Remembering Elizabeth Montgomery on the 29th anniversary of her passing

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29 years ago today (May 18), Elizabeth Montgomery died from colon cancer at the age of 62. The actress was diagnosed with the disease for the second time (the first time was in the mid-1980s) six weeks earlier. By the time she went to her doctor, the cancer had spread to her liver.

Montgomery requested she die at home (not in the hospital or hospice), with her family. When she was slipping away, she asked her kids and husband to leave the room - she didn't want them to witness her last breaths. They did as she asked, and returned a short while later to find her gone. Montgomery was cremated, per her request, and a 'public' memorial was held in Beverly Hills a month later at the Canon Theater. Three years later, her children auctioned off her personal items to raise money for the LA AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

PEOPLE Magazine caught a lot of flack for not giving Montgomery the 'cover story' in their next issue. Instead, they had her in the top right corner with an inside tribute. The cover was given to Keanu Reeves, promoting his new movie 'Speed'. The magazine later blamed the studio, saying that the movie studio booked the cover story months earlier (re: paid the magazine to put him on the cover). This was the second time PEOPLE got backlash from readers for not putting a celebrity's death on the cover (the first time was in 1977 when Elvis Presley died). Later on, PEOPLE did release a limited-edition 'tribute' issue to Montgomery.