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Elizabeth Montgomery

Birth Name: Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California, United States

Profession Actor

Subject (person only)

Elizabeth Montgomery: Remembering the Star of ‘Bewitched’

• broadway actress
• elizabeth montgomery
• johnny cool
• liz montgomery
• robert montgomery
• television star

Actress Elizabeth Montgomery was born on April 5, 1933, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Elizabeth Daniel Bryan, was a Broadway actress. Her father, actor Robert Montgomery had starred in films and would later give her a start and make her seemingly work for what she wanted most; of his approval. She would go on to be a star on the fantasy sitcom tv show Bewitched .

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Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was in school for 11 years from Westlake school for girls, New Yorks Spence School, and the Academy of Dramatic Arts. As the daughter of Robert Montgomery, she, naturally, wanted to be in his show.  Which she did, but she wasn’t hired on to his tv series, Robert Montgomery Presents, without having to audition like everyone else. Her father was a perfectionist. Following her mother’s footsteps, Montgomery made her debut on Broadway in the 1950s in Late Love  and The loud Red Patrick . Her first film was The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.

Born to be a Star

By the likes of television shows, in the 60’s she was often spotted guest-starring on Rawhide, 77 Sunset Strip and Burke’s Law , and movies Johnny Cool and Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?  Before she landed Bewitched, she was on Kraft Television Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Studio One, Playhouse 90, The Twilight Zone, and making guest star appearances on Riverboat, Johnny Staccato, Wagon Train, and The Untouchables.

Post Bewitched , A Case of Rape was her next move, on NBC TV. It was gruesome, including two rape scenes. She wanted to be done with Samantha from Bewitched . She told them if either of them were cut, she walked. For it, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program — Drama or Comedy. Afterward, she was in The Legend of Lizzie Borden , winning another Emmy award nomination, Dark Victory, and Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan  lead.

“Bewitched”

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Some say Elizabeth Montgomery was actually magic. That magical nose twitch apparently worked on and off-screen, from time to time. Once, according to legend, she caused baseball players who hadn’t made a hit all day strike a home run. Something else magical about her apparently made a bulb blow out every day they worked on the sitcom pilot’s set.

Bewitched centered on a witch, Samantha Stephens and, Dick York ( later Dick Sargent) as her mortal husband, Darrin Stephens. Agnes Moorehead as Endora, the witch’s mother, and Erin Murphy as Tabitha Stephens, Adam, the son, portrayed by David Lawrence, and Serena (also Elizabeth) rounded out the family cast.

The supernatural comedy watched the chaos that came as they tried to live normal lives while being nowhere near that.  Bewitched was one of the most popular shows on the air. The image of Samantha Stephens, permanently attached to the name Samantha Montgomery. Montgomery wanted more than to be Samantha forever.  The show ran from 1964-1972, but she was growing bored on the show, and the “magic was gone” before 1972 had even hit. Unfortunately for Montgomery, she still had time left in her contract. So, ABC cast Elizabeth in Bewitched, The Victim, a TV movie, to shake it up a little. Fortunately for the star, things were shaken because she met Robert Foxworth, her future husband.

Trials of Love

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Elizabeth Montgomery did her fair share of heart-searching… that is searching for a heart to bind with hers forever. Her personal life consisted of being married four times. The first was to a New York City socialite named Frederick Gallatin Cammann. They married in 1954. However, they divorced a year later because she wanted to pursue her career, and he just wanted a housewife.

Her next attempt down the aisle was with Gig Young, an actor. He’d won Best Supporting Actor for 1969’s  They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? . He was a much older man, near in age to her father. They were married from 1956-1963. Young was an alcoholic , which truly weighed on their relationship. Montgomery is lucky to have gotten out of the relationship when she did. In a shocking turn of events, Young shot and killed his fourth wife, Kim Schmidt, and himself in 1978.

Elizabeth Montgomery’s marriage number three was to William Asher, known as Bill Asher. She’d met him filming Johnny Cool in 1963, as he was the director. Asher was also a TV producer. Just as he was juggling different types of work, he was juggling multiple women. At the time when he got Montomgery pregnant , there were multiple women in the mix. He was asked to leave work on The Patty Duke Show and eventually married Elizabeth. Close friends and sources say that he quit running around, and they were happy. He helped shape Bewitched and Montgomery’s character into what the shows was loved for. The couple had multiple kids and was at peace for a while. Unfortunately, they both drifted and had affairs. She films Mrs. Sundance and Legend of Lizzie Borden TV movies, and then her contract and marriage ended in 1974.

Her last husband was actor Robert Foxworth. He was younger, a younger man, and was unfamiliar with her Bewitched work. They dated for twenty years, all the while, he was asking her to marry him. She finally says yes, and in 1993 they married . They never split.

“Bewitched” The Remake

Fans of Bewitched clamored nonstop for the shows return or a sequel… anything to see Samantha switch her nose again and make magic happen. For a while, they were only closest if they read biographies by Herbie J Pilato: “The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A Guide to Her Magical Performances” and “Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery.” Until 2005, a film was made starring Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, and Shirley MacLaine. It wasn’t the same, but it was something!

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‘Elizabeth Montgomery: A Bewitched Life’ Explores the True Story Behind the TV Icon

It was May of 1989 when Herbie J Pilato (a former NBC page turned actor, turned producer), buzzed the intercom outside of Elizabeth Montgomery’s gated Beverly Hills home and announced himself to the TV icon saying, “Hi, this is Herbie.”

“Oh, goodie,” an enthused Elizabeth said, and she opened the gates.

She was expecting Herbie as he was the one person her ex-husband Bill Asher told her to talk with. Herbie was there to write a book on the star’s most iconic series.

His stories, along with countless others, are captured in the new documentary Elizabeth Montgomery: A Bewitched Life  that aired in April on Reelz .

Forever remembered for that little twitch of her nose, Elizabeth Montgomery warmed our hearts as Samantha Stephens for eight seasons on ABC’s Bewitched (1964-72), always proving that suburban life was less than typical for a witch and her mortal husband, Darrin (Dick York and, later, Dick Sargent).

Courtesy Everett Collection

Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Agnes Moorehead.

Herbie, an expert on Bewitched and Elizabeth Montgomery , serves as one of the executive producers (along with Andy Strietfeld, of AMS Pictures, and Joel Eisenberg), writers and commenters on the two-hour documentary, timed to air just one day after what would have been Elizabeth’s 90 th birthday (she was born April 15, 1933). Sara Gauchat, also from AMS Pictures — the studio who backed the doc, cowrote the script with Herbie. But Herbie is quick to credit countless creatives for their “dignity” and “teamwork” in bringing this film to light including, Steve Cheskin, senior vice president of programming for Reelz, as he “is the one who believed in the project from the beginning.”

“I’m just so very proud of it,” Herbie shares of the doc. “Billy Asher, Elizabeth’s son, is interviewed on it. Erin Murphy , who played Tabitha (pictured below) is interviewed on it. People like Elliott Gould, who was good friends with Elizabeth and who did the TV movie The Rules of Marriage with her. And Richard Dreyfuss, who made a guest appearance on Bewitched ; one of his first ever TV screen appearances, long before Close Encounters .”

The documentary further explores her complicated relationship with her father Robert Montgomery (1904-81), also a screen legend, who was part of many of her major life decisions.

“Even though her father didn’t want her to act, she finally convinced him that that’s what she wanted to do,” Herbie shares. “She ended up making her TV debut on his show, Robert Montgomery Presents. He loved it when she married Fred Cammann, her first marriage, because he was was a sophisticated, well-respected member of the upper crust of New York City. And he had worked as a casting director and a producer on Robert Montgomery Presents , and that’s where Elizabeth met him. But Fred wants a wife, she wants stardom.”

Their marriage would only last a year, before Elizabeth falls for Gig Young (1956-63). “Her father was furious, because No. 1, Gig Young [who tragically would later kill his fifth wife and himself] was 20 years older, but he was also not a nice guy. But Elizabeth was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do this. I want to marry Gig, I think, to bug my dad.’ That was the sense of it, because she had some major daddy issues. She did. And then when she became a bigger star on TV than he ever was on the movies, it no longer became, ‘Hi, I’m Robert Montgomery, and this is my daughter, Elizabeth.’ It was, ‘Hi, I’m Elizabeth Montgomery, and this is my father, Robert.’”

Ivan Nagy/TV Guide/Courtesy Everett Collection

Director and husband William Asher with Elizabeth Montgomery and their son William Asher Jr., on set in 1967.

Elizabeth found love again with director/producer William “Bill” Asher when working on 1963’s Johnny Cool . A year after their marriage they collaborated on the TV pilot Bewitched and the rest became history, Asher served as director and Elizabeth as the star. The two were married from 1963-74, and had three children: William Jr., Robert and Rebecca. Her later two pregnancies were actually incorporated into the series as Samantha’s pregnancies. Creatively, however, toward the end of the series Elizabeth was getting bored with her role. While Asher was able to step away and do other projects, Elizabeth could not. After she had an affair with her new director, the show would end and she filled out her contract with other ABC made for TV movies. Her fourth husband was Robert Foxworth, who she met on the ABC TV film Mrs. Sundance in 1973 but didn’t marry until 1993.

Herbie collected some of these stories in the multiple interviews he did with Elizabeth at her house.

