Twitch Upon a Star (2 page)
Read Twitch Upon a Star Online
Authors: Herbie J. Pilato
Joan Hagen
was a seemingly happy affluent wife, and so was Elizabeth when wedded to Asher during the original reign of
Bewitched
.
Marriage
showcased the disintegration of a seemingly perfect marriage, as both husband and wife became involved in a series of affairs. Asher strayed from Elizabeth throughout their marriage and into the final years of
Bewitched
, which ultimately led to her two-year affair with
Bewitched
producer/director Richard Michaels and to their subsequent divorce and business dissolve.
Bewitched
was cancelled in 1972 and the Asher marriage ended in 1974, around the time she met and fell in love with Foxworth on the set of her TV-movie
Mrs. Sundance
. She didn't leave Asher for Foxworth; she fell in love with Foxworth after her marriage ended.
Foxworth was to have played
Michael Hagen
in
The Rules of Marriage
, but when cast as
Chase
on
Crest
he was replaced by Gould (formerly married to Barbra Streisand, another high-powered, strong-willed independent female force in the entertainment industry).
Elizabeth now sought work diametrically opposed to
Bewitched
, but periodically opted to play characters that represented her role in real life. She gave 100% to each character she portrayed, but savored parts that were leaps and bounds from
Samantha
. Unsuppressed ambitions may have taxed at least her first marriage (to Fred Cammann), but beyond that her career took a backseat to family. There was no stopping her always forthright but elegant manner; while the parallels between her and twitch-witch
Samantha
âher most famous role (for which she was Emmy-nominated five times)âwere undeniable:
Elizabeth was born to two actors not of the ordinary (screen idol Robert Montgomery and Broadway thespian Elizabeth Allen).
Samantha
was born to two extraordinary beings (
Endora
and
Maurice
, played by acting legends Agnes Moorehead and Maurice Evans).
Elizabeth was raised in privilege with mansions, movie stars (like Bette Davis and James Cagney) as good friends, the best schools to attend (including Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles and the Spence School for Girls in New York), and traveled the world.
Samantha
was raised in opulence, had the best teachers the witch world had to offer, and enjoyed otherworldly travels.
Elizabeth shunned the arrogance of her elitist background and retained an approachable demeanor.
Samantha
rejected the arrogance of her supernatural heritage and remained down-to-earth.
Elizabeth's first upper crust New York husband (Cammann) was thrown out of the social register because he married an actress, a profession frowned upon by his aristocratic family.
Samantha's
clan believed her mortal husband
Darrin
disgraced their aristocratic family heritage, and just as Cammann wanted Elizabeth to give up her craft of acting,
Darrin
wanted
Samantha
to give up witchcraft.
Elizabeth made frequent attempts to stop acting but failed. Her talent was her destiny. Despite
Samantha's
earnest attempts to embrace the mortal life, she never quite stopped using her powers to assist
Darrin
and friends. Her magic was her birthright.
Elizabeth deeply loved each of her four husbands.
Samantha
deeply loved her two
Darrins
.
Elizabeth embraced her theatrical gifts and challenging marriages.
Samantha
embraced her special powers and mixed marriage.
Elizabeth raised her family in the traditional manner.
Samantha
raised her children in againâthe “everyday mortal way.”
Elizabeth played childhood games with her look-alike cousin Amanda
Panda
Cushman.
Samantha's
adult life was challenged by her fun-loving look-alike cousin
Serena
(played by Elizabeth, but billed as
Pandora Spocks
).
Elizabeth became a beloved celebrity worldwide and
Queen of the TV-movies
.
Samantha
was elected
Queen of the Witches
.
Elizabeth was a political activist who defended her rights and the rights of others, from Vietnam to the Reagan era and beyond.
Samantha
fought city hall in the mortal world, defended her rights to the
Witches Council
, and decried arrogance in both realms.
Elizabeth represented the grassroots movement of the day: women's liberation.
Samantha
defended her personal
witch's honor
.
Elizabeth cherished her family and home life beyond Hollywood, and ultimately accepted her immortal legacy as
Samantha
.
Samantha
treasured her family and human life, and ultimately accepted her mortal existence.
This book is about Elizabeth's mortal existence. From the day she was born, she had a nervous facial tic that was destined to inspire
Samantha's
magical mugging twitch. It was a mere spec in a vast list of traits and characteristics, characters, and performances that appealed to a mass group of people; that's also what this book is about ⦠and everything else in between.
Elizabeth Montgomery welcomed me into her hushed world.
I was enamored with the rise, demise, and rebirth of
Bewitched
, and she was intrigued. She marveled in my appreciation of not only her most famous show, but her varied accomplishments, talents, and charitable ways. Initially reticent then unrestrained she, for the first time in twenty years, offered in-depth conversations about her life and career. She explained during the first of what would become four interviews in the spring and summer of 1989:
It's a strange thing ⦠I loathe to chat away about me. I've never liked it. I always hate interviews. I just want to act, and do the best job I can. Hopefully people will appreciate it. That's what my job is. It isn't sitting down and talking about me. If I were a gardener (which she fancied herself as around her home in Beverly Hills), I would be out there trying to make gardens as pretty as I could, and not expect people to come up to me and ask a lot of questions. What it boils down to is this: It's always easier for me to talk about other things than it is to talk about me.
She described our conversations as “cathartic.” She spoke about her famous father, film and TV idol Robert Montgomery; her childhood; years of education; early motion pictures, stage, and television appearances. She addressed what it means to be an actress; her friendships with President John F. Kennedy (assassinated on November 22, 1963âthe day rehearsals began for
Bewitched
), Carol Burnett, and her
Bewitched
co-stars, including Agnes Moorehead and Paul Lynde; her TV-movies and feature films and, of course,
Bewitched
itself. She discussed all she did and didn't understand about herself and her massive following; all she gave, all she became, all she hoped to be, all she was: a wife, a mother, a friend, a TV legend, a pop-culture icon, a courageously bold endorser of human rights.
