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Elizabeth Montgomery

Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. She is best remembered for her famous roles as Samantha Stephens in Bewitched, as Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and as Lizzie Borden in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.

Biography

[edit] Youth
Born in Los Angeles, California, Elizabeth Montgomery was the child of actor Robert Montgomery and his wife, Broadway actress Elizabeth Bryan Allen. She had an older sister, Martha Bryan Montgomery, who died before she was born, and a brother, Robert Montgomery, Jr., who was born in 1936. She attended The Spence School.

[edit] Early career
Montgomery made her television debut in her father's series Robert Montgomery Presents, and her film debut in 1955 in The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell.

Her early career consisted of starring vehicles and appearances in live television dramas and series, such as Studio One, Kraft Television Theater, The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1954 she lost out on co-starring with Marlon Brando in the seminal film On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan in his autobiography says that although Montgomery tested well in the role, she had an air of "finishing school" that troubled him.[citation needed]

She was also featured in a role as a socialite with Henry Silva and Sammy Davis, Jr in the offbeat 1963 gangster film Johnny Cool and, the same year, with Dean Martin and Carol Burnett in the motion picture comedy Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed?, directed by Daniel Mann. Nevertheless, 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 movie Marnie, but Montgomery was unavailable owing to her commitment to a new television show: Bewitched.

[edit] Bewitched
Montgomery played the central role of Samantha Stephens with Dick York (and later with Dick Sargent), in the ABC situation comedy Bewitched. The show became a rating success (it was, at the time, the highest rated series ever for the network). It enjoyed an eight-year run from 1964 to 1972 and remains popular through syndication and DVD releases. She also provided the voice of Samantha for an episode of The Flintstones.

Montgomery received five Emmy Award and four Golden Globe nominations for her role. At its creative peak, Bewitched was considered one of the most sophisticated sitcoms on the air and cleverly explored contemporary themes and social issues within a fantasy context.

The series and Montgomery's portrayal of Samantha were paid homage in the 2005 movie, Bewitched, starring Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman.

[edit] After Bewitched
Although Montgomery enjoyed enormous success with the show, she felt typecast and pigeonholed when she sought other roles after the show's run ended. Montgomery refused to do Samantha's famous nose twitch for fans after Bewitched went off the air, and was reluctant to discuss the show.

Montgomery returned to Samantha-like twitching of her nose and on-screen magic in a series of Japanese television commercials (1980-83) for "Mother" chocolate biscuits and cookies by confectionery conglomerate Lotte Corp. These Japanese commercials provided a lucrative salary for Montgomery while remaining out of sight from non-Japanese fans and Hollywood industry. The commercials were posted on YouTube in 2007.

In the United States, Montgomery spent much of her later career pursuing dramatic roles that took her as far away from the good-natured Samantha as possible. Among her later roles:

She received Emmy Award nominations for playing a rape victim in A Case of Rape (1974), for her portrayal of Lizzie Borden in William Bast's The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), and for her role as a strong woman facing hardship in 1820s Ohio in the mini-series The Awakening Land (1978).
In 1977, Montgomery turned heads when she played a police detective having an interracial affair with her partner, played by OJ Simpson in A Killing Affair.
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.
One of her final roles was in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series entitled "Showdown," in which she played a barmaid.
She also had a long run as a guest performer on the game show Password, and host Allen Ludden referred to her as the best Password player ever on the show.
Her final television movies were the highly-rated Edna Buchanan detective series.
Montgomery was one of the first actresses to broaden their careers from series work with television movies, and she set the precedent for other TV series actresses, such as Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Melissa Gilbert, Carol Burnett, and Barbara Eden, to follow.

She had been considered for possibly starring in the 1975 thriller based on the novel by Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives and, in 1994, Premiere magazine listed her as one of the stars considered to play glamorous, overbearing "Pearl Slaghoople" (Wilma's Mother) in the live-action film of The Flintstones.

[edit] Personal life
Montgomery was first married to New York socialite Frederick Gallatin Cammann in 1954; the marriage lasted barely a year. She was married to actor Gig Young from 1956 to 1963, and then to Bewitched producer William Asher from 1963 to 1973, with whom she had three children: William Asher (July 24, 1964), Robert Asher (October 5, 1965) and Rebecca Asher (June 17, 1969). The latter two pregnancies were incorporated into Bewitched as Samantha's pregnancies with Tabitha and Adam Stephens. After cohabiting for nearly twenty years, she entered her fourth and final marriage, to actor Robert Foxworth, in 1993. They remained married until her death.[1]

[edit] Political activism
In June 1992, Montgomery and her former Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent, who had remained a good friend, were Grand Marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. Montgomery had strongly liberal political views, being an outspoken champion of women's rights and gay rights throughout her life. She narrated a series of political documentaries in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) and the Academy Award winning The Panama Deception (1992).