Their first meet up, was memorable, as Elizabeth opened the door adorned in all black, dressed just like Samantha.

“The first time I met her, she still had the ax from her film The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), with the dried, fake blood on it. And she had it next to the fireplace. She picked it up and I said, ‘Would you please put that down?’ Herbie laughs recalling. “She was freaking me out, and she knew it and she loved it. At the end of our first meeting, I gave her a crystal unicorn, because Samantha loved unicorns and Elizabeth loved unicorns.”

ABC/Getty Images

As Herbie left her house after that first interview, Elizabeth yelled to him, “Do you want some zucchini?” Laughing, Herbie remembered responded “I guess.” The star then proceeded to jump into her garden in the middle of her driveway and pick a few for him. “She loved that kind of thing,” Herbie shares.

When he got home his phone rings, “Hi Herbie, it’s Lizzie.” And she asked him if he remembered an episode where she was singing. Herbie knew immediately. A few minutes go by and she calls back again. “When are we meeting next?”

So began an exchange of her memories over four interviews. Elizabeth surprised him on their second interview by inviting David White, who played Larry Tate on Bewitched (pictured below). She also got Dick Sargent, who played the second Darrin (1969-72), to call Herbie as well. Sargent called Herbie out of the blue saying: “I just talked to Elizabeth Montgomery, who I haven’t heard from in years, and she says that I need to talk to you.” Elizabeth just had a way about her.

Everett Collection

The documentary is a tribute to her career — she logged over 200 guest episodes before she even filmed Bewitched and was THE TV movie queen for decades — but doesn’t shy away from controversy either.

“I made her understand that she was still loved all these years later, because she had moved on,” Herbie concludes. Elizabeth died of cancer in May of 1995.

And beloved she still is!

The “Bewitched” Expert: A Bit More On Herbie Pilato …

Herbie J Pilato wrote and published The Bewitched Book in 1992. He revised and updated the book in 1996 as Bewitched Forever , and again in 2004 to coincide with Nora Ephron’s Bewitched feature film, which he served as a consultant. In Fall of 2012, he released Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery , which is a narrative biography. The following Fall of 2013 The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A Guide to Her Magical Performances was published, which is more of an encyclopedia of her entire body of work, before, during and after Bewitched .

“If it wasn’t for Bill Asher, I would’ve never got to her. And if it wasn’t for Elizabeth, I would’ve never done the book. And every good thing that has happened in my career, happened because of that book. I went on to write two biographies about her. I went on to do books about Kung Fu, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Life Goes On . I went on to write for the Television Academy, I went on to produce documentaries, including the first Bewitched documentary for E! TV — Bewitched: The E! True Hollywood Story , which became the seventh, highest rated E! True Hollywood story in the network’s history.”

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• Aug 22, 2019

A "Bewitching" Pair: Elizabeth Montgomery & Dick York

By John C. Alsedek:

Those of you who grew up prior to the 1990s will understand what I’m talking about here: as a TV-obsessed kid during the pre-Internet era, I’d often find myself pondering the intricacies of television casting—specifically, which of my favorite actors had been on which of my favorite shows. Example: one of my very first TV loves was Star Trek , and as a result I was a big William Shatner fan. So imagine my delight when I discovered that the Shat was not only on my next big TV love, The Twilight Zone , but also the classic Boris Karloff anthology Thriller !

However, finding these shared TV experiences was, for the most part, pure luck. Today, it’s no more difficult than going to IMDB and doing a quick search. But in those dark days before the magic of the Interwebs, pretty much the only way to find out if, say, Leonard Nimoy had done The Outer Limits would be to keep watching until you saw him. So, as my ten-year-old self was watching The Twilight Zone in the wee hours of the morning on WPIX Channel 11, I remember being intrigued to see several very familiar faces from Bewtiched in roles very different from what I was used to seeing from them. The subject of our last column, Agnes Moorehead, was one; her dialogue-free performance as a rough farm woman battling tiny aliens in "The Invaders" was about as far removed from the glamorous snark of Queen Endora as possible without the use of creature makeup. As for the rest . . .

David White ( Bewtiched ’s Larry Tate) and Dick Sargent (Dick York’s replacement as Darrin) never turned up on The Twilight Zone , alas, though both did appear in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents/The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (four total for White, one for Sargent). But Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery more than made up for it. For not only did both star in episodes of The Twilight Zone , they also starred in two of my very favorite episodes of my #2 anthology series, Boris Karloff’s Thriller !

Montgomery’s sole star turn on The Twilight Zone was in the Season 3 opener, "Two," in which she and co-star Charles Bronson play enemy soldiers who also happen to be the only survivors of a catastrophic war between their countries. While the script/subject matter are pretty par-for-the-course for The Twilight Zone , the acting is absolutely first rate, with Montgomery imbuing her character with a bit of a feral quality, and the twist that tough guy icon Bronson is the pacifist while Montgomery is the aggressor is a fun one. Considered more of a beauty queen at the time, Elizabeth Montgomery shows fine dramatic chops (all the more impressive because she has just one line!) and really throws herself into the role—an anecdote from the filming of "Two" talks about how Montgomery wanted to go so haggard with her makeup that the director finally had to reel her in.

If her role in "Two" was very much against type, then playing Rosamond Denham in the Thriller episode "Masquerade" was a bit of a peek at her future on Bewitched . "Masquerade" was a spooky-but-fun haunted house ep in which newlyweds end up stranded in a creepy old house (and not just any creepy old house—it’s the " Psycho House"!) with a rustic family (headed by John Carradine at his scenery-chewing best) they think might be murderers. She’s a joy to watch here—the dialogue between Montgomery and future Newhart star Tom Poston absolutely crackles and rivals the very best of Bewtiched .

Dick York’s two Twilight Zone episodes likewise ran the gamut. In the George Clayton Johnson-penned "A Penny for Your Thoughts," he plays Hector Poole, a mild-mannered bank teller who suddenly finds himself blessed—or cursed—with the ability to read minds. York shows off the comedic touch he’d use to great effect as the constantly befuddled Darrin on Bewtiched , and it’s a fine episode.

But as much as I like "A Penny for Your Thoughts," it’s his supporting role in Season 1’s "The Purple Testament" that really gets me, because it gives York a chance to flex his dramatic muscles (he’s superb in 1960’s Inherit the Wind ). In a tale about a WWII lieutenant in the Philippines (played by William Reynolds) who can tell who’s going to die in battle just by looking at them, York plays Captain Riker, the man’s superior officer and friend. For most of the episode, York’s role is to provide Reynolds with a sounding board for his increasingly manic claims. However, when Lt. Fitz sees the "death light" on Riker’s face, York gets a wonderful, wordless scene where he prepares for battle, knowing he’ll die but going anyway.

As for Dick York’s Thriller episode . . . wow. "The Incredible Doktor Markesan" is generally considered one of the most bone-chilling programs ever to air on network television, and Dick York’s "everyman" performance is a big part of why it works. He plays Fred Bancroft, who takes his brand-new wife (played by Carolyn Kearney) to visit his uncle, Dr. Konrad Markesan (as played by Boris Karloff). But Uncle Konrad has changed quite a lot in the decade since Fred last saw him . . . York does a great job of gradually ramping up his discomfort level, and his howl of horror at the end of the episode—eeeek!

Speaking of The Twilight Zone —and I very often am—Jordan Peele is the host of the current incarnation, but who was the very first host? If you said, "Rod Serling," you might be right. Or wrong. Or both. Find out which next time. Until then, thanks for tuning in!

Elizabeth Montgomery in TWO:

Elizabeth Montgomery in MASQUERADE:

Dick York in A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS:

Dick York in THE INCREDIBLE DOKTOR MARKESAN:

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David White was on the twilight zone, two episodes. I remember the robot grandma episode that also had Veronica Cartwright, Angela Cartwrights from lost in space sister. All 4 major cast members from Bewitched were on T Z. Darren, Samantha, Larry, and Endora

Wrong on David White regarding the Twilight Zone! He actually appeared in 2 of the best episodes, "I Sing The Body Electric", & "The Private World of Arthur Curtis"

Elizabeth Montgomery

(1933-1995)

Elizabeth Montgomery was born on April 15, 1933, to actress Elizabeth Allen and actor Robert Montgomery, who was a major film star of the 1930s and '40s. Her first television appearance was on her father's TV show in 1951. Other TV and film roles followed, but her big break came in 1964 with the sitcom Bewitched , which garnered top ratings for eight years. Montgomery died of cancer in 1995.

Actress Elizabeth Montgomery was born on April 15, 1933, to actress Elizabeth Allen and actor-director Robert Montgomery. She attended Westlake School for Girls and Spencer School in New York. After Spencer, she enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Best known for her portrayal of Samantha, the beautiful witch who cast spells by twitching her nose, in the popular TV series Bewitched (1964-'72).

Acting Career

Montgomery's TV debut was in 1951 in her father's show, Robert Montgomery Presents . Her first Broadway show, Late Love , won her a Theater World Award. On TV, a role in The Untouchables (1959) marked her first Emmy Award nomination. TV highlights also included roles in Studio One , Kraft Theater , G. E. Theater , Alcoa Theater , the Twilight Zone , Thriller , 77 Sunset Strip , Rawhide and Wagon Train .

Her film debut was in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), with Gary Cooper, followed by Johnny Cool (1963), starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed (1963), with Dean Martin.

