Biography for
Elizabeth Montgomery (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 April 1933, Hollywood, California, USA

Date of Death

18 May 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA (colorectal cancer)

Birth Name

Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery

Nickname

Liz

Height

5' 5½" (1.66 m)

Mini Biography

Elizabeth Montgomery was born into show business. Her parents were screen actor Robert Montgomery and Broadway actress Elizabeth Bryan Allen. Elizabeth graduated from the Spence School in New York City and attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. After three years intensive training, she made her TV debut in her father's 1950s playhouse series "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1950) and appeared in more than 200 live programs over the next decade. She once remarked "I guess you could say I'm a TV baby". Notable early film roles included The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) and Johnny Cool (1963). She is best remembered, however, for her leading role as the witch Samantha in the top-rated ABC sitcom "Bewitched" (1964). Her family - mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead), look-alike cousin (Montgomery) and advertising executive husband Darrin (first Dick York then Dick Sargent) - tried to suppress her supernatural skills but often turned to her tricks to solve problems. The signal of impending witchcraft was a twitch of Samantha's nose. After her first and only TV series ended she turned to made-for-TV movies, many of which won critical praise: A Case of Rape (1974) (TV), The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) (TV), Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (1993) (TV). She narrated the movie The Panama Deception (1992) which won an Academy Award in 1993. Reference works showed her as 62 when she died though the family said she was 57. The family did not disclose the type of cancer which caused her death.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan < stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Spouse

Robert Foxworth	(28 January 1993 - 18 May 1995) (her death)
William Asher	(26 October 1963 - 1973) (divorced) 3 children
Gig Young	(28 December 1956 - 1963) (divorced)
Fred Gallatin Cammann	(27 March 1954 - 1955) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Nose twitch

Trivia

She and Robert Foxworth, the actor, lived together for over twenty years until her death.

Children William Asher: William Jr (b. July 24, 1964), Robert (b. October 5, 1965), Rebecca Elizabeth (b. 17 June 1969).

She died 8 weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer and was cremated.

Daughter of Elizabeth Allen and Robert Montgomery.

Ms. Montgomery refused to do her famous nose twitch for enduring fans after her "Bewitched" (1964) show went off the air. She spent the remainder of her career pursuing dramatic roles that took her as far away from the Samantha typecast as possible.

She had an older sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery, (born October 13, 1930) but died of spinal meningitis at the age of 14 months, before Elizabeth was born.

She lost out on the part of Edie Doyle in On the Waterfront (1954) to Eva Marie Saint. Director Elia Kazan, in his autobiography "A Life," says that the choice of an actress to play the part was narrowed down to Montgomery and Saint. Although Montgomery was fine in her screen test, there was an air of finishing school about her. Kazan thought this genteel quality would not be becoming for Edie, who was raised on the waterfront in Hoboken, NJ. He gave the part to Saint who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, in the part.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 422-423. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Died on the same day as her Johnny Cool (1963) co-star Elisha Cook Jr..

Ranked #52 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women"(1995).

Appeared on an episode of "The Flintstones" (1960), providing the voice of a cartoon version of her famous "Bewitched" (1964) character, Samantha Stevens.

Montgomery spent weekends and summers at the family farm in upstate Patterson, New York. Often referenced in episodes of "Bewitched" (1964) as "Patterson Garage" or "Cushman Cosmetics", Cushman Road is the rural, dirt road on which the several hundred acre Montgomery estate is located.

A 9 foot bronze statue of Elizabeth as Samantha Stephens riding sidesaddle on her broomstick now resides in a downtown park in Salem, Massachusetts, home to the infamous witch trials of the 17th century.

Best remembered by the public for her starring role as Samantha in "Bewitched" (1964). When they were trying to figure out a trademark for the character Samantha, the director William Asher noticed that when she got nervous, she twitched her upper lip, which caused her nose to follow and thus gave the impression she was twitching her nose. Thus, they used that.

Received a posthumous star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on January 4, 2008.

Was a grand marshal with former TV husband Dick Sargent at the 1992 Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. Elizabeth was a supporter of gay rights and also women's rights throughout her life.

She fell in love with director Richard Michaels during filming of the eighth season of "Bewitched" (1964), and moved in with him when the season was complete. This broke up both their marriages and ended the possibility of a ninth season. The relationship lasted two and a half years.

Personal Quotes

The minute someone says, "Oh God, you could never do that; you can't get that kind of stuff on the air!" . . . that's the kind of stuff I want to do.

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