Twitch Upon a Star

by Herbie J. Pilato

  Lizzie’s presence as Samantha was requested in both editions of the Tabitha series, but she declined, even in a guest-star capacity. The sequel faced many casting challenges.

  On the later years of Bewitched, the child Tabitha was played by twins Erin and Diane Murphy until the show ended in 1972, when the character was only eight years old. By the time the Tabitha series debuted, she would have only been thirteen years old. A hallmark of the original series was that, despite its fantasy premise, whatever transpired within its fabricated world made sense. There was always “logic within the illogic.”

  As Elizabeth explained in 1989:

  Ease is facilitated only by construction. If it’s not constructed well, you find yourself walking into blank walls, and tripping and falling down. And there’s just no way to rescue anything unless something’s been constructed [well]. And that’s why with ease we could flip from one thing back to another [mortal to the witch world]. That was one of the great advantages of our kind of format. It opened itself up into many ideas, and we could really pretty much go in any direction, as long as we kept to the ground rules.

  Needless to say, such ground rules were feet of clay on the Tabitha series, which didn’t have a logical-within-the-illogical leg to stand on. Meanwhile, too, making the Tabitha character twenty-something in 1977 also went against the basic premise idea that witches are immortal and tend not to age swiftly.

  As Elizabeth continued to explain in 1989, such confusing plot developments and other aspects of Tabitha were troubling for her as well as fans of the original series:

  First of all, I didn’t see the show, but I heard that she didn’t twitch as well as I did. I kept getting mail from people were who outraged, saying, “Where is Erin Murphy? What in the world (is going on)?! This woman is 25 … this doesn’t make any sense.” I was getting mail from people like it was my fault, although also saying, “Thank God you didn’t have anything to do with this.” I wrote every single person who sent me letters like that. They felt betrayed. I thought, “How can you be betrayed by a TV show?” But they were irate. I got almost as much mail about that as I get about anything else. It was very funny … ranged from kids who hated it to grownups who said, “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Like it was all my fault. I’m saying (to myself), “Why are they blaming me for this? I had absolutely zero to do with this.” People were getting pissed off at me. I remember walking into stores and having people say to me, “Did you know they were going to do this? How could you have allowed this?” All I said [was] “I didn’t want anything to do with this.” People were getting downright nasty to me … People were just annoyed.

  Ten years after the Tabitha series failed, Bill Asher began to develop yet another Bewitched off-shoot, this one called Bewitched Again, about an entirely new witch and mortal love affair. Whereas Darrin on Bewitched prohibited Samantha’s use of her special powers, the mortal on the new show would do nothing of the sort. Instead, he encouraged his supernatural love to practice her craft.

  It was a fresh take on the original series and, to help jumpstart the program, Bill had convinced Elizabeth to make a cameo in the pilot. She was to reprise her role as Samantha, introduce the new witch/mortal couple, and then pop off forever. Her consent to become involved with Bewitched Again was monumental and enticing, and Asher placed a great deal of energy into the project. Unfortunately, the intended new series, which was to be produced in the U.K., lost its financing and the idea was shelved.

  To help ease the stress that resulted from Tabitha, her divorce from Bill Asher, and the general anxiety that accompanies the life of a major television star, Lizzie made frequent appearances on game shows like The Hollywood Squares hosted by Peter Marshall and Password hosted by Allen Ludden. According to what Bewitched producer/director Richard Michaels said in 1988, “She loved that stuff!”

  For many of the Password spots, which were videotaped live, she played opposite her good friend Carol Burnett whom she met on the set of 1963’s Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed. In Burnett’s wonderful book, This Time Together (Crown, 2010), the super-talented redhead recalled one particular Password game with Lizzie in the section “Viewer Discretion Advised.” It had to do with Burnett’s team-partner on the show, whom she referred to in the book as Louis, and his somewhat improper, although innocent, use of the word “twat.”

  Burnett delicately defined the word as an unflattering term that referenced a particular body part of the female anatomy. In either case, she, Lizzie, and Password host Allen Ludden (who was married to Betty White, then of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, later of The Golden Girls, and today of Hot in Cleveland) were in hysterics by the end of the segment.