'Bewitched'

Though she had several roles under her belt, Montgomery had yet to take on play the spellbinding character that she would be best known for. In 1964, she landed a spot on the hit TV series Bewitched .

In the TV show Bewitched , Montgomery played Samantha Stephens, a witch married to Darrin, a mortal first portrayed by Dick York (who left the series due to illness) and then by Dick Sargent. The antics of the well-meaning Samantha and her quirky relatives wreaked havoc for Darrin, who tried to conceal the strange goings-on from nosy neighbors and from his stuffy boss. Bewitched was the number-one rated sitcom for four of its eight years, and Montgomery was nominated for an Emmy Award five times for her portrayal of Samantha.

Later Roles

After Bewitched , Montgomery played dramatic roles in TV movies, including A Case of Rape (1974), The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), Black Widow Murders (1993), The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1994) and Deadline For Murder (1995). She narrated the movie The Panama Deception , which won an Academy Award in 1993.

Personal Life

Married four times, her first husband was businessman Frederick Gallatin Cammann (1954-'55). Her second husband was actor Gig Young (1956-'63). In 1963, she married William Asher, the producer-director of Bewitched . The couple divorced amicably in 1973. They had three children, Willy, Robert and Rebecca Elizabeth. She moved in with fourth husband, Robert Foxworth, in 1975, and was with him until her death in 1995.

In March 1995, Montgomery was diagnosed with colon cancer. She died just eight weeks later on May 18, 1995, at age 62. Among Montgomery's personal crusades was AmFAR, The American Foundation for AIDS research and she regularly supported liberal causes. In 1998, Montgomery's children and husband donated her wardrobe for auction so that money could be raised for AIDS charities.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Elizabeth
• Birth Year: 1933
• Birth date: April 15, 1933
• Birth State: California
• Birth City: Los Angeles
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Actress Elizabeth Montgomery made magic on TV's top-rated sitcom Bewitched from 1964 to 1972.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• Academy of Dramatic Arts
• Death Year: 1995
• Death date: May 18, 1995
• Death State: California
• Death City: Beverly Hills
• Death Country: United States

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Elizabeth Montgomery Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/elizabeth-montgomery
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: July 11, 2019
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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Elizabeth Montgomery's Favorite Role Wasn't Bewitched – It Was In The Twilight Zone

T here are plenty of reasons to love "The Twilight Zone," but a fun one is the way it lets us see so many famous actors before they became household names. Before Carol Burnett had her own variety show, she starred in the 1962 episode "Cavender is Coming." Before Leonard Nimoy got to be in "Star Trek," he was a throwaway soldier in the 1961 episode "A Quality of Mercy." Then there's Elizabeth Montgomery, best known for her role in the 1960s sitcom "Bewitched." Before she played the good witch Samantha Stephens, however, she played a stoic, unnamed woman in the season 3 premiere of "The Twilight Zone."

The 1961 episode is called "Two," and it starts off with Montgomery's character wandering through an abandoned war-torn town. It's been years since the war ended, resulting in total destruction on both sides. When she meets a mysterious man with the opposing army's uniform (Charles Bronson), she has to deal with the realization that she and him are probably the only two people left. "There's no longer a reason for us to fight," The Man says. "There are no longer any armies. Only rags of various colors that were once uniforms."

Although it's The Man who gets 99% of the lines, it's Montgomery's character who serves as the protagonist. She has to grow from a war-hungry soldier to someone willing to embrace peace and love, even if it's with a man she was trained to kill. It's a character arc that serves as a perfect opportunity for Montgomery to show off her acting skills, as she gets to convey all this inner conflict while only speaking one word during the whole episode. (The word is "precrassny," Russian for "pretty," which she speaks while looking at a still-intact dress in an otherwise ravaged clothing store.)

Read more: The 15 Best Anthology TV Series Ranked

Perhaps Her Best Work

"Liz Montgomery, at the time, was so dedicated to her art," recalled Maurita Pittman, widow of "Twilight Zone" writer Montgomery Pittman, in the official Twilight Zone companion book . "Most girls want to look really pretty for the camera. Monty had to fight her, really, because she wanted to make her eyes really black. She got too much makeup on, she was making herself too haggard." The result is a version of Liz Montgomery that's borderline unrecognizable to fans of "Bewitched," even ignoring the character's drastically different personality.

The hardest part for Montgomery, meanwhile, was resisting the desire to overact. "You find it difficult not to exaggerate every look, every action," she said. "You think nobody will notice you unless you ham it up. You have to underplay every scene in a play of this type." It's easy to see how, when playing a dialogue-less role, it must be tempting to play your emotions as big and unambiguous as possible. Instead, she chose to keep her performance fairly grounded, even if it ran the risk of audiences not always understanding her behavior. Better to be subtle and potentially misunderstood, she reasoned, than to be obvious and boring.

It was a risk that paid off, with "Two" being one of the best-regarded episodes of the series. "No offense to Samantha Stephens, but this is by far the best work Montgomery ever did," wrote critic David Fear in a 2019 ranking of the series' best episodes . Montgomery herself considered the performance to be one of her best, even with all the challenges that came with playing a barely-talking character. As she remarked at the time, "I never enjoyed doing a show as much as I did 'Two.'"

Read the original article on /Film .

From the Archives: Elizabeth Montgomery Dies of Cancer

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Elizabeth Montgomery, the mischievous witch with the nasal twitch who brought her enchanting whimsy into America’s living rooms for eight years, died Thursday morning.

The star of “Bewitched,” who later forsook her single-dimensional character and became one of the best known and diverse actors in made-for-TV movies, was 57, according to her family, but several film anthologies list her birth year as 1933.

She died after a long struggle with cancer, said her agent and spokesman Howard Bragman.

With her when she died at home in Beverly Hills was her husband, actor Robert Foxworth, and her three children from a previous marriage.

Daughter of actor Robert Montgomery and stage actress Elizabeth Allen, her first TV work came in 1951 as a summer repertory player on her father’s “Robert Montgomery Presents.” Thirteen years later she had perfected her craft to the point where she was a convincing, otherworldly Samantha Stephens, the crafty, always entertaining heroine of “Bewitched.” But she was not the prototypal hag with a cackling voice and a wart on her nose. Instead, she was stylishly clad, impeccably groomed and a cunning sophisticate.

After Samantha and her clan left the airways, Miss Montgomery made a dramatic metamorphosis and ended her career portraying deadly killers, hardened women or hapless victims.

She had given some hint of her diversity before triumphing in the popular TV series. Early in her career she had parts in several seminal TV dramatic series: “Studio One,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Kraft Theatre,” “General Electric Theatre,” “Alcoa Presents” and “Armstrong Circle Theatre.”

She also was on Broadway in “The Loud Red Patrick” and “Late Love” and she received the Theatre World Award for most promising newcomer in the 1953-54 season.

“Bewitched” ran from 1964 to 1972, garnered several Emmys and beguiled the nation as Samantha herself beguiled her mortal husband, advertising executive Darrin Stephens, played first by Dick York and later by Dick Sargent.

To get her way or solve problems, she would threaten to use her magical powers.

First she pondered the pending sorcery and then wiggled her nose to bring forth samples of the unearthly pranks that would befall those who had crossed her.

There also was a veritable coven of her brethren on the show.

She had a cousin, the dark-haired, sometimes sinister Serena (also played by Miss Montgomery); a father, Maurice (the famous Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans) and a mother, Endora (Agnes Moorehead, a veteran of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre Co. with several major film credits).

All were constantly prevailing on her to follow their mildly wicked ways rather than remain the normal American wife and mother she had become.

Many critics thought the “Bewitched” crew was the most talented group of actors assembled for a single show and it became the most successful series ABC had produced up to that time.

At the time of the series, Miss Montgomery was married to its producer-director, William Asher (the third of her four husbands and father of her children).

A year after the show left the air, Miss Montgomery began appearing in TV films in which she was either menacing or menaced.

The first of these was “The Victim,” followed in 1974 by “Mrs. Sundance” and in 1975 by a memorable “Legend of Lizzie Borden.”

She earned an Emmy nomination (one of nine nominations throughout her career) for her work as a sexually and emotionally abused heroine in “A Case of Rape.”

The show, broadcast in 1974, earned one of the 10 highest ratings ever for a made-for-TV film.

She remade “Dark Victory,” the Bette Davis tear-jerker, for TV, starred in the interracial melodrama “A Killing Affair” opposite O.J. Simpson and was featured in “The Awakening Land,” a 1978 miniseries.

In the 1980s she was seen opposite Kirk Douglas in “Amos” and in 1990 with Foxworth, later to become her husband, in “Face to Face.”

In 1993 she became Blanche Taylor Moore, the North Carolina cashier who killed one husband and a boyfriend and was on her way to poisoning her second husband with arsenic when she was apprehended.

This year she was seen in “Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan.” She was Buchanan, the colorful Miami police news reporter.

She also tackled more significant subjects, working for liberal causes and narrating “The Panama Deception,” a documentary that criticized the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama. The film won an Academy Award for best feature documentary of 1993.

Miss Montgomery also made feature films, among them “The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell,” “Johnny Cool” and “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed.”

She was a veteran of more than 250 television shows, an amateur artist said to have exceptional talent, and a political advocate for many causes, primarily Amnesty International and the fight against AIDS.