[edit] Illness and death
Montgomery was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the spring of 1995. She had ignored the symptoms during the filming of "Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan" but acted too late. Unwilling to die in a hospital, and with no hope of recovery, she elected to return to her Beverly Hills home that she shared with Foxworth. She died there, in the company of her children and husband, on May 18, 1995, at age 62, only eight weeks after her diagnosis.

A memorial service was held on June 18, 1995, at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Herbie Hancock provided the music, and Dominick Dunne spoke about their early days as friends in New York. Other speakers included Robert Foxworth, who read out sympathy cards from fans, her nurse, her brother, daughter and stepson.

[edit] Posthumous
On April 19, 1998, an event auction/sale of her clothing was held by her family to benefit AIDS Healthcare Foundation of Los Angeles.
In June 2005, a statue of Montgomery as Samantha Stephens was erected in Salem, Massachusetts. [1]
A star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame was presented in honor of Montgomery's work in television on January 4, 2008. The location of star is 6533 Hollywood Blvd. In conjunction with the event, The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) in Los Angeles honored Montgomery with a film festival and marathon of TV episodes. The Paley Center also featured an exhibition of artifacts related to Montgomery's life and career.[citation needed]

[edit] Award nominations

[edit] Emmy Awards
Unsuccessful nominations were :

1961 - Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - The Untouchables
1966 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Bewitched
1967 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Bewitched
1968 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Bewitched
1969 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Bewitched
1970 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - Bewitched
1974 - Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series - A Case of Rape
1975 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1978 - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series - The Awakening Land

[edit] Golden Globe Awards
Unsuccessful nominations were :

1965 - Best TV Star (Female) - Bewitched
1967 - Best TV Star (Female) - Bewitched
1969 - Best TV Star (Female) - Bewitched
1971 - Best Actress, Comedy/Musical - Bewitched

[edit] Selected filmography
Robert Montgomery Presents in 22 episodes from 1951-1956.
Patterns (1955)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
Studio One appearances from 1955 - 1958
Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Karen from "A Man with a Problem" (1958)
The Untouchables as Rusty Heller (for which she received an Emmy Award nomination) (1960)
"Two" (an episode of The Twilight Zone) (1961), alongside Charles Bronson.
Johnny Cool (1963)
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
The Flintstones as animated Samantha Stephens (1966)
The Victim (1972) (TV)
Mrs. Sundance (1973) (TV) as Etta Place
A Case of Rape (1974) (TV) (Emmy Award nomination)
The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) (TV)(Emmy Award nomination) as Lizzie Borden
Dark Victory (1976) (TV) as Katherine Merrill
A Killing Affair (1977) (TV) as Vikki Eaton
The Awakening Land (1978) (TV)(Emmy Award nomination)
Act of Violence (1979) (TV) as Catherine McSweeney
Jennifer: A Woman's Story (1979) as Jennifer Prince
Belle Starr (1980) (TV) as Belle Starr
When the Circus Came to Town (1981) (TV) as Mary Flynn
The Rules of Marriage (1982) as Joan Hagen
Missing Pieces (1983) as Sara Scott
Second Sight: A Love Story (1984) as Alaxandra McKay
Amos (1985) as Daisy Daws
Between the Darkness and the Dawn (1986) (TV) as Abigail Foster
Face to Face (1990) as Dr. Diana Firestone
Sins of the Mother (1991) as Ruth Coe
With Murder in Mind (1992) as Gayle Wolfer
The Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (1993) (TV) as Blanche Taylor Moore
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face (1994) (TV) as Edna Buchanan
Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan (1995) (TV) as Edna Buchanan

[edit] Narration
The Panama Deception (1992)
Coverup: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (1988) (voice)
Craven Street: Ben Franklin in London, a five-part radio drama (1993) (narrator)
Beauty's Punishment (1994) (narrator)
Beauty's Release (1994) (narrator)
Two audio books in which Montgomery narrates the work of Anne Rice (writing as A.N. Roquelaure) are available as of 2005.

[edit] References
^ R. E. Lee. Elizabeth Montgomery Biography. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
Hollywood Star for Elizabeth Montgomery- Yahoo News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/ap_en_tv/people_montgomery_1

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