  In 1989, Lizzie remarked just how much she enjoyed her frequent Password game play-on-words with Burnett: “Oh, we were terrific, weren’t we? In print I know that sounds terrible, but we were! Carol is just a super wonderful lady, and I really appreciated the fact that we did become friends.”

  However, post-Password, their bond somewhat loosened. Lizzie explained:

  It’s a funny thing, because so many friendships are like that in this town and anywhere. You work together so closely and then you hardly ever see that person again. Well, it’s true. Carol and I don’t see each other very often— but when we do, it’s always nice. And I think instinctively she knows that if she picked up the phone and called me at 3:00 in the morning and said, “Can you be here?” I think she knows that I would be there for her, which is odd, as I say, when you don’t see somebody that often. But I wouldn’t respond with [as if she were annoyed], “Oh, Carol, what is it?!” I’d say, “Ok, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” There’s certain people you feel that way about.

  Despite her close friendship with Carol, and extensive comedy experience, Lizzie continuously rejected invitations to guest-star on The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, 1967–1978). As she went on to say:

  It’s one of the many regrets I have, though it’s not really a regret because even today I wouldn’t do it. I’m just too terrified of that kind of stuff. She asked me to do it, and I said, “I just can’t.” I would have been so panic-stricken. It’s not as though I haven’t done stuff like that. It’s not like, “No—I don’t like spinach.” “But have you tried it?” “No, but I don’t like it anyway.” It’s that I know how terrified I get on the live stage. And it’s just not worth it to me.

  While promoting her singing performance as Serena in the Bewitched episode, “Serena Stops the Show,” Lizzie addressed her TV variety show conundrum with The Los Angeles Herald Examiner for the article, “Liz Montgomery Makes Night Club Debut, but on TV,” published February 9, 1970. “I’ve always thought of some big Miami Beach or Vegas hotel for my singing engagement,” she mused. “I’d have settled for Joe’s Bistro in Toluca Lake.”

  At the time, she had been asked to create a nightclub act and was offered a TV special of her own in which she was to sing and dance, but ultimately nothing came of the idea. “To me,” she said, “a nightclub appearance or a special would involve more rehearsal time than I can afford. And I wouldn’t want to go out and fall flat on my face because I hadn’t prepared sufficiently.”

  Instead, she decided to utilize her harmonic vocal chords in a more controlled atmosphere … on the set of Bewitched, in character as Serena, singing “Blow You a Kiss in the Wind,” by 1960s pop stars Boyce and Hart (who were under contract to Columbia and made a guest appearance in the episode). Her performance was a one-shot segment in a half-hour sitcom as opposed to the hour-long continuous song-and-dance routine that would be required in a variety show format.

  “Who could resist that? It was like having your cake, et cetera, et cetera,” she joked about the Serena segment that ultimately became a choreographed production number with psychedelic lighting which transformed Samantha and Darrin’s living room into a nightclub.

  It all proved so puzzling, if consistent with her unpredictable spirit. She’d sing as Serena on short Bewitched segm
ents, but was reticent about appearing on the Burnett show; and come March 19, 1966, things became more confusing.

  That’s when she hosted The Hollywood Palace, which featured frequent Bewitched guest-star Paul Lynde with whom she got along famously. She enjoyed Carol’s company, too, but Lynde’s presence on Palace may have proved more comfortable because: 1) He was hand-picked from Lizzie’s Bewitched stable, and 2) Palace aired on ABC, Samantha’s home network, whereas Burnett aired on rival CBS. Also, her Palace spotlight as host allowed for more creative control as opposed to only being a guest on Burnett.

  After her early appearances with Carol on Password, Lizzie became less enthusiastic about the game after it changed formats. The original show debuted on CBS with host Allen Ludden in 1961 and ran until 1967. ABC brought it back with Ludden from 1971 to 1975, during which it briefly became the celebrity-drenched Password All-Stars. NBC did an update in 1979 with a new edition called Password Plus, which also ran with Ludden though only until 1981 when failing health (stomach cancer) forced him to relinquish his hosting duties. NBC tried once more in 1984 with Super Password, now hosted by Bert Convy, and this new format ran until 1989.

