Bewitched reaches its 60th Anniversary: 12 Fascinating Facts about the Hit Sitcom

By creammagazine, September 8, 2024

So far as historic TV shows go, Bewitched is right up there as a favourite for many people who grew up in the 1960s and ’70s. Premiering on TV sets on 17 September 1964, the series immediately appealed to all generations, and was aired weekdays, spawning a total of eight seasons and endless reruns.

The series is centred around a witch, Samantha, who marries an ordinary mortal, Darrin Stephens, and vows to lead the life of a suburban all-American housewife.

Samantha is constantly nagged by her mother, Endora, while she regularly has to keep relatives and nosy neighbours at bay, so as not have them discover her magical tactics and secrets.

Inspiring reboots, such as the 2005 film of the same name which starred Nicole Kidman as Samantha, Will Ferrell as Darrin, and Shirley MacLaine as Endora, and referenced in TV series such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and more recently WandaVision, Bewitched remains an influential show in popular culture.

Here are 12 fab facts that might surprise you.

Antonino Tati

01. Samantha’s twitching nose was not a special effect but real

Actress Elizabeth Montgomery actually had a nervous tick that came on when she got nervous. She was also able to turn on the nose magic instantly and did so hundreds of times during the series.

02. Elizabeth Montgomery fell pregnant while filming the first season, then twice again into the series

Montgomery wore progressively looser clothing to disguise her expanding waistline.

Her subsequent two pregnancies were written into the Bewitched script, adding Tabitha and Adam to the Stephens family.

03. Montgomery played two key characters in the show

While proving to be an easy actress to work with – and a very good one at that – Elizabeth did begin to get bored in playing the same role, so suggested to producers that she play a second role – as her own cousin, Serena. While Samantha was the perfect mom and wife, cousin Serena was a party girl – wearing short skirts and a short bobbed haircut, preferring to wreak havoc than resolve it. While it wasn’t exactly a secret that Montgomery was playing Serena, the credit was given to a pseudonym, ‘Pandora Spocks’.

04. Most of the supporting actors on the show wore their own clothes and accessories onscreen

Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur in ‘Bewitched’: one of the few supporting actors who didn’t wear his own clothing in the show, although he’d probably have one just like in his closet in real life.

According to Kasey Rogers (‘Louise Tate’), supporting actors – like Aunt Clara, Gladys Kravitz – would bring their own clothes in a week prior to filming, and the wardrobe department would dry-clean and press them, ready for the set. Agnes Moorehead was often pictured wearing her own starburst brooch that was set with 8.5 carats of old-mine diamonds. Montgomery admired the pin, and when Moorehead passed away in 1974, her will stated it should go to her TV daughter.

05. The theme song originally had lyrics and has been covered by many musicians

The lyricists were behind schedule, though, and so producers went ahead with an instrumental theme and stuck with it through all seasons. Musicians who have covered the theme song include snazzy crooner Steve Lawrence and jazz singer Peggy Lee.

Elizabeth Montgomery first encountered Agnes Moorehead at the shops one day and adored her high-coiffed orange bouffant. Said Montgomery years later in interview, “She looked like this oversized thing of cotton candy.” Moorehead instantly got the part of Samantha’s mother, Endora.

06. Actress Agnes Moorehead came up with her character name ‘Endora’; she’d been a big player in Hollywood before the show

Moorehead appeared in Citizen Kane, no less, as the mother of the titular character, and had received four Oscar nominations for her various roles in film. She scored the Bewitched role as Samantha Stephens’ mother purely by chance. Elizabeth Montgomery bumped into Agnes at the shops one day and adored her high-coiffed orange bouffant. Said Montgomery years later in interview, “She looked like this oversized thing of cotton candy.”

Elizabeth Montgomery first encountered Agnes Moorehead at the shops one day and adored her high-coiffed orange bouffant. Said Montgomery years later in interview, “She looked like this oversized thing of cotton candy.” Returning to the producers, Montgomery exclaimed, “I found mother!” Moorehead instantly got the part of Samantha’s mother, Endora.

07. One of the Christmas episodes was written by African-American high schoolers and in it the cast wore blackface

The Christmas episode entitled Sisters at Heart would surely go against today’s woke ideologies, with Samantha, Darrin and Tabitha all painted with blackface in the show. Ironically, though, the story idea and basic script was written by 22 African-American 10th graders from a school in Los Angeles. The plot involved unabashed racist Mr. Brockway, owner of a toy company whose million-dollar advertising account McMann and Tate was eager to land. However, Brockway refused to allow Darrin to handle his account, since he mistakenly believed that Darrin was married to a black woman. The episode ended up winning an Emmy Governor’s Award in 1971. If you can track it down, be warned: it looks very outdated and the black makeup is just bizarre.

08. Marion Loren, who played Aunt Clara, collected doorknobs in real life

Lorne played Samantha’s loveable Aunt Clara, a character with an unusual fascination with door knobs. But collecting door knobs was actually Lorne’s real-life fetish, and she boasted a collection of over 1000 antique door openers, collected from around the world.

09. Alice Pearce played nosy neighbour and had cancer throughout her entire appearance in the show

So popular was the character of busybody Gladys Kravitz that even today, any nosy sticky-beak is referred to as such. If you want to know where actress Pearce got her funny chin from, she fell from a playground swing as a child and landed on her chin, stunting its growth. Four months prior to getting the role as Gladys, Pearce was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She’d had surgery, but the doctors informed her that her case was terminal. Pearce passed away in March 1966, and was awarded a posthumous Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy Award two months later. Sandra Gould took over the role of Gladys Kravitz for the remainder of the series.

09. Dick York had to leave the show in season five due to injury

During filming the western They Came to Cordura (alongside Gary Cooper), York sprained his back badly while operating a railroad handcar carrying other actors. There was no surgery that could repair his injuries at the time; instead, the best the specialists could do was supply him with a steady supply of increasingly strong pain medications. The result saw York acting drowsy in later season scenes, and even saw the actor having a seizure on set. York was rushed to the hospital and never returned to the Bewitched set. Some Darrin-less episodes were filmed until Dick Sargent took over the role at the start of season six and continuing in the part until the series ended in 1972.

10. The pilot episode was inspired by two films

These were I Married a Witch and Bell, Book and Candle.

12. The opening titles were often tweaked to incorporate advertising sponsors

Major advertising sponsors for Bewitched included Chevrolet, Quaker Oats and Oscar Mayer. These three sponsors were big enough to influence modifications in the opening theme graphics. These graphics aren’t shown in re-runs, with many of the products eventually unavailable to consumers.