Her “Bewitched” co-star, Sargent, publicly discussed his homosexuality in 1991 and to show her support she joined him as a grand marshal of the 1992 Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in West Hollywood.

Miss Montgomery summed up her busy career in 1992, telling an interviewer she was pleased with the variety of her characters over the years.

“They all have different kinds of ‘feels’ to them and that’s probably one of the reasons why I’ve done them. I get letters from people saying one of the things they like best about what I’ve done since ‘Bewitched’ is that they never know what I’m going to do next.”

In addition to Foxworth, she is survived by two sons and a daughter.

She had asked that any donations in her memory be made to the William Holden Wildlife Assn. in Kenya or the Los Angeles Zoo.

Services are pending.

[email protected]

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Courtesy Herbie J Pilato/The Thomas McCartney Collection

Here’s What Happened to ‘Bewitched’ Star Elizabeth Montgomery as Told by Her Biographer and Friend

An iconic figure to emerge from Classic TV of the 1960s was undoubtedly Elizabeth Montgomery, who starred in the supernatural comedy Bewitched . Running from 1964 to 1972, the sitcom looked at the marriage between a witch (her character of Samantha Stephens) and a mortal male (Darrin, played first by Dick York and, then, by Dick Sargent), and the comic chaos that comes from them trying to live a normal life while dealing with visitations from her magical brood.

The show’s popularity was enormous , which is why, when it ended, Elizabeth worked so hard to put it and Samantha behind her as she attempted to prove to the world that she was capable of doing much more than twitching her nose (which is how she made magic happen on air). In fact, when it came to Bewitched , something of a barrier within her came up that was pretty impenetrable, though one person who did break through was Herbie J Pilato , author of  The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A Guide to Her Magical Performances   and Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery. Sitting down to talk to her over multiple sessions, he came away believing he had really come to know who she was.

“She was everything you could possibly want your favorite TV star to be in real life,” observes Herbie. “I mean, she was so warm and welcoming, especially for someone so private and protected. For me to have been welcomed into her world to talk about Bewitched — a subject she hadn’t addressed in any depth since the show ended — was big . From the first voicemail message from her to our first meeting, she seemed so down to Earth and accessible and a real sweetheart, but at the same time she was also a very complicated person. I saw that, too.”

Before exploring those complications, considering that Herbie — in addition to Elizabeth herself — is the host of this particular tour into her life and career, it’s important to note how he had gained her trust and, ultimately, friendship. Back in 1985, he was working as a page at NBC and was involved with publicity for the TV movie I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later .

“I was upset,” he admits with a laugh, “thinking, ‘Wait a minute. If anybody is going to do a reunion movie about a magical blond woman and a dark-haired mortal man, it should be Bewitched .’ And Bill Asher, the guiding creative force on Bewitched and Elizabeth’s ex-husband, directed the Jeannie movie, which upset me even more. So, long story short, I actually wrote the script for a Bewitched reunion movie, and got it to Bill Asher who at the time just so happened to be working on a reboot of Bewitched . Sony was also putting together a movie version, so it was a Bewitched world. In his new proposed version, it was going to be focused on a nubile witch who Samantha would pop on to introduce and then pop off forever. Elizabeth was going to be making a cameo, which was major .”

Unfortunately, financing fell apart and Herbie wondered, instead, if Elizabeth would be willing to cooperate with him on a book looking back at the show (which would gradually evolve into her biography). After Asher checked with his ex-wife, Herbie was given her phone number and eventually found himself sitting in Elizabeth’s home, chatting with her about all things Bewitched .

“When we sat down to talk, she asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’ recalls Herbie, “and I said, ‘Well, because I believe in Bewitched . I believe there’s a message of prejudice and that it’s about true love. That people can love each other despite their differences. It’s also about a strong ethic in that Darrin wanted to buy things for his wife on his own and care for her, and not depend on magic. Everybody thought Samantha was a pushover, but she wasn’t. It was her choice to live a mortal life. She was really one of the first independent women of TV.’ Anyway, she’s listening to all of this and she says okay about the book, because Bill Asher told her she needed to talk to me and she said, ‘He never tells me I need to talk to anybody .’”

For much more on Elizabeth Montgomery, please scroll down.

Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock

On top of that, she essentially paid it forward in that two people who had refused to speak to him for his Bewitched book were Dick Sargent and David White (the latter of whom had played Darrin’s boss, Larry Tate). Both of them had the same condition: they wouldn’t talk to him (or anyone, for that matter) unless Elizabeth had given them her blessing to do so. Problem is that she hadn’t spoken to either of them in the 15 years since the show ended.

“But then I suddenly get a phone call from Dick Sargent who says, ‘I just got the strangest call from Elizabeth Montgomery,’” Herbie details. “‘She says that you’re doing some book on Bewitched ; I haven’t heard from her in 15 years, but she told me I need to talk to you.’ So we’re talking and call waiting beeps in and it’s Elizabeth, who tells me that I should be expecting a call from Dick Sargent. So here I am on the phone with Samantha and Darrin at the same time, like it was some surreal episode of Bewitched . And then , during the second meeting I had with her, she said she had a delivery coming at 4:00. Well, 4:00 comes along, the doorbell rings and in walks David White. So here I am sitting with Larry Tate and Samantha Stephens, neither of whom have seen each other in 15 years. But from there, she ended up being a co-marshal or something of the Gay Pride Parade with Dick Sargent.

“So this project,” he adds, “reunited these people, and she felt what I was doing was therapeutic for her, because people thought she hated Bewitched . The truth is, she loved Bewitched , but she definitely wanted to prove that she could do more. And she did.”

Courtesy Herbie J Pilato/Thomas McCartney Collection

She was born Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery on April 15, 1933 in Los Angeles to Broadway actress Elizabeth Daniel Bryan and film star Robert Montgomery, who in the fifties also had his own anthology series, Robert Montgomery Presents . In a 1954 interview, Elizabeth related to The Los Angeles Times that her love for acting began when she was just four-years-old and, like most other children, she was an enthusiastic “make-believe actress in play.” The difference, of course, came from her acting bloodline.

She recalled, “Dad tells me I often climbed on his lap after dinner and remarked, ‘I’m going to be an actress when I grow up.’ I don’t know whether he encouraged me or not, but he told me he would humor me and would tell me to wait and see what happened when I grew up. I’ll be real honest and say that Daddy did help me get a break in TV and I’m really grateful for his assistance and guidance. He’s my most severe critic, but also a true friend as well as loving father.”

Although Elizabeth would get her big break on her father’s television series, before that she went through 11 years of schooling, first at the Westlake School for Girls and then a year at New York’s Spence School, from which she graduated in 1951. As she commented to The Los Angeles Times in 1954, “I’m sure I gave many of my Westlake teachers gray hairs, because the only things I could concentrate on were studies relating to dramatics. Acting was and is my main objective in life.” Which she got to prove when there was a part for someone to play her father’s daughter in an episode of Robert Montgomery Presents . Said Elizabeth, “It was the chance I had been waiting for. I figured it was tailor-made for me, because who could put more into the role than a real-life daughter?”

AP/Shutterstock

Maybe, but she was forced to audition with a dozen other young hopefuls, though she did win out in the end. As she told reporter Walter Ames after getting the part, “Everyone was on pins and needles as the hour for the show approached. Dad called me into his dressing room for an old-fashioned, last-minute pep talk. I assured him everything was under control so far as I was concerned. I don’t know whether he could tell that I was shaking all over. But when the cameras came alive for the show, I had no trouble concentrating on my part and the program went off without a hitch.”

Thomas McCartney Collection

From there she became a part of the Robert Montgomery Presents ’ troupe of actors (appearing in 30 episodes) and when asked whether or not she had interest in starring in films, she commented, “Maybe later. Right now I can’t tie myself down with a long term movie contract, because I’m so busy with TV. But I hope some of the wonderful film offers are available in the future.” She was, however, interested in acting in a play her father would be directing. “I’ll let you know if I get it,” she said. “If I do, you can be sure Dad made me earn it in competition. As I said, he’s a true friend and loving father, but when it comes to acting, he’s a perfectionist.”

There may have been more to it than that. Offers Herbie, “Her father did not want her to follow in his footsteps and he didn’t even want her to go see movies; he was very strict. But as much as he didn’t want her to act, it was on his show that she made her debut and she did a number of those, so eventually he came around. He was actually far more interested in her marriage to Frederick Gallatin Cammann, a New York socialite, he was thrilled, because he was the same age as Elizabeth, but Fred wanted a wife and Elizabeth wanted to be a star. They divorced a year later. In 1956 she married actor Gig Young and her father was livid , because he was 20 years older than her and he just felt that wrong. I think she married him out of spite, anyway. Sadly, that marriage was a horrible disaster. He was abusive to her and it was a situation she got out of in 1963 after she met William Asher, who directed her in Johnny Cool . The funny thing is, they hated each other when they first met, but then they fell in love and were married that same year.”

