Bewitched
After it first appeared on people's televisions on 17 September 1964, nobody could have guessed that the show would still live on today. The show lasted for eight seasons and almost everyone remembers Samantha's nose twitch. There were many spin-offs after the show including a remake starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. But none of these could live up to the original.
Even a TV series remake has been rumored. NBC wanted a pilot back in 2014 but nothing else has been said about the show. Even though Samantha wanted to keep her secrets to herself. A lot of these have been revealed and we'll show you things you probably didn't know about Bewitched!
Elizabeth Montgomery Had Multiple Roles
Elizabeth didn't only star as the leading character in the show but also played Samantha's cousin Serena. The credit for the role is a pseudonym - Pandora Spocks.
She altered her appearance every time she played Serena. Her first time appearing as Samantha's cousin was in the episode entitled "And Then There Were Three."
Inspired
The Show was inspired by the movies I Married A Witch and Bell, Book and Candle. Sol Saks watched the movies and created the script for the pilot.
He told interviewers that he wasn't concerned about litigation since the movies were by Columbia Pictures who also owned the same company that produced Bewitched.
Anti-Aging Potion Comes To Real Life
Elizabeth was an attractive actress and managed to keep her youthful vigor into her older years. It's as if she used a spell of anti-aging. What she must have actually done was to eat the right food and work out.
She may have looked great, but sadly she wasn't actually doing very well. She had unknown health issues that she tried to keep private.
The Man Who Almost Played Darrin
When the show was casting they almost hired Richard Sargent for the role of Darrin Stephens. But Sargent decided to take another job opportunity while the show was looking for someone to play Samantha.
Crenna might not have been their first choice but who knows how the show would have been without the actor who ended up playing Darrin.
York Steps Up
Richard Crenna looked at the role of Darrin after Sargent turned it down. since he had past experience working on "The Real McCoys" he decided to turn it down too.
Dick York was the one who ended up playing the lead male role. Sargent ended up taking the lead role only after Dick York decided to leave the TV series behind him. The show didn't get far after York left.
York's Reasoning For Leaving
Dick York's exit from the show was never clear but he had a good reason for it. While York was filming Cordura he ended up injuring his back severely and would never totally recover.
York was taken pain killers but they never helped his injuries long-term and decided that he'd be better off if he left the show. There are rumors that he became addicted to pain medication.
Dick Sargent
While season five was being filmed a doctor prescribed York some new medication which he had a terrible reaction to. He was taken to the hospital after convulsing into a seizure.
His departure was permanent and he never came back. The next few episodes didn't have him in it and Sargent stepped up to take the role of Darrin. It was one of the first mistakes that brought the show down.
Elizabeth Montgomery's Pregnancies
During the course of the show's lifespan, Montgomery had three children. They managed to go along with it and write them into the script. So Tabitha and Adam became a part of the show before they even knew it.
When they decided to add her kids to the show it was an unpopular choice. Normally a film or show will keep the pregnancy hidden with clever Hollywood tactics including creative camera angles.
York's Charm
York's portrayal of Darrin on Bewitched was popular once people got to know his character. He also appeared in movies like Inherit The Wind.
Even though he was popular he didn't appear in any big roles after Bewitched was canceled. His health problems interfered with his acting life which didn't come to surprise fans.
Tabitha's Life After Bewitched
Erin Murphy who played Tabitha found acting roles in Lassie and in many commercials. She was ambitious enough to try out for parts like Helen Hunt and Jodie Foster.
She moved to Orange County with her family which meant she could live like a normal teenage girl. Her last time in the spotlight was homecoming queen at her high school.
Not Your Typical Sense Of Humor
In a 2017 interview with Fox News, Erin Murphy who played Tabitha on the show opened up about what the cast was really like. While Elizabeth Montgomery may have appeared as the wholesome girl-next-door, Murphy reveals she wasn't afraid to get a little dirty.
