elizabeth montgomery

Life and career

Born in Los Angeles, California, she was the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery and his wife, Elizabeth Bryan Allen. She had an older sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery, who died before Elizabeth was born, and a brother, Robert Montgomery Jr., who was born in 1936.

Montgomery made her television debut in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents, and her film debut in 1955 in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell. Her early career consisted of starring vehicles and appearances in live television dramas and series, such as Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, the Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She also had a long run as a guest performer on the game show Password, and host Allen Ludden referred to her as the best Password player ever on the show.

She played Samantha Stephens in the ABC situation comedy Bewitched. This show, the highest rated series ever for the network, had a eight-year run from 1964 to 1972 and remains popular through syndication and DVD releases. Montgomery received five Emmy Award and four Golden Globe nominations for her role as Samantha. The series was paid homage in the 2005 film that starred Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman. At its creative peak, Bewitched was considered one of the most sophisticated sitcoms on the air and cleverly explored contemporary themes and social issues within a fantasy context.

The classic show, however, nearly type-cast her, and Montgomery refused to do Samantha's famous nose twitch for fans after Bewitched went off the air, and was reluctant to discuss this role. She spent the remainder of her career pursuing dramatic roles that took her as far away from the good-natured Samantha typecasting as possible. She received Emmy Award nominations for playing a rape victim in A Case of Rape (1974), for her portrayal of the notorious Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), and for her role as a strong woman facing hardship in 1820s Ohio in the mini-series The Awakening Land (1978). She also made a chilling villain in the 1985 picture Amos, playing a nurse in a state home who terrorized residents Kirk Douglas and Dorothy McGuire. Her final acting role was in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series entitled "Showdown," in which she played a barmaid. She was the first series actress in television to broaden her career with television movies, and set the precedent for other TV series actresses, such as Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Melissa Gilbert, Carol Burnett, and Barbara Eden, to follow.

Elizabeth was first married to New York Socialite Frederic Cammann in 1954. The marriage lasted barely a year. She was married to actor Gig Young from 1956 to 1963; to Bewitched producer William Asher from 1963 to 1973, with whom she had 3 children. Her marriage to William Asher ended and so did Bewitched. She was married to actor Robert Foxworth (with whom she had been living for over 20 years) from 1993 until her death.

In the late 1980s, Montgomery gave the first interviews regarding her prior work on Bewitched to author Herbie J. Pilato for his book The Bewitched Book (1992) later revised as Bewitched Forever (1995).

In June 1992, Montgomery and her former Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent, who had remained a good friend, were Grand Marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. Ms. Montgomery was an outspoken champion of women's rights and gay rights throughout her life. She narrated a series of political documentaries in the early 1990's, including the Academy Award winning The Panama Deception.

Her final television movies were the highly-rated Edna Buchanan detective series. Elizabeth Montgomery died of colorectal cancer on May 18, 1995, at age 62. She died just eight weeks after being diagnosed with the disease. Montgomery had ignored the symptoms of her illness until it was too late during the filming of "Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan."

Unwilling to die in a hospital, and with no hope of recovery, she elected to return to her Beverly Hills home that she shared with Foxworth; she died there with Foxworth and her children.

A memorial service was held on June 18, 1995 at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Herbie Hancock provided the music, and Dominick Dunne spoke about their early days as friends in New York. Other speakers included Robert Foxworth, who read out sympathy cards from fans, her nurse, her brother, daughter and stepson.

On April 19, 1998, an event auction/sale of her clothing was held by her family to benefit AIDS Healthcare Foundation of Los Angeles.

In June 2005, a statue of Montgomery as Samantha Stephens was erected in Salem, Massachusetts. [1] Miss Montgomery will finally receive her star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony to be held before 2009.

Selected filmography

• Robert Montgomery Presents in 22 episodes from 1951-1956.
• The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
• Studio One appearances from 1955 - 1958
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Karen from "A Man with a Problem" (1958)
• The Untouchables as Rusty Heller (for which she received an Emmy Award nomiation) (1960)
• "Two" (an episode of The Twilight Zone) (1961), alongside Charles Bronson.
• Johnny Cool (1963)
• Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
• How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
• The Flintstones as animated Samantha Stephens (1966)
• The Victim (1972) (TV)
• Mrs. Sundance (1973) (TV) as Etta Place
• A Case of Rape (1974) (TV) (Emmy Award nomination)
• The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) (TV)(Emmy Award nomination) as Lizzie Borden
• Dark Victory (1976) (TV) as Katherine Merrill
• A Killing Affair (1977) (TV) as Vikki Eaton
• The Awakening Land (1978) (TV)(Emmy Award nomination)
• Act of Violence (1979) (TV) as Catherine McSweeney
• Jennifer: A Woman's Story (1979) as Jennifer Prince
• Belle Starr (1980) (TV) as Belle Starr
• When the Circus Came to Town (1981) (TV) as Mary Flynn
• The Rules of Marriage (1982) as Joan Hagen
• Missing Pieces (1983) as Sara Scott
• Second Sight: A Love Story (1984) as Alaxandra McKay
• Amos (1985) as Daisy Daws
• Between the Darkness and the Dawn (1986) (TV) as Abigail Foster
• Face to Face (1990) as Dr. Diana Firestone
• Sins of the Mother (1991) as Ruth Coe
• With Murder in Mind (1992) as Gayle Wolfer
• The Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (1993) (TV) as Blanche Taylor Moore
• The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1994) (TV) as Edna Buchanan
• Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan (1995) (TV) as Edna Buchanan

Narration

• The Panama Deception (1992)
• Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) (voice)
• Beauty's Punishment (1994) (narrator)
• Beauty's Release (1994) (narrator)

Two audio books in which Montgomery narrates the work of Anne Rice (writing as A.N. Roquelaure) are available as of 2005.

External links

• Elizabeth Montgomery at the Internet Movie Database
• Elizabeth Montgomery at TV.com
• http://www.harpiesbizarre.com - Bewitched fan Site
• Liz Montgomery Fan Site - "The Most Complete Elizabeth Montgomery Page ever done!"