She became a household name & global phenomenon but her sudden death shocked us all
The supernatural comedy, which aired for eight seasons from 1964 to 1972, propelled Elizabeth into the spotlight.
Suddenly she became a household name and everyone was trying to replicate Samantha’s famous nose twitch.
”I’d never thought much about a series because I liked the idea of picking a script I liked with a character I thought I could sustain for an hour. In a series, you live with one character day in and day out – and you only hope it will be one that will not drive you crazy,” Elizabeth told AP in 1965.
Following Bewitched‘s run and the end of her marriage with Asher, Elizabeth went on to star in many made-for-television movies, many which were in stark contrast to her previous role on Bewitched.
She starred in Mrs. Sundance (1973), A Case of Rape (1974), The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), Black Widow Murders (1993), The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1994), and Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan (1995).
It was during the filming of Mrs. Sundance that she met Robert Foxworth. The two remained together until Elizabeth’s death in 1995, though they didn’t get married until 1993.
“Before Jane Seymour, before Lindsay Wagner and before Valerie Bertinelli, Elizabeth was the first Queen of the TV movies; she went from queen of the witches to queen of the TV movie and it was no longer a struggle to break away from Bewitched,” Herbie J Pilato, author of two books on Elizabeth Montgomery, said.
Unfortunately, her career was cut short when on May 18, 1995 after a long battle with colon cancer.
According to the Los Angeles Times, her family reported she was 57 when she died, though many places listed her birth year as 1933, making her 62 at the time of her death.
The actress had battled the disease for years and had believed she was cancer-free, but while filming Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan, she became ill.
By the time she was able to get checked out in March 1995, it was too late. The cancer had spread to her liver.
Elizabeth died in her sleep at her home in Beverly Hills with her husband and three children by her side. One month after her passing, a memorial was held at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Famous jazz musician Herbie Hancock played music and the author Dominick Dunne, Elizabeth’s lifelong friend, spoke about their early years of friendship when they lived in New York City.
The Bewitched star had her body cremated at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
On playing a variety of characters throughout her career, Elizabeth said in a 1992 interview:
“They all have different kinds of ‘feels’ to them and that’s probably one of the reasons why I’ve done them. I get letters from people saying one of the things they like best about what I’ve done since ‘Bewitched’ is that they never know what I’m going to do next.”
Such a naturally gorgeous woman! It’s a shame that she was taken from us way too soon.
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