Elizabeth Montgomery

Montgomery was born on April 15, 1933, in Los Angeles, California, to Broadway actress Elizabeth Daniel Bryan Allen and film star Robert Montgomery. Montgomery's mother was a native of Kentucky and her father was a native of New York. She had an elder sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery (named after her aunt Martha-Bryan Allen), who was born in 1931 and died in infancy, and a younger brother, Robert B. Montgomery Jr. After attending the Westlake School for Girls in Holmby Hills, California, Montgomery graduated from the Spence School in New York City. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan for three years. ==Career==

1951–1963: Early work '' (1960) Montgomery made her television debut in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents and on later occasions, she appeared as a member of his "summer stock" company of performers. In October 1953, Montgomery made her Broadway debut, starring in Late Love, for which she won a Theater World Award for her performance. She played the part of Rose Cornelius in the Rawhide episode "Incident at El Crucero" (1963). Montgomery was featured in a role as a socialite who falls for a gangster (Henry Silva) in Johnny Cool (1963), directed by William Asher, and the film comedy ''Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (also 1963), with Dean Martin and Carol Burnett, this time directed by Daniel Mann. After her appearance on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Alfred Hitchcock had her in mind to play the sister-in-law of Sean Connery, who sees herself as a rival to the troubled heroine in the film Marnie'' (1964), but Montgomery was unavailable. 1964–1972: Bewitched '' co-stars Dick York, Agnes Moorehead, and Montgomery In the ABC situation comedy Bewitched, Montgomery played the central role of lovable witch Samantha Stephens, with Dick York (and later with Dick Sargent) as her husband. Starting in the second season of the series, she also played the role of Samantha's mischievous cousin, Serena, under the pseudonym Pandora Spocks (a pun on Pandora's Box). Bewitched became a ratings success (it was, at the time, the highest-rated series ever for the network). The series aired for eight seasons, from 1964 to 1972, and Montgomery received five Emmy Montgomery later played a pioneer woman facing hardship in 1820s Ohio in the miniseries The Awakening Land (1978), for which she earned her ninth Emmy nomination. In A Killing Affair (1977), Montgomery played the role of a police detective who has an affair with her married partner, played by O. J. Simpson. In the 1977 made-for-tv movie "The Trial of Elizabeth Chase" she plays a woman accused of witchcraft (as referenced by author Herbie Pilato). In the television film Amos (1985), she played a rare villainous role, as a vicious nurse who abuses her wards in a home for senior citizens. The wards are played by Kirk Douglas and Dorothy McGuire, among others. In 1989, Montgomery returned to Broadway one last time in a production of Love Letters, opposite Robert Foxworth. only nine days before Montgomery died. ==Personal life==

In 1954, Montgomery married New York City socialite Frederick Gallatin Cammann; the couple divorced less than a year later. She was married to Academy Award winning actor Gig Young from 1956 to 1963. She married again in 1963 to director-producer William Asher. Godunov was found dead on May 18, 1995, the day Montgomery died, but it is believed that he died several days before Montgomery. Throughout the run of Bewitched, many references to Patterson, New York, were made on the series. The Putnam County town was the site of the Montgomery homestead, and it was also the place where she spent her childhood summers. In later years, her mother lived in the family farmhouse on Cushman Road. Political activism Montgomery was personally devoted to liberal political causes and in accordance with her political views, she lent her name, along with a large amount of her time, her money and her energy to a wide variety of charitable and political causes. She was a champion of animal rights, women's rights, HIV/AIDS activism and gay rights. She was also an ardent critic of the Vietnam War, she supported Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968 and in later years, she was an active advocate for AIDS research and outreach to the disabled community. Professionally, she lent her voice as the narrator of two political documentaries which were critical of U.S. foreign policy, Cover Up: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) and its Academy Award-winning sequel The Panama Deception (1992). In June 1992, Montgomery and Dick Sargent, her former Bewitched co-star as well as her good friend, were grand marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. In 1994, Montgomery produced several radio and television public-service announcements for Learning Ally's Los Angeles unit. The following January, Montgomery recorded the 1952 edition of When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne. On June 3, 1995, sixteen days after her death, Learning Ally's Los Angeles unit dedicated its 1995 Record-A-Thon to Montgomery. Twenty-one other celebrities lent their talents to a recorded version of Chicken Soup for the Soul, which was dedicated to her memory. ==Illness and death==

Montgomery suffered from colon cancer. She ignored the influenza-like symptoms during the filming of Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan, which she finished filming in late March 1995. Due to the late diagnosis, the cancer metastasized from her colon to her liver. With no hope of recovery and unwilling to die in a hospital, Montgomery chose to return to her Beverly Hills home that she shared with Foxworth. She died on the morning of May 18, 1995, at the age of 62, surrounded by Foxworth and her three children from her previous marriage to William Asher. Her body was cremated. On June 18, 1995, one month after her death, a memorial service was held at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Herbie Hancock played music, Amanda McBroom sang and Dominick Dunne spoke about the early years of their friendship when both of them lived in New York City, while Foxworth read many of the sympathy cards sent by fans. Other speakers included her daughter, her brother, her stepson and her nurse. Montgomery had kept her parents' home in Patterson, Putnam County, New York. Roughly three years after her death, the estate was sold and became a part of Wonder Lake State Park. ==Legacy==

• On April 19, 1998, Montgomery's family held an auction and a sale of her clothing to benefit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation of Los Angeles. Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on the Bewitched television series, modeled the clothing that was auctioned. • In June 2005, a bronze statue of Montgomery as Samantha Stephens was erected in Salem, Massachusetts. • A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was presented in honor of Montgomery's work on television on January 4, 2008. The location of the star is 6533 Hollywood Blvd. ==Filmography==

Film Television Stage credits Narration work • The Panama Deception (1992) • Craven Street: Ben Franklin in London, a five-part radio drama (1993) • ''Beauty's Punishment'' (1994) • ''Beauty's Release'' (1994) ==Television coverage==

• In 1998, the A&E Television Network produced a documentary for its Biography television series about the life and career of Elizabeth Montgomery. The documentary first aired on A&E on February 15, 1999. • In 1999, the E! cable channel produced a documentary for its E! The True Hollywood Story series titled "Bewitched: The E! True Hollywood Story." The documentary first aired on E! on August 22, 1999. ==References==