Today I'm proud to welcome Herbie J Pilato to It's About TV. May was the anniversary of Elizabeth Montgomery's death, and Herbie graciously agreed to provide this week's guest essay on Elizabeth, her iconic portrayal of Samantha Stephens, and the role she played in Herbie's life and career, including his books and DVD release. His resume is so extensive, I've included it at the end so it won't delay your getting to his fine essay.
by Herbie J Pilato
It’s been thirty years since the tragic demise of beloved
Bewitched actress Elizabeth Montgomery. She died on May 18, 1995, from
colorectal cancer, a short time after my father died of lung cancer on April 5,
1995.
Needless to say, 1995 was a tough year. Both Elizabeth and my
father influenced my life and career.
With my mother Frances and the blessings of Heaven, my father
gave me life, and did all he could for me with our humble life of raising me in
the inner-city of Rochester, New York.
But he always believed in me. “That kid’s got talent!” he’d say
time and again.
As to any one non-family member or individual that more directly
influenced or inspired my career, that would involve the meeting of Elizabeth
Montgomery.
I owe her my career, because every good thing that has happened
in my career, happened because she granted me my first major celebrity
interview. That led to my initial
Bewitched Book,
followed by the revised
Bewitched Forever edition of
that book, and my two biographies about Elizabeth,
Twitch Upon a Star,
and
The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery. Every other good
thing that happened because of those books.
Additionally, Elizabeth inspired me as a human being. Her father
was famed film and TV actor Robert Montgomery and her mother was Broadway
actress Elizabeth Bryan Allen.
They were a wealthy and prestigious family; so much so, that
Elizabeth could have easily been raised in arrogance or to have some kind of
superior attitude. But that was not the way it went in the least.
Elizabeth was a lovely, down-to-earth person who utilized her
celebrity for several charitable causes, none the least of which was helping
the disabled community, and various minority groups. She was also one of the
first celebrities to advocate for those suffering from AIDS.
All of that fits with the core message of Bewitched,
which is prejudice. As Elizabeth once told me, “Yeah. That’s what I want Bewitched
to be all about. Prejudice.”
The show originally aired from 1964 to 1972, during a turbulent
time of political assassinations, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, the
rampancy of drugs, the early onset of Women’s Liberation, the Civil Rights
movement, and more.
When speaking of prejudice and Bewitched,
Elizabeth was referring to the “mixed marriage” of her famed character on the
show: “twitch-witch” Samantha Stephens, who married the mortal advertising man
Darrin Stephens (first played by Dick York, then Dick Sargent).
The love they shared was a sincere love, based not on their
differences but rather on what made them the same: their mutual respect for one
another.
What’s more, Samantha had no need for money and material things.
She didn’t love Darrin for his money or any “power(s)” he may have had due to
his social status. She loved him for who he was, and not for what he could do
for her. Because whatever he could do for her, or buy her, she could twitch up
something better.
Additionally, Elizabeth’s Samantha was one of the first real
liberated women portrayed in television history. Her supernatural powers
notwithstanding, Samantha was empowered in other, more significant ways. It was
her choice to live the mortal life; to be a housewife; a home engineer. Darrin
never forced her to love him, or again, “bought” her love with financial
security. She didn’t care about any of that. She cared about him. And she could
have left him any time she wanted to. But she never wanted to because she loved
him and respected his strong work ethic as an individual.
In the big picture scheme of things, Elizabeth Montgomery and Bewitched
were really the reasons I went on to form the Classic TV Preservation Society,
my formal 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, which celebrates the positive social
influence of classic TV shows, because Elizabeth dedicated her life to
charitable work and loving-kindness. Her inspiration to me is unending, as is
her legacy.
Herbie J Pilato is an award-winning writer, TV producer, actor,
singer, and dancer. He is the author of several acclaimed books on pop culture,
including twin biographies about Bewitched star Elizabeth
Montgomery: Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life
and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery, and The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A
Guide To Her Magical Performances. Both
books, along with all of his others, are available on Amazon,
BarnesandNoble.com, and wherever books are sold. Personally signed copies of
Pilato’s books are also available on his website: HerbieJPilato.com. Pilato also served as a co-producer and co-writer with director Justin Beahm and Reverend
Entertainment for the new Bewitched
Blu-ray that will be released by Mill Creek Entertainment in July. TV
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