Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bergere began his career in 1936 at age 18 as Danny Kaye’s understudy in the Broadway production of Lady in the Dark. He appeared as the Duke, with Richard Kiley reprising his role as Don Quixote, when the Broadway hit Man of La Mancha premiered in Los Angeles in 1967. Through the years, Bergere also played Quixote as well as other characters in the show in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. His Broadway credits also include Happiness Is Just a Little Thing Called a Rolls Royce, and Right Next to Broadway.

Bergere debuted on television on an episode of the live series Studio One with James Dean. He made three guest appearances on Perry Mason, two in 1963. In “The Case of the Witless Witness” he portrayed James Wall, a Congressional committee examiner. Later that year he played Dr. Charles Nevin, brother-in-law of convicted murderer Janice Barton, in the episode, “The Case of the Deadly Verdict”. In 1965 he portrayed Dr. George Devlin in “The Case of the Murderous Mermaid”.

Bergere played Abraham Lincoln, in the Star Trek episode “The Savage Curtain”. Other parts included comedic guest-star roles on Kentucky Jones, Get Smart, My Favorite Martian, The Munsters, All in the Family, WKRP in Cincinnati (in a pig costume), and a starring role on the short-lived series Hot l Baltimore, on which he played one of TV’s first gay regular characters. During the first season of Mission: Impossible, Bergere played the character of a Swiss banker in the episode entitled “The Legacy”. Bergere played German Count Von Sichel on Hogan’s Heroes in the 1966 episode “The Prince From the Phone Company”.

Bergere died, aged 88, from undisclosed causes in Colonial Poplin Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility in Fremont, New Hampshire, where he had taken up residence some years earlier, having left the acting profession in 1989. He was survived by two daughters, two grandsons, and a nephew.