Elizabeth Montgomery
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Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (15 April 1933 - 18 May 1995), USA) was an American movie and television actress. She was the daughter of actors Robert Montgomery and Elizabeth Allen.
She is best remembered for her leading role as the witch Samantha in the ABC sitcom Bewitched. This show was a huge success during its eight-year run from 1964 to 1972 and remains popular through syndication. Montgomery received five Emmy Award and four Golden Globe nominations for her role as Samantha. Montgomery made her TV debut in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents and her film debut in 1955 in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell and languished in supporting roles and appearances in TV series for the early part of her career.
Montgomery refused to do Samantha's famous nose twitch for fans after Bewitched went off the air, and was reluctant to discuss this role. She spent the remainder of her career pursuing dramatic roles that took her as far away from the good-natured Samantha typecasting as possible. She received Emmy Award nominations for playing a rape victim in A Case of Rape (1974), for her portrayal of the notorious Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), and for her role as a strong woman facing hardship in 1820's Ohio in the mini-series The Awakening Land (1978). She also made a chilling villain in the 1985 picture Amos, playing a nurse in a state home who terrorized residents Kirk Douglas and Dorothy McGuire.
She was married to the actor Gig Young from 1956 to 1963; the Bewitched producer William Asher from 1963 to 1973 and lived with actor Robert Foxworth for 20 years until her death. She married Foxworth in 1993.
With William Asher, she had three children. She also had an older sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery, who died before Elizabeth was born, and a brother, Robert Montgomery Jr., who was born in 1936.
Montgomery died in 1995 aged 62, eight weeks after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and her body was cremated. At the time of her death, the media widely reported that she had ignored the symptoms of her illness until it was too late, as she was caring for Foxworth, who had hip replacement surgery. Unwilling to die in a hospital and with no hope of recovery, she elected to return to the Beverly Hills home she shared with Foxworth, and died there with him and her children by her side.
Selected filmography
- The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
- The Twilight Zone (1961), alongside Charles Bronson.
- Johnny Cool (1963)
- Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
- The Victim (1972)
- Mrs. Sundance (1974)
- A Case of Rape (1974)
- The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975)
- Act of Violence (1979)
- Belle Starr (1980)
- When the Circus Came to Town (1981)
- The Rules of Marriage (1982)
- Amos (1985)
- Face to Face (1990)
Narration
- The Panama Deception (1992)
- Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) (voice)
Two audio books in which Ms. Montgomery narrates the work of Anne Rice (writing as Anne Rampling) are available as of 2005.