My
Bewitched
books concentrated on her most renowned performance, but a more expansive magical story was yet to be told.
Twitch Upon a Star
:
The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery
tells that story. The unpublished memories she shared with me in 1989 are now interspersed with her commentary from other interviews, before and after we met. Only following our chats did she allow for lengthier conversations with regard to
Bewitched
after she ended the show in 1972. She then seemed more comfortable discussing her career, specifically her days on
Bewitched
from which she had long kept safe distance. She later gave interviews to
One on One with John Tesh, The Dennis Miller Show, CBS This Morning
, and
The Advocate
magazine as well as to acclaimed film historian, preservationist, and author Ronald Haver, who for twenty years (he died in 1993) served as the curator and director for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's film center. The latter interview transpired for a commentary track accompanying the fiftieth anniversary documentary 1991 laserdisc release of
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
, the 1941 film classic starring her father, Robert Montgomery.
Elizabeth and I also talked about her dad; as well as her mother, former Broadway actress Elizabeth Allen; and her maternal grandmother Rebecca Allen; all of whom played substantial roles in the development of her life and work; a career that she sometimes felt was overshadowed by
Bewitched
.
Yet she had little choice but to address her immortal link to
Samantha
. By the time we met in 1989, twenty-five years after
Bewitched's
debut, she and the show's popularity reined steady, expanded by way of nostalgic-oriented networks like Nick at Nite, TBS, and WGN. The series flooded the airwaves, she was finding a new audience, and original and novice fans were falling in love with her all over again. When I asked if she understood just how happy she makes viewers, how classic and contemporary fans adore her just as much, if not more as when the show premiered in 1964, she replied:
Well, I do now. I mean, you've pointed it out to me certainly. I know they like the show and everything. But it's never been anything that's kind of been bounced in my face as much as it has now with your focus on it. And I tell you something if only one person feels as you do then that's fine with me. Something was accomplished, because your dedication to this has been absolutely extraordinary. It's the work that is to me its kind of own reward. I know that sounds terribly Pollyanna, but I don't care because that's true for me. And it's the same with you. To put that much energy into what you have done and for us to be sitting here is very good for both of us. It's good for you on every level that you have explained to me, and it's fun for me to sit down and talk about it with somebody who enjoys it that much because I've done so much since
Bewitched
. While doing something you're so concentrated on it, you don't get a chance to sit back and say,
Wasn't that or isn't that fun?
I'd like to think that the stuff that I've done since has meant something to somebody on various different levels. Because I've tried to be real diverse in the work that I've done since I left
Bewitched
.
Her post-1989 interviews with others proved insightful from a personal standpoint; one in particular stands out from the pack. In 1990, veteran television journalist Ann Hodges, mother to a dear friend, talked with Elizabeth for
The Houston Chronicle
about her CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame TV-film
Face to Face
. After the interview, Ann put down her pen and paper and said, “I just have to tell you. My daughter is very good friends with one of your biggest fans.” Before Ann had a chance to finish her sentence, Elizabeth blurted out the name, “Herbie!”
There are countless individuals and fan-based groups who assuredly know the more minute trivia related to Elizabeth's entire body of work, but that she would think of me amidst a random reference remains a cherished memory and not insignificant praise. I was honored to hear of that interchange which I will forever humbly embrace. I can do nothing less. Elizabeth was one of the kindest people I ever met, and one of the least arrogant in or outside of Hollywood. I admired her lack of pretension and strive to meet that standard every day.
That said, she was also one of the most complicated individuals on the planetâa conundrum that makes her story so compellingâand one in turn that I felt driven, dare I say,
bewitched
, to explore and share within these pages. This book is also filled with collected reflections from her family members and friends, and coworkers from her TV-movies, feature films, TV guest-star appearances, and other performances and, of course,
Bewitched
. Thoughts from interviews that she and others granted to me appear alongside selected commentary previously published in studio bios, press releases, newspaper and magazine articles, books, TV talk shows and news programs, and online sources.
There are new memories from my exclusive interviews with her friend and fellow actress Sally Kemp (whom Elizabeth met while attending the New York American Academy of Dramatic Arts and who offers some of the most profound insight into Elizabeth's young life); Florence
The Brady Bunch
Henderson (also from the Academy); her TV-movie co-stars and friends, including David Knell (who played her son on
Belle Starr
); Ronny Cox (from
A Case of Rape
and
With Murder in Mind
); the Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson (who died only two weeks after granting his interview);
Bewitched
guest star Eric Scott (who would later be cast in
The Waltons
); Peter Ackermanâson of
Bewitched
executive producer Harry Ackerman;
Bewitched
writer Doug Tibbles; Emmy-winning actor and Elizabeth's fellow political advocate Ed Asner (
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
); actress, comedienne, women and children's advocate, and political blogger Lydia Cornell (
Too Close For Comfort
), among many others.
Also included are never-before-published commentary from my original
Bewitched
interviews in 1988 and 1989 with Harry Ackerman, William Asher, Dick York, and Dick Sargent (the two
Darrins
); David
Larry Tate
White, and others associated with the series, including
Bewitched
director Richard Michaels who, in 2006, went on
Entertainment Tonight
and admitted to his affair with Elizabeth. It was an affair that contributed not only to the demise of
Bewitched
and the Asher marriage, but to the end of Michaels' nuptials to Kristina Hansen.
When I interviewed Michaels in 1988, I was not aware of his liaison with Elizabeth, but you'd think I'd have had a clue.