Elizabeth Montgomery Movies
The daughter of film star Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth Montgomery made her television bow on her father's popular 1950s anthology series. Her first film was 1955's The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell, for which she was generously reviewed as one of the most dynamic young actresses of her time. Often cast in hypertense roles, Montgomery won an Emmy for her portrayal of a conniving gun moll on a 1959 episode of TV's The Untouchables. She shifted to domestic comedy with ease in the role of Samantha Stephens, the attractive witch heroine of the long-running (1964-1973) TV sitcom Bewitched. After this project folded, Montgomery returned to dramatic roles with a vengeance, spending the next two decades starring as abused, beleaguered women in such TV movies as A Case of Rape (1974) and The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975). In her last made-for-TV project, Montgomery portrayed real-life reporter Edna Buchanan. Among Elizabeth Montgomery's husbands were actors Gig Young, producer/director William Asher, and Robert Foxworth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Former Bewitched TV-star Elizabeth Montgomery plays against type and stars as a murderess in this made-for-television movie. Based on the book Preacher's Girl by Jim Schutze, Montgomery stars as the real-life killer Blanche Taylor Moore who was caught by authorities in 1989. The movie chronicles her transformation from the innocent 1950s daughter of a preacher into the serial killer known for poisoning her husbands with arsenic. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, David Clennon, (more)
- 1992
In this fact-based drama, a real estate agent is horrified to learn that a home buyer is the one who killed her policeman husband. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The bizarre relationship between an overbearing mother and her son, a convicted rapist, forms the basis of this dark drama based on a novel by Jack Olsen, which is in turn based on a true story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dale Midkiff, (more)
- 1990
Face to Face stars real-life companions Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth as a headstrong pair who clash in the Cradle of Civilization. Montgomery is a paleontologist, searching for the oldest fossil of man yet to be unearthed. Foxworth is a meerschaum miner, to whom the Kenyan government has accidentally issued a permit to dig on Montgomery's archeological site. They bicker, mutter dark oaths, throw mud at one another, and eventually fall in love as the sun sets over the northern Kenya horizon. Made for television, Face to Face was first telecast as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
This documentary of the Iran Contra affair consolidates the evidence and conspiracy theories of the incident after the 13-week Congressional hearings proved inadequate, acting merely as "damage control" and failing to show any sincere effort to get to the real truth of the matter. Illuminated are the delays by the Reagan-Bush ticket in releasing the American hostages until after the election -- after outgoing President Jimmy Carter worked tirelessly to free them. Accusations are levied that a "shadow government" regularly carries out covert activities at home and abroad, and the CIA is implicated in dealing in huge shipments of cocaine and with the profits supplying weapons to the right-wing activities of the Nicaraguan Contras. Also examined are the actions of Oliver North, who willfully ignored the Constitution in masterminding covert weapons deals with Middle-Eastern governments to additionally fund the Nicaraguan Contras. This documentary raised more questions than answers in a post-Watergate political climate where the public had become desensitized to scandal. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Elizabeth Montgomery plays a woman who awakens from a 20-year coma. Her adjustment to the new world around her is made doubly difficult by the knowledge that her long-ago sweetheart has married her sister (Karen Grassle). Worse still, Montgomery learns that her reawakening may be temporary, and that she could lapse back into a coma at any time. Matching Elizabeth Montgomery in the noble-suffering sweepstakes is Dorothy McGuire, cast as Montgomery's mother. Lori Birdsong plays the younger version of Montgomery in the flashback sequences. The made-for-TV Between the Darkness and the Dawn was first networkcast December 23, 1985. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Stars Kirk Douglas and Elizabeth Montgomery manage to rise above the melodramatic trappings of Amos. Douglas plays the title character, a fiercely independent senior-citizen baseball coach, forced to live in a retirement home after an auto accident. During his stay, Amos conducts a battle of wills with overbearing head nurse Daisy Dawes (Montgomery). This Cuckoo's Nest-derived setup has an added wrinkle: Amos suspects, quite rightly as it turns out, that Dawes has been systematically murdering her more troublesome charges. Made for TV by Douglas' own Bryna Productions, Amos first aired September 29, 1985 ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
If Elizabeth Montgomery must continue to play put-upon women in her TV movies, it cannot be denied that she possesses the superior talents to pull it off. In Second Sight: A Love Story, Ms. Montgomery portrays a woman who has been blind for 20 years. Worried that people will try to get close to her out of pity, she distances herself emotionally from everyone but her seeing-eye dog Emma. A romance with Barry Newman begins to pull Montgomery out of her shell. When the opportunity arises for a delicate operation that may restore her sight, Ms. Montgomery is alternately elated and perplexed: will the loss of her handicap also lose her the affections of Newman--not to mention Emma? Second Sight: A Love Story was inspired by Sheila Hocken's autobiographical novel Emma and I. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Barry Newman, (more)
