Key Points
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Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha on Bewitched, describes how her TV mom, Elizabeth Montgomery, was “nothing” like her character Samantha.
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Unlike the suburban housewife, Montgomery was “the furthest thing from a stay-at-home mom,” reveals Murphy.
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When her TV husband, Dick York, left the show after five seasons “she never spoke to him again.”
To millions of TV viewers, Elizabeth Montgomery was bewitching as Samantha Stephens, a suburban housewife with supernatural powers. Offscreen, she was just as magical, albeit in a very different way than her beloved character.
“She was nothing like Samantha,” revealed Erin Murphy, who played Montgomery’s TV daughter Tabitha, on The Magnificent Others With Bill Corgan. “Just like in a weird way, Lucille Ball was not I Love Lucy, even though that’s who we love and that’s who we kind of want them to be.”
Elizabeth Montgomery starred as Samantha Stephens on ‘Bewitched’ for eight seasons
Credit: Roku
Montgomery, who was married to Bewitched director William Asher, “and Lucy were businesswomen actively involved with the production of their show,” continued Murphy, now 61. “She was at a point in her life where she didn’t want to do movies. She had a family, but she wasn’t a stay-at-home mom.”
In fact, Montgomery, whose second and third pregnancies were written into the show, was “the furthest thing from a stay-at-home mom. She was on set working all day and they had a nanny,” added Murphy.
Another misconception about the actress was how “motherly” she treated her onscreen daughter when the cameras weren’t rolling.
“I also saw her side where, um, she wasn’t necessarily as soft and kind as Samantha,” Murphy admitted to Corgan. “She was a businesswoman and she was serious and definitely had that side. She was also, and I’ve said this, she had a very dirty sense of humor, and so do I. I know I got that from her.”
Erin Murphy as Tabitha on ‘Bewitched’
Credit: Roku
Bewitched ended in 1972 after its eighth season, despite being picked up by ABC for a ninth, because Montgomery and Asher separated during the hiatus.
She continued to send Christmas cards after the show went off the air, but “that was it” as far as continuing a close relationship with her TV family.
“She did a job and left the job and that was it,” said Murphy. “She never talked to Dick York after he left the set” after five seasons due to debilitating back pain. “There’s some lovely stories out there on social media about how she showed up when he was dying — no, he left the show and she never spoke to him again.”
Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York on ‘Bewitched’
Credit: Roku
Murphy was quite the opposite. On the set, she had befriended Montgomery’s children and maintained the relationships long after the show ended. And any time she visited the family home, she was surprised to see “there were no pictures of Bewitched,” she revealed to Corgan.
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“There would be, you know, photos from other jobs, but no Bewitched photos. I know she liked the show,” Murphy said of Montgomery, who died in 1995. “She was actively involved… but it was a job and she moved on.”
Check out Erin Murphy’s full interview on The Magnificent Others With Billy Corgan below.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly