By Steve Rothaus,Knight Ridder Newspapers

With the twitch of her nose (actually her upper lip), Elizabeth Montgomery made it seem so easy, like magic.

“She was charming. She had comedy. She had drama, as well. She was just terribly likable,” said retired television director William Asher, who shepherded Lucille Ball in “I Love Lucy” and Montgomery – then his wife – in “Bewitched.”

“Bewitched,” about a sorceress named Samantha married to a mortal who disdains witchcraft, led ABC’s prime-time lineup after its debut in 1964. It became the network’s most successful series to date, ranking No. 2 in the ratings that season behind NBC’s “Bonanza.”

The magic of “Bewitched” is about to be tested: Sony Pictures is releasing the first season of the TV show on DVD, and an updated big-screen version starring Nicole Kidman in the role originated by the iconic Montgomery, who died 10 years ago at 62 of colon cancer.

“Bewitched” “has lasting communication in a time of social turbulence,” said Ron Simon, television curator at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. “It has elements that harken back to “I Love Lucy.’ But unlike Lucy, who wanted to break into show business, you have Samantha who has magical powers that can change the suburban landscape.”

Until “Bewitched,” Montgomery was best known as the daughter of MGM movie star Robert Montgomery. She frequently acted on his 1950s television anthology series, “Robert Montgomery Presents.”

After a seven-year marriage to movie star Gig Young ended in 1963, Montgomery met and quickly wed Asher, a behind-the-scenes member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack.

“They eloped. I don’t even have wedding pictures of them,” said their oldest son, Billy Asher, 40, a Los Angeles guitar builder.

William Asher, now 84 and living near Palm Springs, Calif., says that when he and Montgomery married, she was ready to give up her career.

“She wanted not to act anymore,” William Asher said. “She was pregnant with Billy and didn’t want to do it anymore. She was too good to quit. I suggested we do a television show together.”

He wrote a script for Montgomery about “the richest girl in the world” who falls in love with an ordinary guy. Asher gave the script to Columbia Pictures execs who said it reminded them of another property being considered for Broadway star Tammy Grimes.

“It was the script of “Bewitched,”‘ William Asher said. “I liked that better and so did Liz, so we did that.”

Asher helped assemble one of TV’s most memorable ensembles, including “Citizen Kane” co-star Agnes Moorehead as Samantha’s mother, Endora, and comedian Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur.

Dick York was cast as Samantha’s mortal husband, Darrin Stephens. York, who died in 1992, stayed with the show for five years, until illness forced him to quit. “Bewitched” was still a hit, though, and Asher simply recast the part.

“I decided to go ahead and do it without any explanation – nothing to the fans,” Asher said. When season six began, actor Dick Sargent was Darrin.

As the Asher family grew, so did the Stephens family.

When Montgomery became pregnant with son Robert in 1965, Samantha became pregnant with daughter Tabitha. Four years later, Montgomery gave birth to daughter Rebecca and Samantha had son Adam.

“Bewitched” was so popular it spawned a 1965 copycat comedy, NBC’s “I Dream of Jeannie.”

“Elizabeth was furious,” William Asher said. “She didn’t like it at all. It didn’t bother me. It was a good show. But we went eight years, they went five.”

After “Bewitched” ended in 1972, Montgomery and Asher divorced amicably. She later married actor Robert Foxworth, who in the 1980s starred on TV’s “Falcon Crest.”

Montgomery abandoned comedy in favor of dramatic movies of the week. Much of her later work was tied to political activism, Billy Asher said.

For her post-“Bewitched” TV comeback in 1974, Montgomery chose to star as a rape victim.

“She was very aware of what was going on around her in the world,” Billy Asher said. “‘A Case of Rape’ was a bit of material to open people’s eyes of what was going on in the courtrooms and what women went through.”

Montgomery also became a champion of gay rights. “A lot of her friends, people in the industry were gay. Paul Lynde,” her son said.

Soon after Dick Sargent publicly came out of the closet, the two former “Bewitched” stars appeared as grand marshals of the 1992 Los Angeles gay pride parade. Sargent died two years later of prostate cancer.

In 1994, Montgomery assumed the role of Miami Herald crime reporter Edna Buchanan for the TV-movie “The Corpse Had a Familiar Face.” A year later, she filmed a sequel, “Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan.”

During filming, Montgomery suddenly became ill. Within weeks, she was dead.

William Asher, who has remarried twice since their divorce, still gets choked up when talking about Montgomery. He planned to attend this week’s world premiere of the movie “Bewitched,” but said he had nothing to do with making it or the DVD series release.

“I made a very bad deal,” said Asher, who also wrote and produced TV’s “Bewitched.” “We have nothing to do financially with the show. I should have made a different deal and I didn’t.”

(c) 2005, The Miami Herald.

Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.herald.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

NEWSCOM PHOTOS can be viewed at http://www.newscom.com/nc/visuals.html (Username: fpnews and Password: viewnc05 allow editors to view photos.) To purchase photos or to get your own NewsCom username and password, U.S. and Canadian newspapers, please call Tribune Media (800) 637-4082 or (312) 222-2448 or email to tmssalestribune.com. Others contact NewsCom at (202) 383-6070 or email supportnewscom.com. Use search terms: “actress Elizabeth Montgomery”

Copy the Story Link