- 1983
Elizabeth Montgomery, the queen of the TV-movie "victims," plays a more take-charge role in Missing Pieces. Cast as a private detective, Montgomery has to deal with an unpleasant memory, a near-insoluble mystery, and a pursuing murderer. Drugs and political corruption are also part and parcel of this Chandleresque puzzler. In true noir fashioned, the story is narrated by Montgomery throughout. Based on a novel by Karl Alexander, Missing Pieces originally came together on May 14, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Ron Karabatsos, (more)
- 1982
In this domestic drama, a the marriage of a suburban couple crumbles on the eve of their 15th anniversary. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1981
After a string of heavy "message" dramas, Elizabeth Montgomery opts for whimsical comedy in the made-for-TV When the Circus Comes to Town. She plays a repressed spinster in a turn-of-the-century Georgia town, captivated by the arrival of a seedy circus. Having never had a real childhood, Ms. Montgomery vows to fill that void by running off to join the show. Truculent ringmaster/owner Christopher Plummer puts Montgomery to work at the lowest rung of the job ladder: cleaning out the animal cages. As the story develops, Montgomery works her way up to the position of somersaulting acrobat--and incidentally falls in love with Plummer, a circumstance that both parties have strived to avoid. When the Circus Comes to Town is highlighted by its big-top sequences, in which Elizabeth Montgomery performs many of her own stunts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
The real Belle Starr was a homely, ill-tempered woman whose career as a western bandit was blown out of proportion by the "dime novels" of the era. Previous media Belle Starrs have included such attractive performers as Gene Tierney, Isabel Jewell and Abby Dalton, all of whom appeared to have included a cosmetician amongst their bandit cohorts. To her credit, Elizabeth Montgomery tries hard to deglamorize Belle in this 1980 TV movie, but she's still Elizabeth Montgomery. The script, by James Lee Barrett, attempts to stick closer to the facts than the earlier versions of Belle's exploits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Apparently weary of playing victim-of-the-week, Elizabeth Montgomery goes the Joan Crawford route playing a fabulously wealthy and stupendously bored matron who is about to be divorced by her wealthy husband. Hubby conveniently expires while dallying with his mistress. The upshot is that Ms. Montgomery is made executive vice president of the boat-building business that she'd helped her husband establish. Moral: Marry well, ladies, and you too can become a CEO. Basically a very slight TV movie, Jennifer: A Woman's Story is bloated way beyond its worth into a Ross Hunter-type sudser; the British TV series upon which it was based, The Foundation, was more austere, and frankly more enjoyable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Elizabeth Montgomery stars in this made-for-television movie about a liberal reporter whose views are challenged after she becomes the victim of random crime. Montgomery stars as Katherine McSweeney, a divorced, single-mother news reporter assigned to cover crime in her lower-middle-class neighborhood. After being mugged in her hallway, Katherine finds little sympathy from her colleagues or the police who feel her left-wing tendencies left her wide open for crime. The film shows how she transforms from a tolerant woman into a frightened and judgmental citizen, who is angry at her loss of innocence, but determined not to give in to her fear. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Adapted by James Lee Barrett and Liam O'Brien from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel trilogy by Conrad Richter, The Awakening Land is the story of 27 years (1790 through 1817) in the life of frontierswoman Sayward Luckett Wheeler, played by Elizabeth Montgomery. Amidst the expected hardships and setbacks, emphasis is placed upon the loves in Sayward's life: love of her family, the poverty-stricken Pennsylvania Lucketts; love of her husband, a poetic Massachussetts lawyer known as "The Solitary" (Hal Holbrook); and love and of her land in the Ohio territory. Actress/choreographer Marge Champion, the ex-wife of Awakening Land director Boris Sagal, added immeasurably to the versimilitude of the drama by instructing the actors in the proper speech patterns and body language of the region in which the story takes place. Emmy Award nominations went to actors Montgomery, Holbrook and Jeanette Nolan. This 7-hour miniseries was originally telecast in three parts, on February 19, 20 and 21, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Ingredients essential to this made-for-TV movie are a famous former pro football player, an interracial romance, and a brutal murder. Yes, the football player is O.J. Simpson, but the film was made a full 17 years before the death of Nicole Brown Simpson. In A Killing Affair, Simpson is cast as police detective Woody York, who is partnered with white female cop Viki Eaton (Elizabeth Montgomery) to solve a mysterious killing. In the course of the assignment, Woody and Viki fall in love. Also known as Behind the Badge, A Killing Affair premiered September 21, 1977, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Stockwell, Elizabeth Montgomery, (more)
- 1976