  Lizzie’s final Password appearance was with actor Wesley Eure (Land of the Lost, NBC/CBS, 1974–1977) within the Plus format, hosted by Ludden, airing August 3, 1979. But throughout each of the editions, as bonus rounds were added along with elaborate sets, the once simple and popular word game became overly puzzling or, as she said in 1989, “It all just got kind of convoluted. It was so pure the other way, when it was what it was.”

  During one of those pure Password games, specifically, the week of November 19–23, 1973, she appeared with Robert Foxworth, whom she met and fell in love with on the set of the ABC TV-movie Mrs. Sundance (which aired in 1974 but filmed in September 1973). Although they later played Password within the 1979 Plus format, it was their 1973 session that proved most advantageous. “When Bob and I did the show that year,” she recalled in 1989, “we raised $11,000 for the L.A. Free Clinic, and no one would play with us anymore because we just got so good at it. I guess when you’re together a lot you kind of think on the same level.”

  She and Foxworth were together a great deal. He contributed to her comfort zone when they appeared at charity events or on talk shows like John Tesh’s One on One. It was to Tesh she explained her attraction to Foxworth (who most recently provided the voice of Ratchet in the Transformer feature films): “He’s got one of the most wonderfully inquisitive minds … of anybody I’ve ever met. And he’s compassionate. He cares about things. He also cares a great deal about his career. He’s got a wonderful sense of humor.”

  Before and after his best known role as Chase Gioberti on Falcon Crest (CBS, 1981–1990), Robert Foxworth had numerous screen and stage performances, including his television debut in the 1969 CBS Playhouse drama, Sad-bird. After starring in The Storefront Lawyers (aka Men at Law), a 1970–1971 series for CBS, he appeared opposite Faye Dunaway in “Hogan’s Goat” (NET Playhouse, 1971).

  Besides his appearances with Lizzie, his TV films included but were not limited to: The Devil’s Daughter (ABC, 1973); The FBI versus Alvin Karpis (CBS, 1974); Act of Love (CBS, 1980); Peter and Paul (CBS, 1981); The Memory of Eva Ryker (CBS, 1980); and The Questor Tapes (NBC, 1974). The latter project, also known as just Questor, was written by Star Trek legend and Lizzie-favorite Gene Roddenberry.

  Intended as NBC’s answer to ABC’s super popular superhero series The Six Million Dollar Man (1974–1979), Questor was a slightly more imaginative tale than Lee Major’s earthbound bionic cyborg Col. Steve Austin. Fox-worth’s Questor was an all-robotic philosophical character in search of his alien creator. He was The Fugitive meets Kung Fu on the way to Brent Spiner’s Data from Roddenbery’s Star Trek: The Next Generation (syndicated, 1987–1994). As it turned out, Bob later appeared in more shows from the Roddenberry/Trek sector, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1996 and Star Trek: Enterprise in 2004. In fact, Foxworth, like Lizzie, has become a legend in the sci-fi/fantasy world with additional guest-star spots on shows like: The Sixth Sense (ABC, 1972); “Frankenstein” (ABC’s Wide World Mystery, 1973); Tales of the Unexpected (1977); The Outer Limits (syndicated, 1996); Stargate: SG-1 (syndicated, 2003); and feature films such as Beyond the Stars (1989).

  Besides lending his voice to Ratchet in all three Transformer movies (2007, 2009, 2011), he provided various vocal talents to animated TV shows like Justice League, as Professor Neil Hamilton (Cartoon Network, 2004–2005) and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, playing Race Bannon (Cartoon Network, 1996–1997). His countless live guest-star appearances date back to small screen classics like Kung Fu (ABC, 1974), The Mod Squad (ABC, 1971), Mannix (CBS, 1971), Law & Order: SVU (NBC, 2000–2005), and The West Wing (NBC, 2005), the latter in which he portrayed Senator George Montgomery (which was a nod to Lizzie’s family name, as well as to the actor the public periodically misidentified as her father, George Montgomery, who was once married to Dinah Shore). Other of his theatrical film credits include Airport ‘77 (1977), Damien: Omen II (1978), Prophecy (1979), and The Black Marble (1980), and more.

