Bewitched: Nose Wiggling Facts About the Show & Cast

No one could have predicted that Bewitched would still be alive decades later after its first time on-air on September 17th, 1964 and lasting eight seasons.

Richard Sargent, a teenage actor, came close to being cast as Darrin Stephens in the early days of the show’s casting. Sargent ended up accepting another position however while the pilot looked for someone to portray Samantha.

On Bewitched, Dick York ended up playing Darrin Stephens, the mortal husband of Samantha Stephens. Due to his work on the series, Dick was a well-liked actor throughout the 1960s, but he is also remembered for his appearance in the 1960s classic picture Inherit the Wind.

Following Richard Sargent’s turning down of the role, the character Darrin was offered to actor Richard Crenna. Richard Crenna declined this offer since he had just spent four years on The Real McCoys.

Despite the fact that Dick York’s departure from the program was never addressed, it is clear that he had an underlying cause for leaving. While shooting the film They Came To Cordura, York tore the majority of the muscles on the right side of his back, and he never fully recovered from the injury.

Elizabeth Montgomery didn’t just portray the main witch, but she also assumed the role of Samantha’s niece Serena. She adopted the pseudonym Pandora Spocks to be credited as playing Serena.

While working on the television series, Elizabeth Montgomery became pregnant three times. In July 1964, she gave birth to her first child. The producers were able to include two of Montgomery’s pregnancies into the screenplay, therefore expanding the Stephens family to include Tabitha and Adam.

Erin Murphy (who played Tabitha on the series) spoke candidly about the cast in a 2017 interview with Fox News. While Elizabeth Montgomery looked to be the gentle girl next door, Murphy shared that she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. “She had a really dirty sense of humor…”

Two months after her death, Alice Pearce was honored with a posthumous Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy Award for her portrayal of the nosy neighbor Gladys.

Supporting actress Kasey Rogers, who portrayed Louise Tate, said that she furnished her own attire and would bring her own outfits into the studio a week before shooting. They’d be cleaned and pressed by the wardrobe department.

Darrin may have disliked Endora on the program, but the two were close friends away from the cameras. In fact, Agnes Moorehead had a stronger bond with Dick York than any other member of the cast.

Moorehead loved York’s skills on television, and she was not happy when Dick Sargent replaced him. It turns out that those squabbles on the set of Bewitched may have actually contributed to the strengthening of at least one relationship on the set.

Sol Saks, the show’s creator, had his heart set on an actress named Tammy Grimes to assume the role of the show’s main witch who was originally set to be called Cassandra, instead of Samantha. Saks liked Grimes’s naturally “elfin” looks, which he thought would be endearing to audiences.

The Stephens’ daughter, Tabitha, was played by Erin and Diane Murphy, who are fraternal twins. It is fairly typical to employ twins, especially for the parts of infants.

One of the Murphy twins collaborated far more than the other. Because it was evident that Erin had a natural talent for acting and would be the show’s star, she was cast in close-up shots and speaking parts, while Diane was cast in long shots.

Did you know that the show’s theme song was based on Darrin’s perspective? The song had actual lyrics! It may be interesting to know that you can listen to the words on YouTube if you search for a short video clip that features Steve Lawrence.

According to Erin Murphy, Montgomery’s nose wiggle was a camera trick. “Samantha’s nose never wiggles, as you can see if you look carefully. It’s her top lip that’s the problem,” she said.

Samantha’s “magic” was painstakingly created since there was no CGI available in the 1960s. Elizabeth Montgomery would stand in the center of the living room with her arms outstretched while the director yelled, “Cut!” and the stagehands came running to clean up the mess.

On Bewitched, when Larry and Louise Tate had a baby, the actor who played Larry, David White, insisted that he be called Jonathan. Off-screen, White had a kid called Jonathan, whom he raised alone when his wife died of problems during her second pregnancy.

Larry’s son Jonathan was a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103, which crashed into the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing everyone on board. David succumbed to a heart attack two years later, and the father-son duo is buried together at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Producer William Asher was among the cast members who drank heavily at the start of the show and was sometimes videotaped while inebriated. The drinking was so prevalent that various fan sites were developed to track how many times each character was seen drinking during a scene in each episode.

On April 4th, 1968, the episode of Bewitched was cut short to deliver the devastating news that civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. had been slain in Memphis. The first day of rehearsals for the production took place on November 22nd, 1963, the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, which was also a chilling coincidence.

