Who was Elizabeth closest to?

[Will and Grace Fanatic]

Does anyone know in real life who she was closest too. I think maybe Dick Sargent, just because she was an AIDS advocate and I think she marched in the pride parade with Sargent.

[scrapple]

I always thought it was odd that she was so close to Dick Sargent, but they had absolutely no chemistry on-screen. Conversely, I don't think she was very close to Dick York, but they worked great as a team when the cameras rolled.

[Crusinforabrusin]

I heard that Elizabeth Montgomery said in an actual I interview that she liked Dick Sargent far more than Dick York. She reportedly hated Dick York

[Larry Tate]

She did not hate DY, she felt uncomfortable around him as he was always mooning over her & clearly infatuated with her by season 3 while she was a married woman, this creeped her out.

She did like Dick Sargent a lot but i never heard of her stating this in a comparative sense re DY.

[Larry Tate]

One although some have said it is so, it is not an incorrect story that is being repeated over & over again, rather it is proven & corroborated Documented fact and has been accepted as such over 40 years.

What is incorrect is the revisionist history that is being perpetuated of late by those that can't stand the idea that Dick York was not alone in consideration for Darrin in the initial early time period when Bewitched was created & cast by Liz & Bill Asher in the Fall of 1963.

At no time has Bill Asher said that Dick York was the first & only choice by them as Darrin, quite the opposite is the case actually & it is on the public record & William Ashers comments on the record & on camera state that the DS's contractual obligations such as his being on the
Tammy Grimes show were indeed the reasons why he could not be cast as Darrin after he was cast as Darrin by Elizabeth Montgomery & William Asher.

There is no reliable proof or corroboration that DS was cast prior to Bill and Liz getting involved nor that he was involved whatsoever while Tammy Grimes was cast as Cassandra (Samantha), no one at anytime, anywhere, that was associated with the show in any way has stated this was the case.

As well Tammy Grimes had never actually signed onto to doing Bewitched & never was happy with a script
for a Pilot, even the last one Sol Saks did just prior to Liz & Bill coming on board, as such as in effect the project was in such a initial state with Samantha not even having been officially & contractually cast, that there would have been no casting of the other characters such as Darrin until Tammy Grimes had indeed officially signed on which of course she never did.

This makes the whole DS being cast back then with TG as being illogical as well.

All this is is second or third hand fantasy or in some cases wishful thinking.

As well there was almost no time in between when Tammy Grimes pulled out to to a Broadway show & Liz & Bill being asked to take over it by Harry Ackerman the shows Executive Producer.

That DS stated himself that he was the first choice by Bill & Liz in interviews & as well in Bewitched Forever is proven fact & not merely a wishful assumption.

Likewise so is the fact that this was stated at the time of his joining the show
in 1970 in numerous interviews in magazine articles by himself, ABC & Screen Gems Executives & that Liz herself never said it was not so, these again are facts not wishful thinking that someone merely makes up.

As well in the ET Bewitched special & in the subsequent pieces ET did on the
two Darrins re DS & DY it was stated by them in each of them that DS was the first choice & that DY was only considered when DS was not available when they went back to him after their initial interview in order to offer him the role.

Furthermore Bill Asher in the E! True Hollywood Special himself on camera
clearly states that DS was the first choice as Darrin, that THEY as in he & Liz
wanted him but that he was unavailable, so there it is fact instead of fiction.

Screen Gems did all the casting themselves for the Pilot & after when the show was sold, Liz & Bill had final say in all casting after they came aboard.

Asher has been utterly consistent over the years on Sargent being his & Liz's
first choice, there are no instances where this has been stated by him
otherwise, nor has there been any offered as proof, why?, because it does not exist.

From 1963 to the last year or two he has always said it was DS & never said it was DY, what he said was that DY was the best choice in hindsight & the only choice in that respect, not that he was the first one, there is a difference.

In a recent article on Ebay about Dick Sargent taking over as Darrin it was stated that Dick Sargent had been offered the role in 1963 When Bill Asher was casting the show but had to turn it down due to a recent contractual commitment to another studio.

Larry Tate

[the truth]

Why is it so hard to accept that people who work together so often not only DON'T get along, but often can't stand each other, with time being a constant that adds to that hate? (the longer you're working together, the more you rub each other the wrong way)

If you've ever been in this world and had to work, how many of the people that you engaged on a daily basis did you just love being around on your own time? Not too hard to fathom this being true on the making of a television program either. Some people just can't let it ruin their "mental image" of how perfect things seem on TV, so I guess it's understood.

(Almost) a good rule of thumb: If two people really click on a TV show, they probably hate each other when the camera stops. The reverse often holds up too: if they're adversarial on the tube, they may just be tight as can be off set.

Funny how that happens!

[lakesgirl]

It's funny how we want our favorite TV actors and actresses to like each other in real life. I know it's often not the case.....and yet....we still want that for some reason.

[comedyfreak]

It would be interesting if Dick Sargent had the role from the beginning.

[Babalu]

Originally Posted by comedyfreak

It would be interesting if Dick Sargent had the role from the beginning.

I don't think the show would have been a hit with Dick Sargent. He just wasn't very likeable onscreen. You rooted for Dick York with all the odds against him. That's what made the show.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Babalu

I don't think the show would have been a hit with Dick Sargent. He just wasn't very likeable onscreen. You rooted for Dick York with all the odds against him. That's what made the show.

I totally agree that DY was the more likeable Darrin. That's why I only bought the first five seasons of the show. Although, Antenna was recently showing the Dick Sargeant eps, and now, I don't think he was so bad; just nowhere's near as good as DY.