Happy Birthday Elizabeth Montgomery (1933-1995)

I was not about to let this day get away without honoring Elizabeth Montgomery, one of my favorite actresses ever! She is in fact my favorite TV actress thanks to her great turn as Samantha Stevens, on the long running series Bewitched. But also because of her great dramatic work in TV movies such as The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), Act of Violence (1979), and Sins of the Mother (1991) to name just a few. Of course Elizabeth is the daughter of classic film star Robert Montgomery, but she made her own and did not get a free pass thanks to family. While starting out in series with bit parts on Wagon Train, Kraft Theater, Cimarron City, Climax, among others. And appearing in a few big Hollywood movies, her biggest being Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed (1963) with Dean Martin, it was on the series Bewitched, that she found her true mark. For eight wonderful years, she played the housewife who happens to be a witch Samantha Stevens, who was also getting into troublesome situations. Her eccentric family including mom Endora (Agnes Moorehead) would always drop by unannounced to cause trouble. It's on this show that Elizabeth became a true star. So on this day I wish her a very Happy Birthday! Oh and one more impressive thing about Elizabeth...who could twinkle their nose like she could so well. I know I can't.

In the first classic characters match play...Samantha wins easily over Jeannie

Samantha of Bewitched prevailed over Jeannie of I Dream Of Jeannie in the first classic characters match play 19-5. I love both characters and series but my favorite of the two is definitely Samantha. Thanks to everyone who voted and I will have a new match up soon.

Samantha working her magic

A new kind of match play....

Hello everyone! It's me Monty. I'm back with a new match play for this week. As I had mentioned earlier, what with the Favorite Classic Actress tournament coming up in March, I would being doing an alternative type of match play for the next two months. Instead of actors and actresses competing, for the time being it will be characters vs characters. Like in classic and beloved characters from TV and film. Some of you might know that I have an album of memorable characters on facebook. And that from time to time I post about said characters on my good friend Irene's wonderful blog, And Then They Start To Sparkle. So for the next 7 or 8 weeks, I will be presenting matchups between some of the greatest characters in film and TV. I will keep the film characters separate from TV characters. So let's get started with our first match shall we.

SAMANTHA

Character Name: Samantha Stevens (Bewitched)
Portrayed by Elizabeth Montgomery
Years: 1964-1972 (254 episodes)
Family: Darrin (husband), Tabitha (daughter), Endora (mother), Serena (sister)
Maurice (father), Clara (aunt), Arthur (uncle)
Occupation: housewife, witch
Special abilities: As a witch, Samantha could cast spells, fly, teleport, move objects with her
mind, communicate with animals, control the weather, time travel.
Trademarks: to cast her spells, Samantha usually twitches her nose. Known to say welllllllllll!
quite a bit.

CLASSIC CHARACTERS MATCH PLAY

JEANNIE

Character Name: Jeannie
Portrayed by: Barbara Eden
Years: 1965-1970 (139 episodes)
Family: Jeannie 2 (sister)
Occupation: genie, trouble-maker
Special abilities: Can teleport, can move objects by thought, freeze time, can shrink herself and
others, control animals
Trademarks: to perform her abilities, folds her arms and blinks her eyes. As a servant genie, she always calls the one who possesses her genie bottle..master.

So a battle between Samantha, a witch against Jeannie, a genie. Should be fun. The match begins immediately and runs through Sunday 3 pm EST. Good luck to both women.

Play nice ladies...

HOLIDAY CHEER - Elizabeth Montgomery

Elizabeth thinking.."Yeah..I'm not gonna fit down there!"

THE FALL SERIES: Elizabeth Montgomery

The enchanting Elizabeth Montgomery

The Greatest TV Comedies - Bewitched (1964-1971)

Yes, Bewitched is one of my favorite shows of all time. I remember when TBS would air it alongside I Dream Of Jeannie, and while I also like Jeannie, I thought Bewitched was better. Mainly because of the terrific performance of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha. Here is the story: Advertising executive Darrin Stephens (played by two different actors-Dick York and Dick Sargent: York was the better of the two) marries Samantha, a witch and they settle down in Westport, Connecticut at 1164 Morning Glory Circle. Samantha promised Darrin she would give up using magic to live the quiet life with him but that was easier said than done. Especially when Sam's mother Endora (played wonderfully by the great Agnes Moorehead) would pop in unannounced to stir things up. Endora and Darrin did not get along at all. She would constantly mispronounce his name and call him Durwood or Darwin. She would frequently turn Darrin into different kinds of animals or send to far away places. Of course Sam would have to do her best to bring these two together and it was never easy, but it provided plenty of laughs. Sam also had to deal with her nosy neighbor Mrs. Kravitz, who would always see Sam perform some magical trick and couldn't convince her husband of what she saw. Sam's mother wasn't the only relative to drop by. There was her dad, Maurice (played by Maurice Evans) who was debonair and doted on his daughter. But he too, despised Darrin. Sam had an uncle named Arthur (played to the hilt by Paul Lynde). Whenever Arthur showed up, it was like comedy night, as he let loose with a barrage of one liners and jokes. Next was Aunt Esmeralda (played by Alice Ghostley) who was very accident prone. Then there was Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne) who had trouble remembering certain spells. Sam even had a doctor at her beck and call named Dr. Bombay (Bernard Fox). Every fan should know the procedure for calling Dr. Bombay. Sam would recite his name several times like this: Calling Dr. Bombay..Calling Dr. Bombay. And he would magically appear right that second. And finally Sam had her wild sister Serena (Montgomery played both roles to great effect)who would constantly try to get Darrin into all kinds of trouble. That is an impressive cast list right there for supporting characters. And lets not forget Darrin's boss Larry Tate (David White) who was often confused at the antics going on at the Stephen's household. The series would eventually introduce a child into the mix as Sam and Darrin had a daughter named Tabitha (who also had magical powers).

Bewitched was a different type of sitcom during the 60's mainly because of the supernatural aspect of, but it was still one of the funniest ones ever to grace the small screen. Elizabeth Montgomery is truly excellent in her role as Samantha. She imbued Sam with smarts, good looks, and self reliance. She was nominated for an Emmy for five consecutive years for her role and don't ask me why or how she never won at least once. Major oversight on the Emmy's behalf. But anyway, Bewitched is a classic comedy series that ran for 8 years and produced a magical 254 episodes. It still airs today on cable and I watch it every now and then. And for the record I Dream Of Jeannie is a classic in it's own right too and I'm not knocking it. I will probably write a blog about it too. But there is something about Bewitched and Elizabeth Montgomery that had me at the very beginning. Her little quirks and sayings made her so adorable. Like before she performed any magic she would have to twinkle her nose or when she would get into trouble, she would draw out the word weeeellllllllllllll! Good stuff.



Check out this video clip of Samantha going through some highs and lows in emotions...

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Montgomery (1933 - 1995)

Yesterday was Elizabeth Montgomery's birthday and somehow I missed it. Thanks to Winona over at Breakfast at Shabby Chic Diva's for doing a post about her yesterday or I wouldn't be doing one now for Elizabeth. I love Elizabeth Montgomery. She was awesome and very talented. The daughter of actor Robert Montgomery and best remembered as the lovable witch Samantha from the hit 60's TV series Bewitched. Let's all wish Elizabeth a Happy Birthday!

Here's To A Bewitching Halloween For Everyone...

Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha and Agnes Moorehead as her mother Endora, from the classic TV series Bewitched.