ANL/Shutterstock

Speaking to The Californian in 1956, she related her father’s feelings about her being an actor: “He would say how dismal a life it was. Of course, knowing me, he’d always start his speech by saying, ‘Now I know you’re not going to take my advice, but …’ And I never did. Maybe I should have. Being his daughter opened doors for me in the beginning, but it’s like the old saying goes — it’s easy for a girl to get a husband, but it’s hard to keep him. It was easy for me to get in to see people, but after that I had to make it on my own.” She also had to be careful not to take certain roles that she knew she wasn’t right for, but were offered due to her father’s reputation. “I wanted to do it, but I knew I couldn’t do a good job and had to say no — I couldn’t risk disgracing my name. If I’d been anybody else, I would have done it anyhow. It would have been fun.”

Warner Bros

The 1950s were a truly break-out period for Elizabeth. The same year she appeared on her father’s TV show, she made her Broadway debut in Late Love , returning to the stage in 1958 for The Loud Red Patrick . In 1955 she was featured in her first film, Gary Cooper’s The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell . During its making she found herself thoroughly impressed with his abilities, telling the New York Daily News , “I saw some rushes of the trial sequence. One close-up probably won’t be used, because it doesn’t lend itself to CinemaScope projection, but when the verdict [in the film] is announced, Cooper gives a great performance. You can see him actually blanch when he’s found to be guilty.”

CBS Television Distribution

In addition to her father’s show, Elizabeth began appearing on such anthology series as Kraft Television Theatre (seven episodes), Appointment with Adventure (two episodes), Studio One (three episodes), Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents , The Twilight Zone and Thriller as well as making guest star appearances on Riverboat , Johnny Staccato, Wagon Train and The Untouchables .

In looking at her accomplishments to that point, and still referencing her father’s name, she spoke to The Times of San Mateo, California in 1956, noting, “Being his daughter means that I have to work harder to prove myself to others. Others can make horrendous mistakes, I can’t. My ability as an actress and my personal life both reflect on him. It sort of means that I have to work a little harder at everything.

“My biggest complaint,” she added, “is when I first started acting, nothing seemed to bother me at all. I guess I didn’t know any better. But in this business, the more you learn, the more nervous you get. Ten minutes before I go on nowadays, I fall apart. I haven’t made the grade yet and I know it, but I think I’m learning.”

When speaking to her many years later, Herbie had the sense that Elizabeth had come to grips with feelings about her father. “When she used to talk about him,” he offers, “she would sit back and say, ‘Well, one time Daddy said …’, and it was very wistful. The way she said ‘Daddy’ was the way she would say Daddy to Maurice Evans on Bewitched . She actually asked her father to play the role and he turned her down, which was very hurtful to her. Ultimately, I think her father was jealous that Elizabeth became a bigger star on TV or otherwise than he ever was. I mean, Elizabeth was one of the biggest TV stars of the sixties. That’s all there is to it. That show put ABC on the map. So it started out being this resentful father-daughter relationship, because he didn’t want her to be an actress. Then a further wedge grew between them when he divorced her mother, who she loved dearly.”

“The biggest wedge,” Herbie suggests, “came from the fact that before Elizabeth was born, a previous daughter, an infant, had died. My sense was that Robert Montgomery never got over the death of his first daughter and somehow seemed to resent Elizabeth from the beginning, almost for being born. It’s a hard thing to verbalize here, but that was my sense of it. So it was a very strange relationship, but she still loved him and she still respected his work, but theirs was a complicated relationship.”

The early 1960s saw Elizabeth continuing to guest star on shows like Rawhide , 77 Sunset Strip and Burke’s Law , and appearing in such films as Bells Are Ringing (1960), Johnny Cool and Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed? (both 1963) and the TV movies The Spiral Staircase and Boston Terrier (both 1963). And then she and William Asher decided to do the series Bewitched, which, it should be noted, she was pregnant during the months leading up to the start of production— making network and agency people rather nervous. Which she decided to have some fun with, as she shared with the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 1964: “Every time I met someone connected with the sponsors or the network, he would say — at the end of our conversation — ‘The baby is due by August, isn’t it?’ And I would assure them that was true. But one day I heard it just once too often and I said, ‘No, the baby is due 15 th of September.’ And I walked away, leaving him staggered. It was mean of me, but what the heck?”

A few months later she would reveal, “I went back to work three weeks after the baby. I get a little tired some days, but you don’t mind when the show is a success and they tell me Bewitched is.”

Moviestore/Shutterstock

“Isn’t it lovely to be playing a witch?” she asked the Petaluma Argus-Courier rhetorically. “I imagine there will be no end to the jokes. I know when we were filming the pilot, a light blew every day. Nothing like that had ever happened before. And every time a light blew, the crew would turn and look at me, as if I really were a witch. I told Bill I’m waiting for the day when he congratulates the special effects man on a particularly good trick, only to have the man say, ‘But I wasn’t even there.’”

Speaking of a “good trick,” one of the highlights of the show — accomplished without any effects — is the way Samantha twitches her nose and makes magic happen. In conversation with The Journal News of White Plains, New York, Elizabeth explained, “Bill said to me once, before I ever did Bewitched , ‘You do a funny thing with your nose whenever you get impatient.’ Then he asked me to do it for him. I couldn’t. I didn’t know what he meant. Then one night, my nose twitched and Bill said, ‘That’s it!’ and then I knew. We were at a Dodger’s game once and the bases were loaded, there were two outs and Sandy Koufax was coming up — he can’t hit — but Bill said to me, ‘C’mon, Liz, twitch,’ so I did and Sandy walked and the winning run scored. Then I was at a Chicago Cubs game and I twitched my nose for Ernie Banks, who hadn’t hit anything all day. When I twitched, Ernie hit the ball right out of the park.”

By the time Bewitched concluded its eighth and final season in 1972, much of the magic was gone. The marriage between she and Bill Asher was falling apart and despite the fact that the show remained popular, pretty much everyone was ready to move on. “ABC had actually renewed Bewitched for two or three more years,” says Herbie, “but Elizabeth’s marriage was not the same, the show was not the same — if you look at that last season, she’s dragging her feet. She’s just gone . She’s bored out of her skull and you can see it. Now everybody thinks ABC canceled the show because of low ratings. Elizabeth Montgomery canceled the show. But she still had a couple of years on her contract, and ABC decided to cast her in her first TV movie post- Bewitched , The Victim . That was in 1972. And then she did Mrs. Sundance in 1974, which is where she met Robert Foxworth.”

She and Foxworth fell in love and were together until her death in 1995, although they only got married in 1993. “She liked him,” Herbie says, “because, number one, he had her father’s name. Number two, he never watched Bewitched and she loved that. So those movies were a result of her having a contract with ABC. But when she left ABC to do the NBC TV movie A Case of Rape , people were, like, ‘You can’t do this!’ Her peers, people in the industry and her fans were, like, ‘Wait, what?’ I have yet to see the movie fully, because I can’t watch Samantha get raped. It’s traumatic for me. But she was serious about it. There were two different rape scenes in that movie and NBC was going to cut one of them and Elizabeth said to them, ‘You cut either of those scenes, you can get somebody else to star in the movie.’”

Columbia Pictures Television

In the film her character suffers a rape from the same man twice, and has to deal with the ramifications of that and cope with the trial to follow. Elizabeth explained to the Santa Maria Times in February of 1974, “Women have been beaten down by the system for too long. That’s why this film has something important to say. I don’t know why women have put up with it for so long. Everything seems weighted in the rapist’s favor in court. Lawyers can destroy a woman’s name with slander and innuendo, but details of the rapist’s past cannot be brought out in the trial. And the laws are really out of date. The women are subject to all sorts of humiliation right after they’ve gone through the trauma of rape … It’s easy for me to understand why it has been estimated by police that only one fourth of the rapes committed in this country are reported.” She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program — Drama or Comedy.

Paramount Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock

She followed A Case of Rape with 1975’s The Legend of Lizzie Borden , playing the title character, who, in 1892, murdered her father and stepmother with an axe. “She had one movie left on her ABC contract,” Herbie points out, “so she did Lizzie Borden . Robert Foxworth said she delighted in doing that film, because she knew that it was going to freak people out.” She received another Emmy Award nomination for this one.

The TV movies and the acclaim continued to roll in. In fact, between 1976’s Dark Victory and 1995’s Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan , she starred in 20 of them. Muses Herbie, “Before Jane Seymour , before Lindsay Wagner and before Valerie Bertinelli , Elizabeth was the first Queen of the TV movies; she went from queen of the witches to queen of the TV movie and it was no longer a struggle to break away from Bewitched . The ironic thing is that she died at about the same time there was the resurgence of Classic TV and Nick at Night. You know, about five or six years ago Barbara Eden was at some big event in Australia in the Jeannie costume, looking fabulous. The people at this particular arena went crazy and had Elizabeth lived, I think she would have done something like that. She would have gotten into the black ‘flying’ outfit again.”

Besides all she accomplished as an actress, and the fact that she raised the three children she had with Bill Asher, Elizabeth was politically very active. Donating time, money and considerable energy, she was involved with women’s rights, AIDs activism and gay rights. As previously noted, she and former co-star Dick Sargent served as grand marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade.

In her private life, she had waged a long battle with colon cancer. It was believed that the disease was in remission, but, sadly, it came raging back in the spring of 1995. She died on May 18, 1995 at the age of 62. Robert Foxworth and her children issued a joint statement: “The image of Elizabeth Montgomery is the image of the medium of television itself. She was a friend who has been in our living rooms thousands of times and has impacted our lives in many ways. As an actress, she brought us joy with Bewitched and groundbreaking rape legislation with her performance in A Case of Rape . As an activist, she has been a longtime supporter of gay and lesbian civil rights, HIV-AIDs causes and animal-rights organizations. She was most of all a person who loved life and her work and shared both with us generously.”

