Why JFK Jr.’s ‘Murphy Brown’ Episode Was His Only TV Acting Credit
What To Know
- John F. Kennedy Jr. made his only major TV series appearance on the Season 8 premiere of Murphy Brown to promote his new political magazine, George.
- The cast and crew were starstruck by Kennedy, with Candice Bergen calling him “a god” and noting that “every woman on the Warner lot” came to watch his cameo.
- Kennedy, a fan of the show, hoped his appearance would introduce George magazine to an audience interested in politically themed entertainment.
A recurring gag of the 1990s sitcom Murphy Brown was that the namesake anchor (Candice Bergen) burned through secretaries as quickly as her newsmagazine, FYI, blazed through headlines. So it wasn’t a surprise when she found a new man seated outside her office in the Season 8 premiere, “Altered States.”
That man, however, turned out to be John F. Kennedy Jr. — a son of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy and a veritable American prince, now back in the public consciousness as the new limited series Love Story, premiering on February 12, dramatizes his relationship with wife Carolyn Bessette.
Though he had sat for a number of televised interviews, this was JFK Jr.’s one and only appearance on a regular TV series — one he agreed to in order to promote his new magazine, George.
What did the cast think it was like to work with the man long regarded as the country’s most eligible bachelor (and People’s 1988 “Sexiest Man Alive”)? Cue the swooning from men and women on the Murphy Brown set…
John F. Kennedy turned up to plug his new magazine, George.
© Emerging Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection
In the episode, Murphy is surprised to see it’s Kennedy, a friend of hers, who’s sitting at the desk.
“John, hi! Oh, I guess the lawyer thing didn’t work out,” she quips. “That’s a tough break.”
John tells her he actually came to drop off a present for her wedding to reporter Peter Hunt (Scott Bakula), not realizing the nuptials were on hold. The wedding gift turns out to be, to Murphy’s disappointment, a magazine.
“That’s a copy of George. It’s the new political magazine I’m editing,” Kennedy explains. “I had the guys in the art department mock-up a cover with you on it. It’s pretty great, huh?”
Murphy rifles the tissue paper but finds the gift box otherwise empty. “That’s it?” she asks Kennedy.
“No, no, there’s a one-year free subscription with the card,” he assures her.
“Gee, I hope you didn’t have to sell the compound,” Murphy cracks.
Offended, Kennedy storms off. “OK, fine, if that’s your attitude,” he says on his way to the elevator. “But don’t come crying to me when you have to pay full newsstand price!”
Kennedy said in a statement that he was a Murphy Brown fan — unlike one Dan Quayle — so he was flattered to be pitched a cameo on the show, per the Tampa Bay Times.
And at the time, he was indeed hyping up George, a monthly magazine he co-founded, as the debut issue was hitting newsstands eight days after his Murphy Brown appearance.
“I hope the show will introduce George to an audience of potential readers who clearly enjoy politically related entertainment,” he said in his statement.
As the Times noted, other high-profile Murphy Brown guest stars included the U.S. Senators Bob Dole, Orrin Hatch, and Alan Simpson, and TV news figures Ed Bradley, Connie Chung, Walter Cronkite, Larry King, Charles Kuralt, Katie Couric, Lesley Stahl and Mike Wallace.
The Murphy Brown stars said he was “great,” “good-looking,” & “a god”
In a 2018 cast reunion for Entertainment Weekly, the Murphy Brown cast remembered Kennedy’s visit to set. Joe Regalbuto, who played reporter Frank Fontana on the sitcom, said Kennedy literally caught him sleeping: The actor was splayed out across a bank of chairs for a post-lunch nap.
“The next thing I hear: ‘Joe? Joe? Somebody I want you to meet.’ ‘Who?’ ‘It’s John F. Kennedy Jr.’ ‘What?! Oh, oh, hi!’” Regalbuto recounted, laughing as he pantomimed wiping drool from his face. “Oh, God. Class meets class.”
Regalbuto, though, was duly star-struck. “I never saw a guy so good-looking in my life,” he said. “It was ridiculous.”
Bergen agreed. “He was a god,” she said. “Every woman on the Warner lot was on our soundstage.”
And Faith Ford, who played reporter Corky Sherwood, was lucky enough to have a one-on-one convo with Kennedy when he came across her in the makeup room. “I said, ‘So many women would like to be here right now.’ I just remember thinking that,” she told EW. “And I just said, ‘How you doing? Is there anything I can get?’ Like,’Is there anything you need? Should I call…’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine.’ … He was great.”
Kennedy and Bessette died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999, less than four years after his Murphy Brown appearance. As investigators searched for the downed plane, a Warner Bros. spokesperson told the National Post that individual stations would decide whether they wanted to include “Altered States” in the rotation of Murphy Brown reruns.
Kennedy’s only other onscreen acting role was his performance as a “guitar-playing Romeo” in the 1990 comedy film A Matter of Degrees, so his scene-stealing Murphy Brown bit added another feather to his cap.