Real-Life Couples of ‘Bewitched’: Which Cast Members Found Magic in Marriage?
Elizabeth Montgomery struggled in marriage, Dick York did not, but there's so much more to know
The basic premise of the classic TV series Bewitched is all about love: mortal advertising executive Darrin Stephens (Dick York) falls head-over-heels for the beautiful Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery), who turns out to be an actual witch. Yet despite them being so incredibly different, they put all of that aside and get married anyway. And, as in the case of many sitcom marriages, Darrin has to deal with an interfering mother-in-law (Agnes Moorehead‘s Endora) and various relatives from his wife’s side, the key difference being the accompanying chaos given that they are all magical witches and warlocks.
Viewers were swept up in their story from 1964 until 1972, falling in love with those characters as well as David White as Darrin’s boss, Larry Tate; little Erin Murphy as the happy couple’s daughter, Tabitha, who takes after her mother in the magic department; and Dick Sargent, who would step in as Darrin for the show’s final three seasons. Needless to say, the real-life Bewitched cast relationships were considerably more complex than their scripted on-screen alter egos. What follows is a look at the 13 marriages of the six actors, one of them walking down the aisle no less than four times.
Elizabeth Montgomery’s tumultuous love life
Elizabeth Montgomery and Frederick Gallatin Cammann
Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha Stephens) married her first husband, New York socialite Frederick Gallatin Cammann, in 1954 … and divorced him the following year. It seems that Cammann was seeking a stay-at-home wife while Montgomery was focused on her career. In a 1955 interview with the New York Daily News, Cammann commented, “She thought her career demanded that she head back to Hollywood and I didn’t see how I could fit in out there.”
Elizabeth Montgomery and Gig Young
Marriage number two for Elizabeth Montgomery was to actor Gig Young. The two wed in 1956 and were divorced by 1963, much of their problems centered around Young’s increasing dependency on alcohol and his reportedly being bipolar. Offers pop culture historian Geoffrey Mark, “It meant that Elizabeth was riding an emotional roller coaster being married to him. She didn’t want that.”
Sadly, Young married his fourth wife Kim Schmidt in 1978, and within a few weeks following their wedding day, shot her and killed himself. There was no motive revealed.
Elizabeth Montgomery and William Asher
William Asher was the director of the 1963 film Johnny Cool, which is where he met Elizabeth Montgomery for the first time. They fell in love and that’s about the time that he was given the original pilot script for Bewitched, which he tailored to the actress and was given the green light for production. Asher, who would serve as director/producer and sometimes writer, married Montgomery in 1963, the duo divorcing a decade later. They were the parents of three children: William Allen Asher, born in 1964; Robert Asher, born in 1965 and Rebecca Asher, born in 1969.
Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth
Following the end of Bewitched in 1972, Elizabeth Montgomery began starring in a wide variety of movies made for television. On one of them, 1973’s Mrs. Sundance, she met actor Robert Foxworth. The two fell in love and were together for 20 years before she agreed to marry him, having sworn off the idea following the divorce from Asher. While enjoying a thriving career, she had found true love, though her happiness was cut short when, on May 18, 1995, she died as a result of colon cancer. She was only 62.
Dick York’s enduring love story with Joan Alt
Dick York (who played Samantha’s husband, Darrin Stephens, from 1964 to 1969) met his wife Joan Alt while the two of them were working on the 1940s radio series The Jack Armstrong Show. They dated in high school, were married in 1951 and stayed together right until York’s death on February 20, 1992 at age 63 from emphysema. They were the parents of five children: Kim, Chris, Matthew, Mandy and Stacy.
Agnes Moorehead and John Griffith Lee
Agnes Moorehead (Endora) was married twice, the first time to actor and businessman John Griffith Lee, whom she wed in 1930. They were together until 1952, the dissolution of their union reportedly having a lot to do with Moorehead’s focus on her career. The duo served as foster parents to a child named Sean, though in later years Moorehead and he became estranged from each other.
Agnes Moorehead and Robert Gist
From 1954 to 1958, Agnes Moorehead was married to actor and director Robert Gist, who she met during the production of 1949’s The Stratton Story. In truth, the marriage didn’t even last as long as it seemed, the duo separating in 1955 and not getting divorced for another three years.
Dick Sargent and Albert Williams
Dick Sargent (who replaced Dick York as Darrin Stephens for the show’s final three seasons from 1969 to 1972), came out as gay in 1991. It was reported that Sargent had a companion he was with for 20 years until the man’s death in 1979. Later, he had a domestic partner in the form of Albert Williams, who he was with until the time of his death from prostate cancer on July 8, 1994, at age 64.
Erin Murphy and Darren Dunckel
Erin Murphy (cast as Darrin and Samantha’s daughter Tabitha Stephens when she was an infant) has been married three times. The first was to Terry Rogers, from 1984 to 1989 (they had two children), then to Eric Eden from 1993 to 1998 (they had one child) and, finally, Darren Dunckel in 1998 (with whom she has three children). Erin is 60-years-old.
David White and Lisa Figus
David White (Darrin’s boss Larry Tate) was married twice, but his life was oftentimes a tragic one. He married Broadway actress Mary Welch in 1952, but she died in childbirth in 1958, leaving David to raise their son Jonathan alone. Flash forward to 1988, and Jonathan was killed in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
White did marry again, this time to actress Lisa Figus, in 1959 and they had a daughter named Alexandra. The couple ended up getting divorced, though the circumstances surrounding it and the date are unknown. David White died on November 27, 1990, at age 74.
‘Bewitched’ Facts
- Elizabeth Montgomery’s father, Robert Montgomery, was an acclaimed actor
- The characters of Samantha and Darrin made an appearance on The Flintstones
- Alice Pearce played nosey neighbor Gladys Kravitz
- Paul Lynde was cast in the recurring role of Samantha’s prankster relative, Uncle Arthur
- The witch Samantha made magic by twitching her nose, which was something that, according to husband Bill Asher, Elizabeth Montgomery used to do
- Lisa Hartman played a grown-up Tabitha Stephens in the 1976 to 1978 Tabitha TV show
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