 p.m. tomorrow on CBS (Channel 3). The segments were written by the show’s creator, Diane English, who also wrote its pilot in 1988. As emotions ran high many lines were blown in the course of the long evening.

True Murphy Brown freaks will recognize that English cribbed the last two lines from the pilot for the last two lines of the final episode -- a dialogue between Murphy and Eldin, the house painter -- as the only concession to nostalgia. Insider jokes abound, including a reference to the Spring phone service (which Bergen shills in TV commercials) and Warner Bros. (the show’s production and distribution entity).

The last frame, where Murphy confronts one more breast-cancer hurdle and contemplates retirement, also features guest stars Pat Corley (returning as Phil the bar owner), George Clooney (a good-looking surgeon), Bette Midler (Secretary #93), Alan King (God), Robert Pastorelli (returning as Eldin), Julia Roberts (herself), Mike Wallace (himself), Garry Marshall (returning as the network president), and Diane English (a nurse).

Critics are quick to point out that Murphy Brown reached its ratings peak with barbed political humor in 1992, about the time when then-Vice President Dan Quayle assailed -- sight unseen -- the series and Bergen’s independent character for having a baby "without the benefit of matrimony." During the 1997-98 season, the program averaged a limp 14.4 million viewers and by the end of April it had slipped to 85th place among prime-time shows.

But there is a mountain of accomplishments to look back on before laying Murphy Brown to rest, including 60 hard-earned Emmy Award nominations. The sitcom’s creative personnel carted off 18 golden statuettes, with five going to Bergen for best actress in a comedy series. Embarrassed by her riches, she took herself out of the Emmy running in 1996. Five Golden Globes, a Humanitas Prize and the Peabody Award were already cluttering up her home.

"What am I going to do tomorrow?" Bergen asked rhetorically, casting a casual glance at nearby tables burdened with cases of champagne and a huge chocolate cake. She was sprawled all over the sofa on Murphy’s living room set. "I’ll felt like I was hit by a bus, but life goes on, and I’ll get up and start the day with Chloe."

In the absence of long-range plans, Bergen intended to treat her 12-year-old daughter by the late director Louis Malle to a school track meet and a movie. "Then I’m going to the Murphy Brown wrap party [at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Rey], meaning I’ll probably be wasted on Sunday. That’s when my real life begins."

Blessed with a large amount of money, both earned and inherited, Bergen can do whatever she wants whenever she wants. That includes spending Chloe’s spring break in Paris visiting in-laws and assorted relatives followed by a quick side trip to Russia, mainly because the precocious girl finished reading Anna Karenina -- which is as good a reason as any. The daily routine at home in Los Angeles includes carpools, attending soccer matches and doing laundry for the baseball team.

Bergen and Malle, the French director whose films include Atlantic City, were married in 1980; he once appeared as himself on Murphy Brown. Malle died of cancer in 1995 at the age of 63.

Bergen, who enjoys a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most generous and charming personalities, plans to work again -- but after a long and healthy break. There are "no sitcoms" in her immediate future, and she is hesitantly sorting through an enormous stack of feature film scripts cluttering up her office. "I know that I won’t be able to do nothing," she said, "but it would be nice not to learn lines for a while."

When the novelty of leisure wears off, Bergen hopes to work with Bette Midler again, "We have talked a long time," she said "about doing a remake of The Fortune Cookie," Billy Wilder’s 1966 comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

"I certainly love doing comedy and feel most comfortable near it." (She earned her Oscar nomination as best supporting actress in Starting Over, a 1979 black comedy starring Burt Reynolds.)

Beverly Hills born and bred, she grew up in a genuine Hollywood environment provided by her actress mother, Frances (who also appears in the final Murphy Brown episode), and a ventriloquist father, Edgar Bergen, the man who lent his voice to dummy Charlie McCarthy on stage, on radio and in films during the 1930s and 1940s.

At the age of 11, she made a guest appearance on the game show You Bet Your Life and told Groucho Marx that she would be a clothes designer when she grew up. Instead, she studied creative writing and art history at the University of Pennsylvania, modeled in New York, wrote for several big publications and made her film debut as a lesbian in The Group (1966).

A golden girl despite being savaged by film critics for her early work, Bergen earned major roles in such big-budget films as The Sand Pebbles, Getting Straight, Carnal Knowledge, The Wind and the Lion and Gandhi.

But the marathon association with Murphy Brown remains nearest and dearest to her heart.

"We kind of lost our way during the fifth season, with a change in writers and producers," she muses. "The show became very broad; I hardly recognized some of the characters.

"But it was hard to leave because the show’s been so important in our lives."

Eirik Knutzen writes about television from Los Angeles.

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