Concept: Mortal advertising executive marries gorgeous witch; hilarity ensues! Total Episodes: 254
Original Air Dates: Fall 1964-Summer 1972
Original Network: ABC
Geek Factor: 7
Characters:
Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Mongtomery): The gorgeous blonde witch married to that way too lucky Darrin! Although she promised not to use her witchcraft after she and Darrin married, she couldn't give it up entirely! One wonders why Darrin made such a big deal out of it... With a twitch of her nose, she could do anything (well, she snapped her fingers to teleport, but all the witches and warlocks did that).
Darrin Stephens (Dick York 1964-1969, Dick Sargent 1969-1972): Young advertising executive at McMahon and Tate, the luckiest man in the world (because he married Samantha), rather short-tempered at the most inconvenient times!
Endora (Agnes Moorehead): Samantha's mother who never approved of Sam's marriage to Derwood (one of the many names she called Darrin other than his real name).
Larry Tate (David White): Darrin's boss at McMahon and Tate, always quick to fire Darrin for the slightest reason, and just as quick to hire him back. Worst boss on 1960s TV? Probably!
Tabitha Stephens (Erin Murphy/Diane Murphy): Cute blonde-haired daughter of Sam and Darrin, with all her mother's magical abilities, except that she couldn't twitch, so she had to manually move her nose.
Louise Tate (Kasey Rogers/Irene Vernon): Larry's long-suffering wife. Believe it or not, both actresses played the part at various times, depending on who was available!
Abner Kravitz (George Tobias): Long-suffering husband to Gladys Kravitz, he pretty much just wanted to be left alone, and didn't think anything was up with his neighbors, the Stephens.
Gladys Kravitz (Sandra Gould/Alice Pearce): Abner's wife, obsessed with her neighbors – she really needed a hobby!
Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne): Samatha's well-meaning aunt whose magic tends not to work too well. She kind of suffers from a witchy dementia.
Dr. Bombay (Bernard Fox): A real witch doctor; that is, a doctor for witches! Summoned by the chant, “Dr. Bombay, Dr. Bombay, emergency, come right away.” Typically, he's interrupted in the midst of some sort of unusual sporting event.
Drunk (Dick Wilson): Any time Darrin felt the pressure from dealing with Sam's family, he'd hit the bar and invariably run into this guy!
Phyllis Stephens (Mabel Albertson): Darrin's mother. Has a tendency to suffer from a series of “Sick Headaches” thanks to her accidental viewing of magic, which she always ends up being convinced she didn't see.
Frank Stephens (Roy Roberts/Robert F. Simon): Darrin's father. Only appeared in 12 episodes compared to the 18 Darrin's mother did.
Adam Stephens (“David Lawrence” – actually twins Greg and David Mandel): Sam and Darrin's son, born in the 1969 season. Apparently it was never made entirely clear in the show if Adam was a mortal or a warlock, as it could be interpreted that Maurice helped Adam out...
Esmerelda (Alice Ghostly): Samantha's cousin, somewhat like Aunt Clara in that her magic doesn't tend to work the way she usually intends it to.
Maurice (Maurice Evans): Samantha's father, and if anything, even more dismissive of Darrin than Endora is!
Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde): Samantha's practical joke-loving uncle.
Serena (Elizabeth Montgomery, billed as “Pandora Spocks”): Samantha's mod cousin, identical to Sam except that she has black hair to Samantha's blonde.
Geek Guest-Stars:
J. Edward McKinley appeared in ten episodes as various characters, but you may have also seen him as Mr. F. Flamm in two Joker episodes of Batman, or an episode of The Wild Wild West, or two episodes of The Munsters or a guest-appearance on My Favorite Martian, but it's more likely you'd recognize him as Raymond in The Time Travelers, or Professor Paul Weiner in Angry Red Planet.
Sara Seegar played different characters in ten episodes, but she'd be most recognizable as Mrs. Wilson on Dennis the Menace.
Paul Smith was another actor who had multiple roles (nine in all), but he's probably best remembered for playing Harley Trent on Mr. Terrific, guesting in two episodes of Batman as Artemus Knab, or perhaps even playing Parkman's Clerk in The Deadly Mantis.
Bernie Kopell played a number of characters on Bewitched himself, but will probably always be most remembered by geeks for playing Siegfried on Get Smart.
Parley Baer guested on a few episodes, but is probably better remembered for playing Major Arthur J. Henson in a half-dozen episodes of The Addams Family, although he also had minor geek roles prior to that and up until 1996, guest-starring in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
Pat Priest appeared in three episodes of Bewitched, but she'll always be remembered for playing Marilyn on The Munsters.
Dave Madden appeared in two episodes of Bewitched, and in between those episodes he was on seven episodes of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Most of you will probably remember him best as Reuben Kincaid, manager of The Partridge Family. His fellow Laugh-In alum Henry Gibson was also in a few episodes of Bewitched himself!
Arlene Martel guest-starred in two episodes, but she'll be forever identified as T'Pring in the Star Trek episode “Amok Time”. She also guest-starred in two episodes of The Monkees.
Jonathan Harris, best known for playing Dr. Smith on Lost in Space, was in two episodes of Bewitched, one in 1968 and another in 1970, playing two different characters.
Janos Prohaska played the Dodo Bird in two episodes of Bewitched, but we'll always remember him for his four episodes of Star Trek, playing different creatures in each one, especially the Horta in “Devil in the Dark”! Janos also appeared in Escape from the Planet of the Apes and played gorillas and other creatures in episodes of Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, It's About Time, Lost in Space, and The Munsters.
Bill Mumy was in two episodes of Bewitched as two different characers (one of which was a young Darrin), and of course he'll be best remembered for playing Will Robinson on Lost in Space, or perhaps three episodes of The Twilight Zone, especially “It's a Good Life,” or his role as Lennier on Babylon 5.
Felix Silla appeared as a goblin in one episode, and a troll in another. He's also known for playing Cousin Itt on The Addams Family, Polka Dotted Horse and others on H.R. Pufnstuff, Colonel Poom on Lidsville, Lucifer on Battlestar Galactica, and Twiki on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Mike Road played Hawkins in two 1966 episodes of Bewitched, but he's probably better known for his voice work in cartoons, especially Race Bannon on Jonny Quest, Ugh on the Dino Boy segments of Space Ghost, Zandor and Zok on The Herculoids, Mr. Fantastic in the 1978 Fantastic Four, and many other roles.
The legendary June Foray, best known as the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on Bullwinkle, as well as way too many other characters to begin listing, provided voices for a few babys in 1966 episodes of Bewitched.
The rest next week!
The rest next week!