Elizabeth Montgomery kept her private life a secret, and she knew she did not want her personal information at the public’s disposal. According to the newspapers, her age was reported as being 57 years old at the time of her death. However, her actual age at the time was 62.

In addition to stating her inaccurate age and marital status in her obituary, her death certificate even misspelled her own name! If you look at her death certificate closely, you’ll see that her complete name is “Elizabeth A. Montgomery.”

In actual life, several of Bewitched’s cast and guest stars were habitual smokers. Paul Lynde and Elizabeth Montgomery were both said to be chain smokers. Dick York smoked three packs of cigarettes per day!

Some fans believe that there was a real-life curse on the program. A significant number of the cast members died as a result of cancer-related causes throughout the filming. Many of them died at an early age as well.

The connection between Samantha and Tabitha that takes place behind the scenes, is frequently the subject of discussion. Erin Murphy, a child actor who appeared on Bewitched, recently spoke with ABC about her experience on the show. She said that she was quite attached to her television parents, referring to them as “Darren Daddy” and “Mantha Mommy.”

As a makeup artist, casting director, fashion stylist, acting instructor, stunt double, and motivational speaker in her later years, Erin Murphy accumulated a diverse range of experiences. However, the actress’s most essential position was that of an outspoken champion for autism awareness; she disclosed that her son Parker was diagnosed with the illness.

Despite the fact that the show had previously been on the air for three seasons, Darrin had to be recast when Dick York left the show. Viewers are often not fond of such a drastic shift in the main character’s personality, and audiences in the 1960s were no exception.

Serena, Samantha’s cousin, resembled Samantha in a few ways. One of the most striking similarities between them was her fondness for being surrounded by mundane mortals. She even had a couple of boyfriends! We wouldn’t call her a swinging sixties woman, but she did have hippy characteristics. She supported Samantha’s marriage to a mortal in general, albeit she mocked them for not being as cool as she was.

Elizabeth Montgomery’s real-life daughter Rebecca Asher was born on the same day as the twins who played Tabitha. Were these June 17th birthdays just a coincidence, or did something more extraordinary occur?

Elizabeth was considered a babe in the 1960s and maintained her attractiveness well into her senior years. She must have cast a spell on herself to slow down the aging process. Seriously, she most likely takes good care of her body by exercising and eating the proper meals.

Dick Sargent, the star of Bewitched, came out as gay on National Coming Out Day, October 11, 1991, on a Geraldo Rivera TV event. Despite acknowledging that his choice to come out may have had a negative impact on his work, he said in a subsequent interview that the relief of being able to live freely as his “true self” was well worth it.

You probably already know that Elizabeth Montgomery was a big advocate of women’s rights and that she even came on the program without a bra at the end to express her support for the women’s liberation movement. However, she was one of the first celebrities to support homosexual rights and speak out on behalf of AIDS victims.

In 1997, Herbie Pilato published a tell-all book titled Twitch Upon A Star, that revealed details about Elizabeth Montgomery’s private life. There is some speculation that President John F. Kennedy was one of Montgomery’s unsuitable men. While the only thing that is certain is that the two became acquaintances in the early 1960s, Pilato said that Kennedy “chased almost every beautiful woman he met.”

Samantha gave birth to a boy named Adam during the season when Dick Sargent took over for Dick York. In real-life, Elizabeth’s pregnancy was for her third child, Rebecca.

After Bewitched finally ended (despite Elizabeth Montgomery expressing her desire to quit a few series earlier), the actress looked for jobs that would allow her to break free from the nice girl image she had cultivated for over a decade.

While Elizabeth Montgomery is most recognized for her role as Samantha on Bewitched, she was also involved in a number of more controversial projects. She aspired to utilize her abilities for more “serious” work, even though many people only thought of her as an entertaining and gorgeous actress.

Elizabeth Montgomery was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after her death. The star, which can be found at 6533 Hollywood Blvd, was awarded to the actress on January 4th, 2008, 13 years after her death, for her contribution to television.

Did you know that Bewitched had a comic book series of its own? It shouldn’t come as a surprise given how popular Bewitched was and continues to be. The comics were published between 1965 and 1966. Henry Scarpelli was mostly responsible for the artwork. Henry rose to prominence as a result of his work on a number of DC titles.

Bewitched is still a fan favorite today. Even though Samantha’s clan and their witchy ways were last shown on television many decades ago, many young people are still acquainted with them. The program is still on television, having been syndicated across the globe since the show wrapped in 1972.