An out-of-this-world creature like a witch marrying an ordinary man and wishing to live a standard housewife’s life sounds like something I’d like to see on television.
But wait, the eight-season television series Bewitched, which aired between 1964 and 1972, is precisely about that. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should look it up.
Gorgeous Elizabeth Montgomery played the character of beautiful Samantha Stephens, who enthralled millions with her nose twitch in the show. This actress soared to fame in the 1960s, but her life ended.
Montgomery was born to a Broadway actress and film star in Los Angeles on April 15, 1933. Robert Montgomery, her father, was a well-known actor, and she followed in his footsteps.
“Dad says I used to climb on his lap after supper and say, ‘I’m going to be an actress when I grew up.’” “I’m not sure if he supported me, but he told me he’d humor me and advise me to wait and see what happened when I grew up,” the actress told the Los Angeles Times in a 1954 interview.
“I’ll be honest and admit that Daddy did help me get a break in TV, and I’m truly grateful for his aid and counsel. He’s my harshest critic, a true friend, and a wonderful father.”
Montgomery made her television debut as a teen on her father’s show, Robert Montgomery Presents, and went on to make several other appearances.
At the age of 20, this wonderfully gorgeous actress had her Broadway debut in Late Love, and two years later, she made her film debut in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.
Montgomery, who had become a household figure, went on to star in a slew of other films. Among her other credits are Mrs. Sundance (1973), A Case of Rape (1974), The Tale of Lizzie Borden (1975), Black Widow Murders (1993), The Body Had a Familiar Face (1994), and Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan (1995), but her performance in Bewitched is her most well-known.
“I’d never considered doing a series because I liked the idea of picking a screenplay I liked with a character I thought I could hold for an hour. “With a series, you live with one character day in and day out – and you only hope it does not drive you insane,” Montgomery told the Associated Press in 1965.
The actress has been married four times. She later married award-winning actor Gig Young but divorced him in 1963. While filming Johnny Cool, Montgomery met her third husband, William Asher, with whom she had three children. Robert Foxworth was her fourth spouse, with whom she remained until her death.
“Before Jane Seymour, Lindsay Wagner, and Valerie Bertinelli, Elizabeth was the first Queen of TV movies; she went from the queen of the witches to queen of the TV movie, and it was no longer a fight to break away from Bewitched,” stated Herbie J Pilato, author of two volumes on the actress.
Montgomery died in 1995 of colon cancer, which she thought she had beaten. When she was examined, it was too late because the cancer had spread to her liver. She died peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her husband and daughters. Her ashes were scattered at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Montgomery was a fantastic actress. She is still sorely missed.
