Elizabeth Montgomery

Did You Know?

• A bronze statue of Montgomery as Samantha Stephens was erected in Salem, Massachusetts in June 2005.
• Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was presented on January 4, 2008, at 6533 Hollywood Blvd.

Early life

Montgomery was born in Los Angeles to Broadway actress Elizabeth Daniel Bryan Allen and film star Robert Montgomery. Her mother was from Kentucky and her father from New York. She had an elder sister who died in infancy and a younger brother. Of Irish and Scottish descent, her great-grandfather emigrated from Belfast in 1847. Genealogical research after her death revealed she and Lizzie Borden were sixth cousins once removed, both descended from John Luther. Montgomery attended the Westlake School for Girls and graduated from the Spence School, then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for three years.

Career

Montgomery debuted on television in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents. In October 1953 she made her Broadway debut in Late Love, winning a Theater World Award. Her film debut came in Otto Preminger's The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955). She returned to Broadway in 1956 in The Loud Red Patrick.

Her early television work included Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She earned an Emmy nomination for a 1960 episode of The Untouchables. She appeared in the films Johnny Cool (1963) and Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963). Alfred Hitchcock considered her for Marnie (1964) but she was unavailable.

From 1964 to 1972 she starred as Samantha Stephens on Bewitched, also playing cousin Serena under the pseudonym Pandora Spocks. The series was a ratings success and earned her five Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations. Although renewed for a ninth season, Montgomery declined to continue, ending the series.

Personal life

Montgomery married Frederick Gallatin Cammann in 1954; they divorced within a year. She married actor Gig Young in 1956 and divorced in 1963. That same year she married director-producer William Asher, with whom she had three children: William, Robert, and Rebecca. Biographer Herbie J. Pilato wrote that Asher was unfaithful and that Montgomery later had a two-year relationship with Bewitched director Richard Michaels; she and Asher divorced in 1974.

In 1993 she married actor Robert Foxworth after living with him for nearly 20 years. She was devoted to liberal causes, supporting animal rights, women's rights, HIV/AIDS activism, gay rights, and opposing the Vietnam War. She supported Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 campaign and later Jesse Jackson's 1988 campaign. She narrated two political documentaries critical of U.S. foreign policy. In 1992 she and Dick Sargent served as grand marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade.

Illness and death

Montgomery had colon cancer. She ignored influenza-like symptoms while filming Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan, finishing in late March 1995. The cancer metastasized from her colon to her liver. With no hope of recovery, she chose to return to her Beverly Hills home, where she died on May 18, 1995, at age 62, surrounded by her husband and three children. Her body was cremated. A memorial service was held on June 18, 1995, at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills, with music by Herbie Hancock, singing by Amanda McBroom, and remarks by Dominick Dunne and her family.