"She had a really dirty sense of humor...She was just one of those people who was so beautiful, but she wasn’t afraid to look silly — kind of like Lucille Ball…They could be really campy and funny. There was no fear there."
Alice Pearce's Private Battle
You might remember actress Alice Pearce as the quirky and nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz. In real life, Alice Pearce disappeared from the world of Bewitched suddenly when she passed away in March 1966 from ovarian cancer.
Pearce received her cancer diagnosis four months before she landed her role on the show. She had surgery, but doctors informed her that her ovarian cancer was terminal. She never told her coworkers about her illness. Although, if you watch the second season of the show, Alice’s drastic weight loss was quite obvious.
Alice's Emmy Award
Alice Pearce was awarded a posthumous Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy Award for her portrayal of nosy Gladys two months after her death.
It's not uncommon for actors and actresses to receive awards post-humously but her decision to keep her illness from her fellow cast members and the show's creators was unique, especially since the series had just started and her death came as a shock to people throughout the industry.
The Truth Behind Their Costumes
Kasey Rogers, who played Louise Tate, admitted that supporting actors provided their own wardrobes, and would bring their own clothes into the studio a week before filming. The wardrobe department would clean and press them.
Finding ways to cut down on costs for new TV shows and even some established series was commonplace in the TV industry at the time of the show's popularity. This was also a great way to allow supporting cast members to inject a bit of their own personality into their roles.
A Special Brooch
Agnes Moorehead often wore a starburst brooch that was set with 8.5 karats of old-mine diamonds and Elizabeth Montgomery often admired the pin when they were filming scenes together.
The two women became close when filming Bewitched and Moorehead was aware of Montgomery's love of her brooch.When Agnes passed away in 1974, it was revealed that her will bequeathed the diamond-studded brooch to her TV daughter. What a lovely sentiment!
Off-Camera Friendships Bloomed
While on the show Darrin may have despised Endora but the two were great friends off-camera. In fact, Agnes Moorehead was closer to Dick York than any other cast member.
The co-stars' friendship continued for many years after Bewitched was taken off the air. It was later revealed that despite his alleged addiction to pain killers, Moorehead didn't want to see York leave the show. She allegedly squabbled with Sargent and allegedly brought him to tears on several occasions.
Cold Shoulder
Moorehead, as previously noted, admired York’s talent on the small screen and she wasn’t pleased when he was replaced with Dick Sargent. It turns out those squabbles may have actually helped to strengthen at least one friendship on the set of Bewitched.
Elizabeth Montgomery and Sargent bonded over troubles they were facing on the set of the TV series and they would go on to become lifelong friends thanks to their supportive bonding for each other.
Marion Lorne's Interesting Collection
It’s hard to forget the lovable but bumbling character of Aunt Clara. In the show, Aunt Clara’s obsession with doorknobs was based on actress Marion Lorne’s real-life obsession with them.
The actress had a collection of more than 1,000 antique door openers. It may seem like an odd-addiction but watching any "collector" shows on TV these days you'll often find that doorknobs from old doors can be fairly valuable and sought after by collectors!
Larry Tate's Son's Tragic Naming & Fate
When Larry and Louise Tate were blessed with a son on Bewitched, the actor who played Larry, David White, requested that he be named Jonathan. White had a son off-screen named Jonathan who he’d raised as a single father after his wife died of complications during her second pregnancy.
The show's creators thought it was an amazing sentiment and they immediately agreed to name the character after Larry's real-life son.
David White's Heartbreaking Sorrow
Tragically, Larry's son Jonathan was a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. David died of a heart attack two years later and the pair are buried together at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
For years, as various cast members died at relatively young ages, many people believed the cast of Bewitched had been cursed. Indeed, a shocking number of people who worked on the show died at an early age.
"Sisters At Heart" Episode Ahead Of It's Time
The story idea and basic script setup for the episode “Sisters at Heart” was created by 22 African-American 10th graders in Marcella Saunders’ English class at Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles. While the episode has a “good” storyline it is considered offensive today.
