Elizabeth Montgomery had America tuning in under her spell on Bewitched between 1964 and 1972 — but the happy households couldn’t have guessed at the sexual shenanigans going on behind the scenes! The hit series had wild cast members including Paul Lynde and Agnes Moorehead fueling plenty of backstage intrigue.
Get the inside story on the classic sitcom’s bizarre secrets in the gallery above, and then check out more bizarre tales of Hollywood’s top celebrity sex scandals!
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The hit sitcom's most notorious scandal — with Elizabeth starring as suburban witch Samantha Stephens — played out in public, with original actor Dick York abruptly leaving the show in 1969. Dick Sargent stepped in to play the frazzled advertising executive, but the reason for the change was kept a secret!
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Officially, Dick was replaced after being injured in a fall from a ladder. But the real Hollywood drama, revealed a source, involved how Elizabeth “led the charge to replace him with look-alike Dick Sargent,” according to a set insider. That was reportedly because the first Dick (who passed away in 1992) had developed a mad crush on his costar!
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Elizabeth was "very uncomfortable" with Dick's obsessive behavior, said the insider — especially since she was then
in a turbulent marriage to
Bewitched producer Bill Asher! That helped to get Elizabeth the clout to throw York off the show and have him replaced with closeted gay actor Sargent.
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"Liz knew that I was gay all along," Dick later confirmed — adding: "We became close friends during the three years we did Bewitched." Elizabeth also showed support for Dick after he came out of the closet in 1991, without ever mentioning why his sexuality was also a relief behind the scenes!
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"He's a dear friend," Elizabeth later added, "and a great kisser." Fannie Flagg might have been willing to make a similar endorsement, as well — since the actress joined Sargent in the closet during the 1970s, when the future hit novelist pretended to be Dick's girlfriend on the game show Tattletales.
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Meanwhile, Agnes Moorehead — who regularly stole scenes as Darrin's witchy mother-in-law Endora — was less happy with Sargent joining the cast. “Moorehead was closer to York than any other cast member,” the insider reported. “Agnes was very fond of York and didn’t want to see him go. She reduced his replacement to tears on occasion.”
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Agnes, who died at age 73 in 1974, was also rumored to be gay, with plenty of Hollywood wags insisting that she was
in a longterm lesbian affair with
Debbie Reynolds. Elizabeth, however, said that she never discussed those rumors with her TV mom. “It was never anything that she felt free enough to talk to me about,” she said.
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There was less mystery about actor Maurice Evans, the classically-trained English actor who played Samantha's father. The actor was known to be gay in the theatrical world, where he prospered while enjoying fame late in life on Bewitched and as Dr. Zaius in the original Planet of the Apes series.
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And, of course,
Paul Lynde was at his most flamboyant as "Uncle Arthur" on the hit show. The role brought him an offer to appear regularly on the new game show
Hollywood Squares — where his double entendrés frequently flirted with the open secret of his sexuality.
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Sadly, like Paul and many of other costars, Elizabeth Montgomery would die tragically young. She passed away from cancer in 1995 at the age of 62 — just three years after she joined Dick Sargent as the Grand Marshalls of the Gay Pride Parade in L.A.
The hit sitcom's most notorious scandal — with Elizabeth starring as suburban witch Samantha Stephens — played out in public, with original actor Dick York abruptly leaving the show in 1969. Dick Sargent stepped in to play the frazzled advertising executive, but the reason for the change was kept a secret!
Photo credit: Getty Images
Officially, Dick was replaced after being injured in a fall from a ladder. But the real Hollywood drama, revealed a source, involved how Elizabeth “led the charge to replace him with look-alike Dick Sargent,” according to a set insider. That was reportedly because the first Dick (who passed away in 1992) had developed a mad crush on his costar!
Photo credit: Getty Images
Elizabeth was "very uncomfortable" with Dick's obsessive behavior, said the insider — especially since she was then
in a turbulent marriage to
Bewitched producer Bill Asher! That helped to get Elizabeth the clout to throw York off the show and have him replaced with closeted gay actor Sargent.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"Liz knew that I was gay all along," Dick later confirmed — adding: "We became close friends during the three years we did Bewitched." Elizabeth also showed support for Dick after he came out of the closet in 1991, without ever mentioning why his sexuality was also a relief behind the scenes!
Photo credit: Getty Images
"He's a dear friend," Elizabeth later added, "and a great kisser." Fannie Flagg might have been willing to make a similar endorsement, as well — since the actress joined Sargent in the closet during the 1970s, when the future hit novelist pretended to be Dick's girlfriend on the game show Tattletales.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Meanwhile, Agnes Moorehead — who regularly stole scenes as Darrin's witchy mother-in-law Endora — was less happy with Sargent joining the cast. “Moorehead was closer to York than any other cast member,” the insider reported. “Agnes was very fond of York and didn’t want to see him go. She reduced his replacement to tears on occasion.”
Photo credit: Getty Images
Agnes, who died at age 73 in 1974, was also rumored to be gay, with plenty of Hollywood wags insisting that she was
in a longterm lesbian affair with
Debbie Reynolds. Elizabeth, however, said that she never discussed those rumors with her TV mom. “It was never anything that she felt free enough to talk to me about,” she said.
Photo credit: Getty Images
There was less mystery about actor Maurice Evans, the classically-trained English actor who played Samantha's father. The actor was known to be gay in the theatrical world, where he prospered while enjoying fame late in life on Bewitched and as Dr. Zaius in the original Planet of the Apes series.
Photo credit: Getty Images
And, of course,
Paul Lynde was at his most flamboyant as "Uncle Arthur" on the hit show. The role brought him an offer to appear regularly on the new game show
Hollywood Squares — where his double entendrés frequently flirted with the open secret of his sexuality.
Photo credit: Getty Images
Sadly, like Paul and many of other costars, Elizabeth Montgomery would die tragically young. She passed away from cancer in 1995 at the age of 62 — just three years after she joined Dick Sargent as the Grand Marshalls of the Gay Pride Parade in L.A.
Photo credit: Getty Images