In reflecting on it all, from the impact Elizabeth Montgomery made on his life in Bewitched to his real-life friendship with her, and the deeply-felt honor he felt in writing her biography, Herbie says, “I think her legacy is always going to be Bewitched . Certainly her body of work beyond that is impressive, but what’s interesting is that more times than not people don’t say, ‘Oh, I love that show.’ Or, ‘That character was so much fun.’ They say I love her , which means that they loved the woman who played that role. Elizabeth had soul. She had heart and soul in real life and I feel that that’s  her legacy.”

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• Here's What Happened To

Elizabeth Montgomery, Erin Murphy, and Agnes Moorehead in Bewitched

Of the Lizzie Borden part in particular, Bolen said, Elizabeth “captured that character in a way that I don’t think anyone else could have.  She became that person she was playing.  How many actresses on TV ever did that?  Not many.  She gave herself to that murderous spirit, and she did not stop until the end. 

"Paul didn’t just stage a scene and then instruct an actor to walk through it.  He let the actor find their moment before he staged the scene and Elizabeth played into that very well.”

Bonnie Bartlett described Elizabeth as “an extraordinary actress.  She was a major TV-star and she could have done almost anything.  She was very serious about her work and extraordinarily professional.  Every little detail was important to her. 

"She was also a very cheerful person.  She came to work with a good attitude, a really good attitude.  She really enjoyed being an actress. 

"And I do know that Paul [Wendkos] adored her, and loved working with her.  He had that same kind of enthusiastic spirit that she had.  The [ Lizzie Borden ] movie was one his favorite things that he had ever done.”

Acclaimed actor Ronny Cox, who costarred with Elizabeth in A Case of Rape , added, “Elizabeth didn’t want to walk around for the rest of her life being Samantha.” 

Robert Foxworth, her fourth and final husband, once said that she was “thrilled” with the idea that she surprised her fans and detractors with her Emmy-nominated performances like that of Lizzie Borden . 

To have viewers accept her in such an un-Samantha role and subsequently respect the theatrical diversity that she would bring to such a part as an accomplished actress was “probably one of her greatest victories in life.”

Robert Montgomery, however, wasn’t the least bit “thrilled” with Elizabeth’s portrayal of Borden, believing the storyline cut a little too close to home. 

Borden despised her father and step-mother and brutally murdered them while, by the time that movie aired, Elizabeth had still not fully forgiven Robert for divorcing her mother, actress Elizabeth Allen, for her step-mother and heiress Elizabeth “Buffy” Harkness.  

Upon learning his daughter accepted and then relished in portraying the historic true-story role, Robert blasted her with a sardonic, “Oh, you WOULD!”

Into this mix, Robert was a conservative Republican who had grown increasingly resentful of his liberal Democrat daughter’s views and success.  He never fully-believed she paid her professional dues, and felt she had achieved fame much too easily via their family name which he worked hard to retain.

After his father, Henry Montgomery (a rubber company executive) had committed suicide Robert had toiled as a railroad mechanic and an oil tanker to salvage the family honor before he re-found wealth and prestige by way of Hollywood. 

The infant death by meningitis of his first daughter, Martha, born before Elizabeth, had initially ignited his devotion to her, but ultimately did very little to close an emotional distance between him and Elizabeth.

As a result, Elizabeth spent a good deal of her pre-and-post- Bewitched life seeking her father’s approval, only to further incite his fury by later surpassing his popularity with her portrayal of Samantha and subsequent edgier roles like the lead in T he Legend of Lizzie Borden.   

Herbie J Pilato is a writer/producer who has authored a number of classic TV companion books, including Twitch Upon A Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery , and The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A Guide To Her Magical Performances , both of which are based on his exclusive interviews with the beloved actress. 

He is also the Founder and Executive Director for the Classic TV Preservation Society, a formal 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the positive influence of classic TV programming. 

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18 Celebrities Who Appeared on 'The Twilight Zone'

By drew turney | feb 13, 2024, 8:05 am est.

Rod Serling's groundbreaking anthology series The Twilight Zone introduced some enduring science-fiction themes and one of the most iconic title sequences in TV history—not to mention a slew of famous guest stars.

1. William Shatner

A fresh-faced, soon-to-be Captain James T. Kirk stars in one of the classic episodes of the series, 1963's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," as an unhinged airline passenger trying to convince everyone else that a monster is destroying the plane (an episode that was remade with John Lithgow for Twilight Zone: The Movie ).

"The particular script by Dick Matheson was really inventive and very much a one-man show, really," Shatner told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year . "This young actor was pleased with that, to get all that attention and screen-time ... [The episode] touches another universal in the human psyche, and that is the fear of flying. Buried somewhere in all of us when the going gets rough up there is: If God meant us to fly, we’d have wings. Why are we up here? ... That’s the only explanation I can come up with that makes that particular episode as popular as it is."

Just as creepy is his role as a newlywed who comes undone by superstition, thanks to a fortune-telling machine in a small town diner in the 1960 episode "Nick of Time."

2. Cloris Leachman

With a near-70-year career, Cloris Leachman was one of Hollywood's grand dames of drama. She played Mrs. Fremont in the classic 1961 Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life," which depicts a malevolent child with terrifying powers that are merely hinted at until his temper erupts. It was the inspiration for a segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie and got a semi-official sequel in 2003 with "It's Still a Good Life," which ran as part of the Twilight Zone reboot series.

3. George Takei

Two years before he joined forces with Shatner on Star Trek , Takei played an out-of-work gardener named Arthur Takamori whose mysterious past is brought to the forefront over a shared beer with a neighbor—and World War II vet—to whom he has offered his landscaping services in "The Encounter." "This particular episode, however, gained some kind of notoriety," Takei recalled to the Archive of American Television in 2011. The episode's racial overtones and allusions to Pearl Harbor caused a bit of an uproar, particularly amongst "Japanese-American and Asian-American civil liberties and advocacy groups," according to Takei. "So for that reason, CBS pulled that episode. And it has a unique distinction of being the only Twilight Zone [episode] that was aired only once. It's never been re-aired. It's never enjoyed a re-run. And shucks darn, I missed out on my residuals on that one."

4. Roddy McDowall

Before he charmed the world as the lovable Cornelius in the Planet of the Apes franchise (1968-1973) and horror TV host Peter Vincent in Fright Night (1988), McDowall was Sam Conrad, a biologist on a mission to Mars who discovers that the Martian people are not so different from us in "People Are Alike All Over," which aired on March 25, 1960.

5. Robert Redford

When attempting to imagine what the Grim Reaper might look like, Redford's face probably isn't the one you'd picture. But anything goes on The Twilight Zone and in 1962, just two years into his career, the future Oscar-winner played the incarnation of Death in season three's "Nothing in the Dark" episode.

6. Burgess Meredith

Depending on your age, you might remember Meredith as either Rocky's surrogate father and trainer Mickey in the film franchise's first three installments, or the dastardly Penguin to Adam West's TV Batman from 1966 to 1968. But before those roles, he appeared in a number of  Twilight Zone episodes, beginning with "Time Enough At Last"—about Harry Bemis, the last man on Earth—in 1959, followed by "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" (1961), "The Obsolete Man" (1961), and "Printer's Devil" (1963). He also narrated Twilight Zone: The Movie .

7. Don Rickles

With a storied career in TV, movies, and comedy long before he gave Mr. Potato Head a voice in the Toy Story series, Rickles joined Burgess Meredith in the 1961 episode "Mr. Dingle, The Strong," in which an alien race bestows the strength of 300 men on a humble vacuum cleaner salesman.

8. Jack Klugman

The boozy, unkempt Oscar Madison to Tony Randall's Felix Unger in TV's The Odd Couple , and the crusading, crime-fighting doctor Quincy, ME , Klugman popped up in several episodes of The Twilight Zone , including 1961's "A Game of Pool" (with Jonathan Winters) and "In Praise of Pip" and "Death Ship" (both 1963). But none were more melancholy than his first appearance, in 1960's "A Passage for Trumpet," where he plays a depressed musician who finds himself in a Twilight Zone world where everybody is frozen apart from him—and his far superior musical rival.

9. Elizabeth Montgomery

In the 1961 episode "Two," Montgomery played half of a male/female duo who approach each other with suspicion and fear in the ruined landscape of an apocalyptic battle that seems to have wiped out the rest of humanity. (Her male counterpart? Charles Bronson.) A couple of years later, she took the role in another series about strange powers and the supernatural that would make her name famous: Samantha in Bewitched .

10. Kevin McCarthy

Most famous for running down the streets of a small Californian town yelling "You're next!" to warn us about the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), McCarthy stars as an immortal being named Walter Jameson who's found out in the first-season episode "Long Live Walter Jameson." As an extra treat, he later appeared in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) in a remake of the episode "It's a Good Life."

11. Peter Falk

A decade before he assumed the role of the beloved shaggy detective Columbo , Falk turned in a delightfully campy performance as Central American dictator Ramos Clemente, a tyrant who finally cements his position but is then driven mad with paranoia by a magical mirror that reveals the traitors all around him, in the 1961 episode "The Mirror."

