Actress Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was born in Los Angeles on this day in 1933. Montgomery was greatly inspired by the Hollywood way of life growing up in Los Angeles, as her parents worked in the entertainment industry. Her mother Elizabeth Allen was a Broadway performer, while her father Robert Montgomery worked as a movie actor. Attending both the Spence School and the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, she made her television debut on her father's playhouse series, "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1950), but only after putting in years of rigorous training to get the part.
She made approximately 200 live appearances in the ensuing ten years. Montgomery rose to fame in "Bewitched" (1964) as Samantha Stephens, the endearing witch. Using a pseudonym, she also performed as her cheeky cousin Serena. In 1965 and for years following its premiere, the show was a hit and contributed to the growing popularity of the name Samantha. In addition, she acted in a number of TV series and movies, such as "Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story" (1993), "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell" (1955), "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed" (1963), "A Case of Rape" (1974), and "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" (1975).
Montgomery was an outspoken feminist, liberal Democrat, and LGBTQ rights advocate. She supported numerous causes, such as the battle against AIDS and Amnesty International. She accompanied her "Bewitched" co-star Dick Sargent, who had come out as gay the year before, to the 1992 West Hollywood Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade.
Frederick Cammann, a businessman, was her first husband from 1954 to 1955. Actor Gig Young (1956–1963), who was 25 years her senior, was her second husband. She wed "Bewitched" producer-director William Asher in 1963. In 1973, they had an amicable divorce. Robert, Rebecca Elizabeth, and Willy were their three children. After that, she dated actor Robert Foxworth for twenty years before getting married to him in 1993. She passed away from colon cancer in 1995, eight weeks after her diagnosis, at the age of sixty-two.
