Bewitched: Astonishing Facts Revealed About The Cast and Crew

While Samantha was portrayed as a wholesome housewife on the show (in spite of her witchy ways), in real life Elizabeth Montgomery was not quite such a goody two shoes. The tell-all book, Twitch Upon a Star, reveals some of the juicier details of Elizabeth’s life. Author Herbie Pilato said the actress “seemed drawn to troubled men, not nice guys” and that “she was always looking for the ‘bad boy,’ which may have been part of her rebellion against her father.” The author adds that Elizabeth Montgomery, who was known for playing a witch who only practiced white magic, “had a dark side to her.”

There is even some speculation that one of the unsuitable men Elizabeth Montgomery found herself drawn to was President John F. Kennedy. While all that is known for sure is that the pair became friends in the early sixties, Pilato wrote that Kennedy “chased almost every beautiful woman he met.” Montgomery would have affairs with other famous men including ballet star Alexander Godunov, a noted alcoholic. She is also said to have had flings with film stars Gary Cooper and Dean Martin, both men significantly older than Montgomery. Montgomery was married four times and is rumored to have had affairs during her marriages.

Elizabeth Montgomery’s third husband was Bill Asher, a noted film producer, director, and screenwriter. The pair were married in 1963, and in 1964, Asher began producing and directing Bewitched following success with the shows Our Miss Brooks and I Love Lucy. He won an Emmy in 1966 for his work on Bewitched. Like Montgomery, Bill Asher would be married a total of four times. Elizabeth Montgomery was his second wife, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1973, not too long after the cancellation of Bewitched. The marriage ended after Elizabeth fell in love with Richard Michaels, a director who also worked on the set of Bewitched.

Elizabeth Montgomery is not the only member of the cast of Bewitched to participate in activism. After publicly coming out as gay, Dick Sargent became an outspoken advocate of gay rights issues. He called himself a “retroactive role model” and wanted to show young people that a person could be successful even though society’s attitudes towards the LGBT community at the time were far from positive. He hoped that his example would help to combat the high suicide rates among LGBT youth. Sargent also worked throughout the 1980s with the Christian Children’s Fund which helped children in developing nations.

The other person besides Dick Sargent to play Darrin on Bewitched, Dick York, also became involved in charitable acts towards the end of his life. York, who spent his last years battling emphysema after a lifetime of smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, used his time to do some good in the world. He founded a private charity, called Acting for Life, to help the homeless as well as others in need. Working primarily from his home as he was bedridden by this time, Dick encouraged politicians, business people, and others to contribute money and other needed items to the organization.