12. Lee Marvin

A longtime tough guy from Hollywood's Golden Age, Marvin features in two episodes. First is the haunting and scary "The Grave" (1961), in which a cowboy arrives in a frontier town to visit the grave of his fallen enemy, but meets destiny in the process. And there might be something familiar-sounding about 1963's "Steel," which depicts a future where humans control robotic boxers after the sport is outlawed; it was the basis for the 2011 Hugh Jackman hit Real Steel .

13. Carol Burnett

Five years before her eponymous variety show kicked off its 11-season run, Burnett played a down-on-her luck city girl who is trying to put her life in order with the help of an equally flighty guardian angel, only to realize that the life she has—flawed as it may be—isn't so bad. It's hardly surprising that the 1962 episode, titled "Cavender is Coming," was meant to be a comedic one, and as such is the only installment of The Twilight Zone to feature a laugh track. It was also intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for a new series revolving around Harmon Cavender, Burnett's hapless guardian angel (though it never took off).

14. Rod Taylor

Taylor was no stranger to the fantastic when he starred in The Time Machine (1960) and The Birds (1963). In 1959's "And When the Sky Was Opened," he played Colonel Clegg Forbes, an astronaut whose trip into space might just have rendered both him and his crewmates out of existence.

15. Russell Johnson

A science geek long before it was cool, Gilligan's Island 's Professor starred in two Twilight Zone episodes about time travel. In the 1961 episode "Back There," he plays a young man who goes from discussing the realities of time travel with some of his cohorts to finding himself at Ford's Theatre on the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. In 1960's "Execution," Johnson is a scientist (and professor) who mistakenly brings a convicted 19th-century murderer into the present while attempting to perfect time travel technology

16. Vera Miles

Just as her movie star status began rising in Hollywood because of hits like Psycho and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance , Miles starred in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image." She played a woman a little too in touch with her delusions when she imagines she's being haunted by her own doppelgänger.

17. Dennis Hopper

In 1963's "He's Alive," Dennis Hopper plays the leader of a floundering neo-Nazi group whose spirit is reenergized when he begins receiving visits and guidance from a shadowy figure who may very well be Der Führer.

18. Robert Duvall

In "Miniature," Duvall plays Charley Parkes, a man convinced that there are actual people living in a tiny museum dollhouse—a belief that eventually gets him institutionalized. But when Charley is nowhere to be found on the night of his release from the psychiatric hospital, his friends and family surmise that he has gone back to look at the dollhouse—only to discover something far more surprising. A lawsuit surrounding the episode caused it not to be released again until 1984, more than two decades after its debut.

Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

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Robert Foxworth

• View history

Foxworth had initially auditioned for the role of Goran'Agar in " Hippocratic Oath ". ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion  (p. 299))

The costume he wore as V'Las was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay for US$610. [1]

• 1 Personal life
• 2.1 Falcon Crest and Joanna Cassidy
• 2.2 Other science fiction credits
• 3.1.2 Television
• 3.2 Stage work
• 4 Other Trek connections
• 5 External links

Personal life [ ]

Foxworth was born in Houston, Texas, where he attended Lamar High School. His first marriage was to Marilyn McCormick from 1964 through 1974; they had two children together. His son's godfather was his Deep Space Nine co-star René Auberjonois .

Foxworth married Bewitched actress Elizabeth Montgomery just two years before she died of colorectal cancer in 1995. Foxworth married Stacey Thomas in 1998 and they currently reside together in Encinitas, California.

Falcon Crest and Joanna Cassidy [ ]

Foxworth is probably best known for his role as Chase Gioberti on the television soap opera Falcon Crest from 1981 through 1987. With actress Susan Sullivan, he was nominated by the Soap Opera Digest Awards as Favorite Super Couple on a Prime Time Serial in 1986.

In 1982, Foxworth's future "Awakening" co-star Joanna Cassidy made guest appearances in four episodes of Falcon Crest . Years later, he and Cassidy played husband and wife in recurring roles on Six Feet Under (which co-stars James Cromwell ). Foxworth and Cassidy most recently co-starred together in the film Kiss the Bride , released in March 2008.

Other science fiction credits [ ]

Foxworth was no stranger to science fiction when he first appeared on Star Trek . In 1974, he starred in the title role of the android Questor in Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon 's unsold pilot for The Questor Tapes (with Walter Koenig , Majel Barrett Roddenberry and Ian Abercrombie ). Two years later, he made his feature film debut in Invisible Strangler , in which he had the starring role and co-starred with Star Trek: The Original Series alumni Leslie Parrish , Marianna Hill , and Percy Rodriguez .

In 1979, Foxworth starred in Paramount Pictures ' Prophecy , which also featured Graham Jarvis . Ten years later, he co-starred with Christian Slater , Olivia d'Abo , and F. Murray Abraham in the sci-fi drama film Beyond the Stars .

Foxworth has also made appearances on seaQuest DSV (alongside Rosalind Ingledew and Marco Sanchez ), Babylon 5 (co-starring Andreas Katsulas , Bill Mumy , Mary Kay Adams , and Robin Sachs ), and Stargate SG-1 . In the SG-1 episode "Memento", Foxworth portrayed a political leader fighting to stop an attempted coup by a military leader. On Babylon 5 he played a character very similar to his role of Admiral Leyton called General William Hague who, like Leyton, is also involved in an attempted coup (although this coup against Earth is justified, and succeeds, albeit after his death). Foxworth's Babylon 5 character was killed off-screen in response to his assuming the role of Admiral Leyton, and Bruce McGill was cast in a similar role to replace him. (In one outtake, McGill, when asked where General Hague was, responded " General Hague… is doing Deep Space Nine . It seems he was double-booked by his agent and there was nothing to be done. You'll have to do with me, sir. "). [2]

Foxworth also appeared in The Outer Limits (narrated by Kevin Conway ), playing the President of the United States in the 1996 episode "Trial By Fire".

Transformers live action film franchise [ ]

Foxworth was given the voice role of Autobot medic Ratchet in the live action films produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci . In all films Foxworth worked with Glenn Morshower and Frank Welker . In the first Transformers release in 2007, Foxworth joined Andy Milder , W. Morgan Sheppard , Michael Shamus Wiles , and Jamison Yang . Next was the first sequel, 2009's Revenge of the Fallen with John Eric Bentley , David Bowe , Robin Atkin Downes , Aaron Lustig , Eric Pierpoint , and Tony Todd who voiced as the title villain The Fallen. In 2011, Foxworth returned to voicing Ratchet in Dark of the Moon alongside Jack Axelrod , George Coe , Michael Dorn , Leonard Nimoy as the treacherous Sentinel Prime, Keith Szarabajka , and Tom Virtue .

Other notable screen credits [ ]

Foxworth's earliest feature film credits were the aforementioned Invisible Strangler and the family adventure Treasure of Matecumbe , both released in 1976. In the latter, he acting alongside fellow Trek alumni Jane Wyatt , Robert DoQui , Logan Ramsey , Rex Holman , and Lou Elias . Foxworth subsequently appeared in the thriller Airport '77 (with Robert Hooks , Monte Markham , and Michael Pataki ), Damien: Omen II (1978), and the aforementioned Prophecy .

The only two films with Foxworth that were released in the 1980s came before and after his time on Falcon Crest : 1980's The Black Marble , with Barbara Babcock , Herta Ware , and Christopher Lloyd ; and 1989's Beyond the Stars (see his science fiction credits above). In 2005, Foxworth made his first major feature film appearance in over fifteen years when he co-starred with Deep Space Nine actor Alexander Siddig , Star Trek: Voyager guest actor David Clennon , and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country actor Christopher Plummer in the acclaimed drama Syriana .

Television [ ]

During the 1970-1971 television season, Foxworth was the star of the short-lived CBS ' Storefront Lawyers . His next series following his role on Falcon Crest was CBS' 2000 Malibu Road (1992, also starring Mitchell Ryan ). This was followed in 1998 with NBC 's LateLine , with Miguel Ferrer .

Throughout the 1970s, Foxworth made guest appearances on such series as The Mod Squad (starring Tige Andrews and Clarence Williams III ), Medical Center (starring James Daly ), Barnaby Jones (with Lenore Kasdorf and series regular Lee Meriwether ), Quincy, M.E. (with Phillip Richard Allen , Robert Ito , and Garry Walberg ), and Hawaii Five-O . When his work on Falcon Crest came to an end, Foxworth guest-starred in a two-part episode of Cagney & Lacey with Gregg Henry .

In 1995, Foxworth appeared on the dramas Murder, She Wrote (directed by Vincent McEveety and co-starring Scott Marlowe and Nicolas Surovy ) and Picket Fences (with Ray Walston ). In early 2000, he was seen in a recurring role on the short-lived CBS drama City of Angels , during which time he worked with Fran Bennett , Charles Emmett , Tzi Ma , Tony Plana , and Steve Rankin . This was followed later in the year with a two-part episode of Strong Medicine with the show's developer, Whoopi Goldberg .

In 2006, Foxworth guest-starred in Boston Legal , starring William Shatner and René Auberjonois and also guest-starring Jeri Ryan . His other recent guest appearances include episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , The West Wing , Bones (directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño ), Brothers & Sisters (starring John Pyper-Ferguson ), and Reaper (starring Ray Wise ).

