Monday, October 5, 2020

Celebrate Halloween with Herbie J Pilato’s TWITCH and ESSENTIAL Biographies about "Bewitched" star Elizabeth Montgomery

The classic TV show "Bewitched" originally aired on ABC from 1964 to 1972. A hit in reruns and never off the air, the show featured Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, the witch-with-a-twitch.

Author Herbie J Pilato interviewed and befriended the multi-Emmy-nominated actress a few years before she succumbed to colon cancer in 1995. Montgomery granted to him exclusive interviews, and he went on to write twin biographies about the beloved actress:

TWITCH UPON A STAR: THE BEWITCHED LIFE AND CAREER OF ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY, an intimate chronicle [in hardcover and trade paperback]

and

THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY: A GUIDE TO HER MAGICAL PERFORMANCES, an encyclopedia of her personal and professional life [in trade paperback].

Published by Taylor Trade Publishing/Rowman & Littlefield, and available on Amazon.com (which see the two links below), and wherever quality books are sold, both books are fully-illustrated with color and black-and-white photos, and compelling, straightforward, magical and mesmerizing prose that addresses information such as:

Before, during and after "Bewitched," Montgomery made over 500 appearances on the big and small screens and the stage, including TV’s "The Twilight Zone" and "The Untouchables" (the latter on which she played a prostitute — and for which she earned her first of several Emmy nominations); and the ground-breaking mid-1970's TV-movies, "A Case of Rape" and "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" — both of which shocked her fans and infuriated her movie-star father Robert Montgomery.

The first two of her four marriages failed: New York high-roller Fred Cammann and troubled actor Gig Young, due in part to the personal vendetta the liberal-minded Montgomery held against her strict Republican father (who never wanted her to become an actress).

Her second two marriages, to "Bewitched" director William Asher and actor Robert Foxworth, encompassed the two true romantic loves of her life.

Montgomery met Asher on the set of "Johnny Cool," the 1963 feature film that he directed, and in which she starred, and Foxworth on the set of the 1974 TV-movie "Mrs. Sundance," in which they co-starred.

Montgomery rebelled against her father’s conservative politics and demanding nature, and never forgave him for divorcing her mother (Broadway actress Elizabeth Allen). It was a daddy-daughter complex that went on to shape every personal and professional relationship she had.

She shunned the advances of Gary Cooper (her co-star in her first feature film "The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell," released in 1955), while her second husband Gig Young was infuriated when she charmed Elvis Presley (on the set of "Kid Galahad," the 1962 feature in which Young and Presley co-starred).

Montgomery relished the regular life, such as sharing a pizza with the crew of "Bewitched" — a mainstream delicacy she never experienced growing up in her prestigious family household).

She loved her birth mother, but not so much her step-mom, heiress Elizabeth “Buffy” Harkness (and made sure to give the name “Buffy” to one of Samantha’s rivals on "Bewitched").

In the final season of "Bewitched," where she at times battled with co-star and her on-screen feisty-witch-mother Agnes Moorehead (a.k.a. “Endora”), Montgomery took off to Europe during a torrid affair with "Bewitched" director Richard Michaels which infuriated Asher, the show’s main creative force and Michaels’ mentor).

Montgomery enjoyed playing a good-witch Samantha but later resented it when people asked her to twitch her nose. She reveled more in portraying ax-murder Lizzie Borden and spoke with authority but at times had a wicked wit and tongue.

She was a champion for several charities, advocated for the disabled, and was one of the first supporters of those suffering from AIDS.

She received death threats for protesting the Vietnam War and was devastated, along with the rest of the world, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated — on the day "Bewitched" began rehearsals. JFK a friend to both she and William Asher (who had produced the 1962 Democratic Rally at which Marilyn Monroe sang a breathy Happy Birthday to Kennedy).

And that all fit as Kennedy rallied for civil rights and against prejudice (the main theme of "Bewitched").

Years after "Bewitched" ended its initial iconic run, Montgomery became the first “Queen of TV-Movies,” but turned down the role of American royalty when she opted not to play Krystal Carrington on TV’s "Dynasty" nighttime soap.

Herbie J Pilato explores all of that and more, in both TWITCH UPON A STAR and THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY, each featuring Montgomery's exclusive commentary, as well as rare memories from friends and co-stars like actors Florence Henderson, Ronny Cox, Cliff Robertson, and Sally Kemp (her best friend), and more.

Of TWITCH UPON A STAR, She Knows Book Lounge says: “Pilato’s respectful, yet truthful portrait of the woman who will forever be remembered as the beautiful witch Samantha Stephens.”

Entertainment journalist Matthew Worley calls THE ESSENTIAL MONTGOMERY, “the ultimate resource for Montgomery fans.”

And those are just two of the countless words of praise both TWITCH UPON A STAR and THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY have received from critics and readers alike.

To order TWITCH UPON A STAR: THE BEWITCHED LIFE AND CAREER OF ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY, click on the following link:
https://www.amazon.com/Twitch-Upon-Star-Bewitched-Montgomery/dp/1589797493/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

To order THE ESSENTIAL ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY: A GUIDE TO HER MAGICAL PERFORMANCES, click on the following link:
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Elizabeth-Montgomery-Magical-Performances/dp/1589798244/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

To contact or schedule an interview with Herbie J Pilato, visit www.HerbieJPilato.com or email HJPilato@yahoo.com.

 


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