Elizabeth Montgomery was born into show business. Her parents were
Broadway actress Elizabeth Allen and screen actor Robert Montgomery.
She graduated from the Spence School in New York City and attended the
Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. After three years of intensive
training, she made her TV debut in her father's 1950s playhouse series
Robert Montgomery Presents (1950)
and appeared in more than 200 live programs over the next decade. She
once remarked, "I guess you could say I'm a TV baby." Notable early
film roles included
Verdammt zum Schweigen (1955)
and Die Rache des Johnny Cool (1963). However, she is best remembered for her leading
role as the witch Samantha in the top-rated ABC sitcom
Verliebt in eine Hexe (1964). Her family--
mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead),
look-alike cousin Serena (Montgomery, wearing a dark wig) and advertising
executive husband Darrin
(first Dick York then
Dick Sargent)--tried to suppress her
supernatural skills but often turned to her tricks to solve problems.
The signal of impending witchcraft was a twitch of Samantha's nose.
After her first and only TV series ended she turned to made-for-TV
movies, many of which won critical praise:
A Case of Rape (1974),
Lizzie Bordens blutiges Geheimnis (1975), and
Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (1993).
She narrated the movie
The Panama Deception (1992),
which won an Academy Award in 1993. Reference works showed her as 62
when she died though the family said she was 57. The family did not
disclose the type of cancer which caused her death.