Foxworth was the voice of "Race" Bannon during the second season of The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest . He took over the role from Granville Van Dusen , who voiced the character in the first two episodes of the season. John de Lancie voiced Dr. Benton Quest on this series. Foxworth later voiced the character of Professor Emil Hamilton on several episodes of Justice League Unlimited (a character previously voiced on Superman: The Animated Series by Victor Brandt ). Also appearing in the JLU episodes which Foxworth appeared in were Jeffrey Combs (as "The Question"), Clancy Brown (as Lex Luthor), and Armin Shimerman .

In addition to his episodic television work, Foxworth has starred in many made-for-TV movies. Some of his more notable TV movie credits include 1973's Mrs. Sundance (directed by Marvin Chomsky and co-starring future wife Elizabeth Montgomery), 1981's Peter and Paul (with John Rhys-Davies ), and 1993's For Love and Glory , (co-starring Olivia d'Abo, Zach Galligan , and Voyager 's Kate Mulgrew ). More recently, he had a role in the TNT movie The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines , directed by Jonathan Frakes and co-starring Erick Avari . (For more TV movie credits, see other Trek connections below.)

Stage work [ ]

Foxworth made his Broadway stage debut in a 1969 production of William Shakespeare's Henry V in which VOY guest actor Len Cariou played the title role. Foxworth's next Broadway role was that of John Proctor in the 1972 revival of The Crucible , for which he won a Theatre World Award.

In 1975, Foxworth acted alongside recurring Deep Space Nine performer Salome Jens in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Huntington Hartford Theatre in Los Angeles, California. In 1980, he co-starred with Stephen McHattie and William Schallert in a Los Angeles production of Mary Stuart .

In 1984, Foxworth performed with Christine Healy and Anthony Zerbe in an off-Broadway production of Terra Nova . In November 1989, he co-starred with future wife Elizabeth Montgomery in Broadway's Love Letters . For this play, he assumed the role of Andrew Makepiece Ladd III, a role which was subsequently played by Fritz Weaver in that same production later in the year.

Foxworth continued performing on Broadway through the 1990s, acting in the plays Candida , Ivanov , and Honour . His more recent Broadway credits include Judgment at Nuremberg , Twelve Angry Men , and August: Osage County . He also toured as Robert in David Auburn's Proof .

Foxworth has performed at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego many times over the years. Among the plays he has done at this venue was Below the Belt with Alan Oppenheimer . More recently, Foxworth starred as Brutus opposite Robin Gammell 's Julius Caesar in a 2003 Old Globe Theatre production of Julius Caesar . This production also featured Dakin Matthews and Joel Polis . In 2009, he continued his association with the Old Globe when he co-starred with Melinda Page Hamilton in Cornelia . That same year, Foxworth was named associate artist of the Old Globe Theatre.

Foxworth's other stage credits include P.S. Your Cat Is Dead (with Claudette Nevins ) and Hamlet (with Hal Landon, Jr. and Dakin Matthews).

Other Trek connections [ ]

Additional film and television projects in which Foxworth appeared with other Star Trek performers include:

• Hogan's Goat (1971 TV movie, with Kevin Conway )
• Another Part of the Forest (1972 TV movie, with Peter Brocco )
• The New Healers (1972 TV movie, with William Windom and Jonathan Lippe )
• The Devil's Daughter (1973 TV movie, with Ian Wolfe )
• Frankenstein (1973 TV movie, with Jon Lormer )
• The F.B.I. Story: The FBI Versus Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy Number One (1974 TV movie, with Gary Lockwood , Harris Yulin , Whit Bissell , Lenore Kasdorf , Bill Zuckert , Dallas Mitchell , and James B. Sikking )
• James Dean (1976 TV movie, with Stephen McHattie and Meg Foster )
• It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977 TV movie, with Bernie Casey and Bruce French )
• Death Moon (1978 TV movie, with France Nuyen and Branscombe Richmond )
• Act of Love (1980 TV movie, with David Spielberg ; directed by Jud Taylor )
• The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980 TV movie, with Vince Howard )
• Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989 TV movie, with Lee Arenberg )
• Face to Face (1990 TV movie, directed by Lou Antonio )
• With Murder in Mind (1992 TV movie, with Jude Ciccolella and Ronny Cox )

External links [ ]

• Robert Foxworth at Wikipedia
• Robert Foxworth at the Internet Movie Database
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Q&A with Star Trek actor and Montgomery Fellow George Takei

Takei, who visited campus from may 2 to 4, engaged with students on topics including asian american visibility and lgbtq+ rights..

From May 2 to 4, Star Trek actor George Takei visited campus through the Montgomery Fellows program. The actor participated in several events, including a fireside chat with the Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Association and a talk at the Hanover Inn titled “From Internment to Stardom.” According to the Montgomery Fellows program’s website, the fellowship aims “to bring outstanding luminaries from the academic world as well as from non-academic spheres to campus.” The Dartmouth spoke to Takei about his acting career, background and role as a Montgomery Fellow.

What is your role as a Montgomery Fellow? 

GT: I feel very honored. I was invited to speak about the internment of Japanese Americans, which is something that I consider my legacy because it’s too little-known today. Despite many history books that have been written and many historians who teach it at the university level, there are so many Americans who don’t know that egregious chapter of American history. Because of our race — because we looked like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor — there was a wild, rampant hysteria. 

Japanese Americans were yelled at and attacked on the streets. Graffiti began appearing on Japanese American businesses, homes and cars. My father’s car had three letters painted on it in red: J-A-P. The government came down with a curfew. Japanese Americans had to be home by 8 p.m. and stay home until 6 a.m. If you were caught out at night, you were immediately arrested and thrown into jail. Our bank accounts were frozen. Our money was drained out. The government took it. Most Japanese Americans lost their life savings by the freezing of our bank accounts. It was an outrage. It’s this kind of history that Americans need to know. 

How have your background and childhood experiences — particularly, your internment during World War II — impacted your acting career?

GT: The kinds of roles that existed when I started out in the business in the late 1950s were very limited, very stereotypical and very unattractive. We had to be salespeople for much more humanized kinds of opportunities and ultimately advocate for writers who shared our perspective. Gene Roddenberry was an extraordinary example of that. Visionary and idealistic, he created a science fiction show where the story took place in the 23rd century. He created a society that valued diversity, recognizing that as the strength of the Starship Enterprise. You saw that in the makeup of the leadership crew: a North American as the captain, a European engineer, an African American woman and an Asian character who was the helmsman of the ship.

After initially studying architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, you transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, where you began pursuing theater. What inspired you to shift toward acting?

GT: Like the fact that I’m gay, I was born with that passion for acting. I remember in imprisonment, they periodically showed us Hollywood films. I remember seeing “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” with Charles Laughton, but they also showed us films from Japan — samurai movies — that were imported before the war. 

My passion grew within me as I grew up. After the war was over, my father bought us a portable radio and I discovered radio drama. We were out of prison, but society still hated us. The only place we could find to live was on Skid Row, and this radio transported me out of Skid Row away into the world of Manhattan, with gangbuster sirens going in the big city at night, or into cowboy shows with galloping horses.

Who would you consider to be your biggest role models, both professionally and personally?

GT: I don’t know the names of those Japanese actors that I saw while we were in the prison camp, but later on, Toshiro Mifune from so many Samurai movies was my role model. Shortly after being released, my parents took me to see Errol Flynn in “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” and I was absolutely transported to medieval England and Sherwood Forest. 

But as I grew older, Richard Burton was the star of the very first feature film I was in, and he was really a charismatic person and a wonderful friend. He had to struggle through a lot of hardship. He was born into a poverty-stricken Welsh coal miner family with 17 siblings. He was number 15 of that many children. Because his mother was sickly, he was raised by his older sister. English was not his first language — it was Welsh. I found him a fascinating person, and I became a fan of his. He was a Shakespeare actor as well as a wonderful movie star. 

As both a devout Buddhist and a member of the LBGTQ+ community, how have these two identities intersected in your life?

GT: Buddhism accepts the reality of life in many ways — like the Starship Enterprise. The world is full of diversity. Selecting and ranking that diversity and suppressing others is a human creation, and that’s our weakness. Working toward tapping into the diversity and variety of people that can contribute to making life a better situation is something that’s still going on, particularly on college campuses. 

What do you see as the most pressing challenges facing Hollywood and the entertainment industry in the 21st century?

GT: Change is constant, and technology is rapidly changing. Hollywood is no longer Hollywood. It’s international. Storytelling is now told by high tech, and how it is disseminated and consumed is changing dramatically. How it is created has also changed dramatically. There’s no longer Hollywood. It’s all over the world, and a different vantage point is coming from that diversity, from Indian films, to Eastern European films, to Asian films of different cultures.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Individuals arrested at the May 1 protest share their experiences

Faculty discusses proposal to create a School of Arts and Sciences

Three Dartmouth football alums get a shot at the NFL

Campus encampments live updates: protests yield mass arrests, college clarifies stance on professor annelise orleck’s arrest, faculty gather on green in response to protester arrests, petition for emergency faculty meeting, former office manager of the dartmouth pleads guilty to embezzling more than $223,000 from student newspaper, verbum ultimum: drop the charges against charlotte hampton ’26 and alesandra gonzales ’27.

The Dartmouth