Alex Carson
Elizabeth Montgomery was a television actress that rose to fame portraying main character Samantha Stephens on the beloved supernatural 1960s sitcom Bewitched. While the character of Samantha was a loving and faithful wife to her mortal husband on the show. The actress who played her didn’t always mirror these qualities in real life. Elizabeth married to four different men over the course of her life. With one of those men being one of the show’s producers, Bill Asher. During the show’s production, Elizabeth started up an affair with one of the series’ directors that caused both her and the director’s current marriages to come to an end. Join Facts Verse as we explore how Elizabeth Montgomery destroyed two marriages with her affair during Bewitched.
Fans of the beloved 1960s sitcom Bewitched surprised to learn that leading actress Elizabeth Montgomery started up an affair during the show’s production. And caused of the two separate marriages to come to an end. The sitcom was a major success for the ABC network; allowing the channel to finally start competing with the biggest television stations of the time. Similarly, the series put Elizabeth on the map as a big star after years of the actress toiling away in Hollywood. Prior to Bewitched, Elizabeth seen in numerous television programs and movies; but none of her roles had brought the actress true stardom. With Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery finally became a household name.
Elizabeth Montgomery Third Husband
It’s her third husband Bill Asher who allegedly helped Elizabeth Montgomery get her iconic role on the sitcom Bewitched. Bill was a producer who stuck his neck out for Elizabeth and helped get her the leading role on the series. However, this didn’t mean that Elizabeth had to be faithful to her husband during the sitcom’s filming! Bewitched ended up lasting for eight seasons, with Elizabeth playing the main character throughout the show’s entire run. However, two separate actors played Elizabeth’s on-screen husband, Darrin, over the course of the series. The show is still fondly remember today thanks to reboots and reruns.
Part of what made Bewitched so successful was the loving relationship between main characters Samantha and Darrin Stephens. The world fell just as in love with Samantha as the character of Darrin plainly was. And it would be hard for television audiences to imagine the two with anybody else. However, not only Elizabeth married to one of the show’s producers over the course of the series’ production in real life. But she’s also engaged in an extramarital affair with one of the show’s directors later in it’s run.
While Samantha’s marriage to Darrin on Bewitched may have been relatively picture perfect. The actress who played Samantha didn’t have all that much success with her marriages outside of the screen. Producer Bill Asher, Elizabeth’s third husband, meaning that the actress had already married and divorced twice; before taking on the role of loving housewife Samantha Stephens. Elizabeth’s first husband was a man by the name of Frederic Cammann, whom she married in 1954. Sadly, Samantha’s drive for Hollywood success ended up causing a schism in the marriage early on. And the two ended up divorcing only a year into their union. Not long after her first divorce, Elizabeth remarried for the first time in 1956.
Elizabeth Montgomery’s Second Husband
When Elizabeth Montgomery married her second husband, actor Gig Young, in 1956; she was still trying to make a name for herself in Hollywood. While Elizabeth’s first husband had been a man close to her own age with ambitions of starting a family away from the Hollywood spotlight. Gig was a much older man who didn’t have any pretense about his and Elizabeth’s Hollywood marriage being anything but superficial. Elizabeth and Gig married for nearly eight years. And it’s widely speculated that Gig was somewhat abusive to Elizabeth during the time. Elizabeth and Gig divorced in 1963, and Elizabeth went on to marry the aforementioned Bill Asher later that same year. In 1964, Bewitched premiered.
Following his divorce from Elizabeth, Gig Young went on to remarry twice. In 1978, he killed himself and his fourth wife, who was a woman by the name of Kim Schmidt. The two had only married for a few weeks. Elizabeth would divorce from third husband Bill Asher as a result of her affair during the production of Bewitched. Following this third divorce, she would remarry once more before passing away herself in 1995. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support!
The man that Elizabeth Montgomery became involved in an extramarital affair with during the production of Bewitched Richard Michaels; who had hired onto the series as a director during it’s later seasons. Upon Richard’s hiring, the director hit it off with star Elizabeth almost immediately. As filming went on, Elizabeth and Richard started to fall in love with each other, and this love was hard to hide from other people on the set of the series… including Bill Asher.
