Growing up, there were many times I wanted to be Samantha Stevens, aka the magical housewife from Bewitched. But when I grew older, my allegiances turned more to Endora.
She just always seemed to be having more fun. And she really didn’t care for ‘Derwent’, who I always thought was a stick in the mind. I mean seriously, who asks their wife not to do the housework with a twitch of her nose?
Anyway, there was one thing I never knew about the show – why they suddenly replaced Dick York, the actor who originally played Samantha’s husband, Darrin. I had always assumed it was because of creative differences or whatever term Hollywood likes to use, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
It seems Dick had a debilitating back condition that stemmed from an injury he suffered while filming a movie in Canada. As the series went on it began to cause shooting delays and script rewrites, before he eventually collapsed on set and was rushed to hospital. He was then replaced by Dick Sargeant who saw the role until out until the end of the series.
But enough about them. Let’s have some Endora . . .