This TV movie was the longest--and dullest--of the three filmizations of George Brewer Jr. and Bertram Block's play Dark Victory. Elizabeth Montgomery stars as a successful TV producer (an heiress in the original play) who suffers from headaches. Her doctor (Anthony Hopkins) knows that the ailment is an incurable brain tumor, but at first he keeps this information a secret from the producer. When she learns the truth, she is bitter and resentful, but before walking gently into the Hereafter she falls in love with and marries the doctor. The 1939 Bette Davis Dark Victory wrapped this up in 106 minutes; the 1963 Susan Hayward remake, Stolen Hours, lasted only 100 minutes. Elizabeth Montgomery's Dark Victory is stretched out over two and one-half hours...and when it's all over, she's just as dead as Davis and Hayward (The Montgomery version was later pared down to 90 minutes, only a minor improvement). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Elizabeth Montgomery, (more)
- 1975
"Lizzie Borden took an axe/And gave her mother forty whacks/When she saw what she had done/She gave her father forty-one". New England spinster Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the charge of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892, but this made-for-TV movie, like most recreations of the murders and subsequent trial, adheres to the popular consensus that Borden was guilty. Elizabeth Montgomery takes a break from playing victims to portray the enigmatic Borden. The trial scenes are lifted directly from the original court records; scripter William Bast's speculation as to what really happened the night the elder Bordens were hacked to death is pure (but credible) conjecture. Accompanied by a "parental guidance suggested" tag, The Legend of Lizzie Borden was first broadcast February 10, 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Of the two rape-oriented TV movies of the 1973-74 season, A Case of Rape, first telecast February 20, 1974, is far and away the finer film (the other was the compelling but contrived Cry Rape). Elizabeth Montgomery stars as a housewife who is sexually assaulted not once but twice by a so-called family friend (Cliff Potts). The rape is only the beginning of a long cycle of humiliation and self-doubt: the investigating police are dismissive of Montgomery's charges, the female defense attorney (Rosemary Murphy) tries to put the victim on trial, and Montgomery's reputation and marriage (to Ronny Cox) are irrevocably damaged. Though things don't go well for her in the courtroom, Montgomery emerges from the experience a stronger and more self-reliant person, unwilling to allow herself to be destroyed by outside influences. Don't miss the final confrontation between raper and rapist after the trial--an underplayed but bone-chilling vignette. Had not Cicely Tyson sewn up the Emmy with The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Elizabeth Montgomery would certainly have copped the prize with A Case of Rape. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Fresh from her eight-season run on Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery embarked upon a whole new career as everyone's favorite TV-movie star in the ABC production Mrs. Sundance. Shamelessly promoted as a sequel to the movie megahit Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the film cast Montgomery as Sundance's schoolteacher widow Etta Place, the role played in the earlier movie by Katherine Ross. Like her outlaw husband, Etta finds herself on the lam from the law, with a $10,000 bounty on her head. Resigned to spending the rest of her life in hiding, Etta is ultimately flushed out by the rumor that Sundance is still very much alive (In truth, the authorities never found Etta Place, and even the date of her death is shrouded in mystery). Lensed on location near Lone Pine, California, the film represented the first on-screen teaming of Elizabeth Montgomery and her real-life future husband Robert Foxworth. Mrs. Sundance premiered January 15, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
In this suspenseful drama, a terrible storm strands a young woman in a spooky old house where she is unwittingly stalked by a mysterious killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Dining out at a Chinese restaurant, Samantha downs an exotic drink called "The Heavenly Himalayan," and as a result, her face breaks out in red stripes. Worse still, Sam loses all her powers, and the only antidote is the tail feather of the extinct dodo bird. The ensuing complications lead Sam and Darrin on a circuitous route, ending up in the same restaurant where it all began. Janos Prohaska, an "animal impersonator," whose repertoire included gorillas and bears, is here cast as an oversized and very surly dodo bird. Written by Leo Townsend, "Sam's Witchcraft Blows a Fuse" first aired on March 18, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, (more)
- 1972
Darrin blows his top again, when he thinks that Samantha has used witchcraft to create a winning ad slogan. As it turns out, Sam does help Darrin, albeit in the time-honored "trial and error" fashion preferred by those irksome mortals. J. Edward McKinley, one of the series' stable of recurring character actors, is once more cast as Darrin's client, this time a man named Benson. First broadcast on March 11, 1972, "A Good Turn Never Goes Unpunished" was written by Bernie Kahn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, (more)
- 1972
Endora casts a spell on a unicorn-shaped pin, causing all mortals who come within the pin's vicinity to speak nothing but the truth. Not unexpectedly, this hex wreaks havoc on Samantha and Darrin's dinner party for Darrin's new client, Ed Franklin (Parley Baer) and Ed's wife, Cora Mae (Sara Seegar). Written by Ed Jurist, "The Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me" was originally telecast on March 25, 1972, as the 252nd and final episode of Bewitched. Even if this once-popular series had not fallen victim to the usual attrition of eight seasons on the air, it would have been killed by ABC's boneheaded decision to reschedule Bewitched opposite CBS' Saturday-night blockbuster All in the Family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, (more)