Elizabeth Montgomery Marriage life
Apparently, it wasn’t long into Samantha and Richard’s affair that people on the set of Bewitched began to take notice. As a result of people finding out about the affair, both Samantha and Richard’s respective marriages would go on to fall apart. After Richard Michaels’ wife found out about the affair, she divorced him in 1972. Of course, that wound up being the same year that Bewitched aired it’s series finale. The following year, Elizabeth Montgomery and Bill Asher divorced. The pair had been trying to make it work after Bill Asher had initially found out about the affair; but couldn’t manage. Bill had unfaithful to Elizabeth many times prior; with the producer having often taken advantage of his industry clout to secure affairs with famous starlets.
When all is said and done, Elizabeth and Bill married for around nine years. Over which time period Bill certainly more unfaithful to Elizabeth than she’s to him. However, with all of the numerous starlets that Bill had engaged in affairs with over the course of his marriage to Elizabeth; he hadn’t fallen in love with any of them. It was the serious and personal nature of Elizabeth’s affection for Richard Michaels that ended up causing damage to the marriage. As Bill couldn’t stand to see his wife in love with another man. Although Elizabeth and Richard had fallen madly in love with each other. They never ended up marrying after divorcing their respective spouses. Instead, Elizabeth went on to marry someone else before her death in 1995.
Elizabeth and Bill Asher Divorce
Although Elizabeth Montgomery and Bill Asher divorced in 1973; it has claimed that Bill Asher remained in love with Elizabeth for the rest of his life. Elizabeth certainly had a way of charming the men around her; with Richard and her four husbands being far from the only notable men that the actress ever romantically involved with. In fact, over the course of her life; Elizabeth romantically involved with such major celebrities as Elvis Presley and Dean Martin. Still, neither of these celebrities became quite so smitten with Elizabeth as Bill Asher was. Prior to his death in 2012 at the age of 90, Bill expressed his belief that everything bad that had happened during his marriage to Elizabeth was his fault.
Although Bill Asher had been older than Elizabeth Montgomery, it was Elizabeth who ended up passing away first. Elizabeth’s aforementioned 1995 death occurred as a result of colon cancer; which she had diagnosed with only a few months prior. At the time of Elizabeth’s death, the actress was 62 years old. Her fourth husband, a younger actor by the name of Robert Foxworth, survived her. Her and Robert had tied the knot only a few years prior, in 1993.
Elizabeth Montgomery as an Actress
When Elizabeth Montgomery decided to become an actress, she was following in the footsteps of both of her parents. Elizabeth’s mother had been a notable Broadway actress by the name of Elizabeth Daniel Bryan; while her father had been the even more prominent actor Robert Montgomery. While her father was a modest success; he never achieved fame during his lifetime quite like his daughter would thanks to her time on Bewitched. Robert was never very encouraging of young Elizabeth choosing to follow in his footsteps. And he became outright jealous when his daughter became more successful than him with her new show.
Some say that Robert Montgomery’s neglect of his daughter is what caused her to seek romantic relationships with older men during her adulthood. Robert himself feared that Elizabeth was trying to replace him. Though it seems that she never had very much success doing so. Beyond Robert being jealous of his daughter’s Hollywood success, some have also suspected that Robert held a grudge against young Elizabeth. As a result of the death of his firstborn daughter when she was only an infant. Robert had an infant daughter that died before Elizabeth was born. And some think that Robert held a grudge against Elizabeth for surviving while his firstborn daughter had not.
Elizabeth Montgomery mothered three children of her own over the course of her lifetime. And it has been said that she didn’t much enjoy these children being around her father. Many people wondered why this was so; as it seemed as if Robert Montgomery was a stand-up citizen without much to hide.
While actress Elizabeth Montgomery largely had third husband Bill Asher to thank for receiving her iconic role on the beloved 1960s television series Bewitched, that didn’t stop her from cheating on him with one of the show’s directors during it’s production. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that actress Elizabeth Montgomery blamed her famous father for her poor luck with love?
