Bewitched: Astonishing Facts Revealed About The Cast and Crew

The show’s creator, Sol Saks, really wanted an actress named Tammy Grimes to play as his lead witch (who was to be called Cassandra, not Samantha, originally). Saks liked the fact that Grimes had such a naturally “elfin” appearance. In the end, Sol Saks and Bill Asher went with Elizabeth Montgomery for this series.

While Tammy Grimes actually auditioned for the original role she remained under contract with Screen Gems and wasn’t able to take the job. The character was renamed Samantha, Elizabeth Montgomery was cast and the rest is history.

The house that was used for the 1959 movie Gidget was copied, in reverse, for the Bewitched set. The patio and interior living rooms were duplicates from another Gidget movie. The facade of the home also appeared in shows like Dennis the Menace and I Dream of Jeannie.

This lot and its neighborhood of homes (known officially as “Blondie Street” after the early movie serial that followed the adventures of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead) has been in use for about 50 years and can be seen in a variety of television shows and films — in fact, often at the same time! For example, during the run of Bewitched, Samantha and Darrin’s nosy neighbor Mrs. Kravitz also lived in the Partridge home. The Partridge Family debuted before Bewitched ended its run, so for two seasons, both the Partridges and the Kravitz shared a home!

The house lived in by the Partridge family and Gladys Kravitz was a modest two-story house with a white picket fence. The fence was taken down in 1999, and bay windows now replace the front windows used in the Bewitched days. The front door is also fairly different. The picture below is from 2000. If you’re facing the Partridge house, the home next door to the right was used in I Dream of Jeannie as Major Nelson and Jeannie’s house (more on that later). For The Partridge Family, about three feet of Jeannie’s front yard had to be removed in order to widen the driveway to accommodate the bus. It has since been restored to its original width.