The episode featured several actors who appear in blackface during the episode. The practice of using blackface occurred fairly regularly during that time in Hollywood.
Anti-Racism Intentions
Bewitched actually used racism as a subplot, which was quite radical for a relatively benign sitcom. In the episode, "Sisters at Heart," this racism-based plot device occurs because Samantha casts a spell on a racist client of Darrin's.
The spell was supposed to make Darrin's client see every one, even himself, as having black skin. The premise may have been interesting and well-intentioned but it still struck a nerve with many black communities.
The Secret Behind Samantha's Magic
Since CGI didn’t exist in the 1960s, stagehands worked hard to produce Samantha’s “magic.” If she wanted to quickly tidy up the living room, Elizabeth Montgomery would stand in place with her arms up while the director yelled, “Cut!” and stagehands frantically ran to remove the clutter.
It wasn't a high-tech solution based on today's standards but the quick pause worked and provided for a low-cost solution that fueled the show's magic.
Samantha's Unorthodox Arm Workouts
Because there was no CGI, and everything had to be manually done and moved on set, Elizabeth was expected to keep her arms in the same position while the director yelled cut and everyone moved around her.
She was allegedly allowed to have crutch-like devices to help keep her arms up for long periods of time. She was only allowed to lower her arms and continue the scene when the director yelled, “Action!”
The Mysterious Theme Song
The famous song actually has lyrics! The lyrics are never sung over the opening credits, but the theme song for Bewitched actually had words written for the show.
Some of the lyrics go, “Bewitched, Bewitched, You've got me in your spell. Bewitched, Bewitched, You know your craft so well.” While not a staple of the show, it's interesting to hear what was cut on the editing room floor before the show aired.
Darrin's Perspective
If you're fascinated by the fact that Bewitched included lyrics for its theme song you'll probably be interested to know that Steve Lawrence can be heard singing the lyrics in a clip on YouTube.
The lyrics were written from Darrin’s perspective as if he knew that his wife was a witch. Of course, it could also be interpreted as being about a man who is simply spellbound by the woman he is in love with.
Elizabeth Montgomery's Obituary Is Wrong
Elizabeth Montgomery was a private person who never felt the need to make her vital statistics public. At the time of her death, her age was published as 57-years-old. The actress was actually 62-years-old when she died.
Several obituaries also listed her as living a single life because she chose not to reveal to the public her marriage to Robert Foxworth, whom she married a few years before her death.
Death Certificate Inconsistencies
In addition to her own obituaries listing her incorrect age and her incorrect marital status, her own death certificate even got her own name wrong! If you were to examine her death certificate you would notice it lists her full name as “Elizabeth A. Montgomery."
Die-hard fans of the Hollywood superstar will likely remember that her middle name was "Victoria." It's actually quite amazing that she managed to remain so private given her time in the public spotlight.
Drunk On Set
Cast members often drank onset and were sometimes filmed while drunk, including producer William Asher. The drinking was so pervasive that many fansites were created to log the number of times in each episode that each character was seen drinking during a scene.
Then again, Bewitched was shot in the 1960s and the American public, in general, had a much more lax attitude toward drinking than in this day and age. These days various Hollywood-based unions would not condone the use of alcohol on a working set.
Record-Breaking Drinking Habits
Here's a list of some of the bars and nightclubs mentioned on the show: The Diamond Slipper, Dundee's Bar (which Darrin refers to as "the best restaurant in town"), the Purple Popsicle night club, Joe's Bar and Grill, Happy Times Bar, Hearthstone Bar/Restaurant, Golden Spoon Restaurant, and Elbow Room Cocktail Lounge.
It was later revealed that the rules were stricter when children were on set. Actors were supposed to use iced tea to imitate the look of various alcoholic beverages. In a moment of life imitating art, Dick Wilson often played a drunk on the show.