Senator’s Outrage: Ingrid Bergman Criticized for Love Affair

In a sudden outburst of strong, moralistic opinions, U.S.

Senator Edwin C. “Big Ed” Johnson from Colorado has launched a verbal assault on Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman for her extramarital relationship with Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini.

The fiery senator also proposed the idea of licensing performers and filmmakers, suggesting that they should lose their licenses for engaging in scandalous personal conduct, although this proposal did not gain approval.

During the peak of her career in 1950, Bergman was a prominent figure in the entertainment industry, having starred in major films such as Casablanca in 1942, winning an Oscar for Gaslight in 1944, and appearing in three Alfred Hitchcock thrillers in the previous decade.

Senator Johnson labeled her as “one of the most influential women globally – unfortunately, a significant advocate for immorality.”

He vividly portrayed her and fellow actress Rita Hayworth, who was also involved in a public extramarital affair, as “promoters of moral decline.”

The senator boldly proclaimed that a “better Hollywood” would emerge from the downfall of Ingrid Bergman.

Bergman's romantic involvement with Rossellini began during the making of his movie Stromboli while both were married to other individuals.

Bergman gave birth to Rossellini's child, a son named Roberto, shortly before finalizing her divorce from her husband, neurosurgeon Petter Lindström.

Although Bergman and Rossellini later married, the scandal tarnished her reputation and kept her away from America for almost a decade, as reported by The New York Times.

Upon her eventual return, she went on to achieve two more Academy Awards.

Congress issued an apology 22 years later, with Bergman confirming to The New York Times that she received a formal apology entered into the Congressional Record by Sen. Charles N. Percy of Illinois on April 19, 1972.

Percy acknowledged Bergman as “one of the world's most beautiful, gracious, and talented women,” expressing deep remorse for the harsh criticism she faced in Congress two decades earlier.

Sen. Percy mentioned that millions of Americans would want to join him in expressing regret for the personal and professional mistreatment that led Ingrid Bergman to depart the country at the peak of her career