  His stage performances include the role of John Proctor in The Crucible at Lincoln Center, for which he won a Theatre World Award; Off-Broadway productions of Terra Nova, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Mary Stuart in Los Angeles, and Long Day’s Journey into Night at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre. In three seasons at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., he appeared in twenty productions ranging from The Skin of Our Teeth to Room Service. He made his name in Henry V following work at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut.

  Unlike the older Gig Young and Bill Asher, and her first husband Fred Cammann (who was only four years her senior), Foxworth was the only younger man she married. Her penchant for all things Trek and sci-fi/fantasy may have contributed to her initial attraction to Foxworth, but the actor’s diverse talents and varied charms assuredly contributed to his appeal.

  In 1992, he expressed his attraction to Lizzie on One on One with John Tesh, and noted her ability to see the funny side of life as one of her most appealing traits (as did she of him on the same show): “I would describe her as perhaps the most intelligent woman I’ve ever met. And one of the things that makes that bearable is that she has a fabulous sense of humor, besides the fact that she’s beautiful and sexy.”

  Lizzie and Bob Foxworth performed together live on stage in a short-lived production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Bell Theatre, Los Angeles, 1978. In the fall of 1989, they were together again on stage, in the play Love Letters at the Edison Theatre in Broadway. Only a few months before, Bewitched actor David White visited with Lizzie at her home in Beverly Hills, and suggested that she and Foxworth return to the stage.

  “Why don’t you and Bob do a play? You’ve done stage work before. Don’t you like it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Here I am messing in her business.”

  “Oh, you could mess in my business. I don’t mind.”

  “Well, then do one! I think that would be great!”

  At which point, Lizzie explained how London’s historic Globe Theatre had invited her and Foxworth to perform in Edward Albee’s classic play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In 1966, writer Ernest Lehman had adapted this monumentally depressing play, about a bitter, middle-aged couple who use alcohol as a pawn in and to fuel their already angry relationship, into a feature film directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. But Lizzie thought that tackling such a play with Fox-worth would have been “totally crazy”:

  I’m not sure that two people who really care about each other should do that play. I think it would be better to rehearse it, do it, go home, and then get really kind of attracted to the person that you’re working with, so that you’re on an entirely different level than to having to live and rehearse with the person doing that play. And when the Burtons did the movie … that’s different because they didn’t have to
all be on the same set at the same time.

  Needless to say, they turned down Globe’s invitation to do Woolf, but years before they were on the same set at the same time in Mrs. Sundance, the 1974 TV-movie in which she played Etta Place opposite his Jack Maddox. They met and fell in love while working on this film which ultimately served as a sequel to the 1969 big screen flick, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (in which Katharine Ross portrayed Etta).

  A review of the film appears in the book, The Great Western Pictures (Scarecrow Press, 1976) by James Robert Parrish and Michael R. Pitts:

  It was a catchy gimmick to produce a semi-sequel to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), with Elizabeth Montgomery, the queen of the telefeatures, as the title figure. The intriguing premise had Etta Place (aka Mrs. Sundance) in a ticklish situation when she learns that the Sundance Kid did not die with Butch Cassidy but is waiting for her at their old hideout. What makes the set-up so dangerous is that bounty hunters are aware of the planned reunion of the famed outlaw and the schoolteacher of a small Colorado town. Elizabeth Montgomery, very much Robert’s daughter, offered a strong performance in this flashy role, giving an enriched characterization in a genre far removed from her days as the star of the teleseries Bewitched.

  Once more, Lizzie’s on-screen performance mirrored her off-stage life, and this time, Foxworth successfully played into the scenario. Although his Maddox character was a cagey, weak-spined character who first viewed Etta as a way to get out of jail free, he was big-hearted and fell prey to her charms, just as had Foxworth with Lizzie. Etta’s love may have made Jack heroic and strong, but they were always a team, partners for humanity, again, much like Lizzie and Foxworth would be for various charitable causes.