The late Elizabeth Montgomery was an American actress best known for her leading role as
Samantha Stephens on the hit ABC television series Bewitched.
Montgomery embodied that role masterfully for eight seasons between 1964 and 1972.
The program was immensely popular and finished as the second-rated show in the nation during
its debut season and stayed in the top ten for its first three seasons.
The show continues to air throughout the world in syndication, thus introducing Montgomery
to a whole new generation of audience members who can appreciate her quirky, witchy ways.
Elizabeth Montgomery became a household name for her portrayal as that beloved, nose-twitching
character, but she didn't just hobble into her prolific four-decade-spanning career by
happenstance.
Her father was also a star of the screen.
Robert Montgomery was honored with two Academy Award nominations for his work in cinema,
and Elizabeth's mother, Elizabeth Allen, was an equally gifted Broadway star.
For her outstanding work as an accomplished and heavily-applauded television, stage, and
film actress, Elizabeth Montgomery earned herself nine Emmy Awards nods and four Golden
Globe Nominations.
But all of that came crashing on to an abrupt halt on May 18, 1995, when Montgomery unexpectedly
passed away after a relatively short battle with colon cancer.
She was only 64 when she died, leaving her fans to mourn her loss while scratching their
heads, wondering what just happened.
Montgomery is said to have only experienced worrisome symptoms for six weeks before her
biopsy results indicated that her cancer had already reached stage IV.
Oddly though, colon cancer is typically considered to be one of the easiest to prevent forms
of cancer, and beyond that, it's normally regarded as one of the easiest to treat.
So, why on earth did she seem to be hit with it apparently out of the blue at a point where
it was already much too late to do anything about it?
Join Facts Verse as we take a look at some startling new revelations from her autopsy
that just might change everything we thought we knew about her untimely death.
The Plot Thickens
Esteemed forensic pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Michael Hunter believes that
there is probably a lot more to Montgomery's story that that needs to be examined.
For one thing, we need to take a closer look at what kinds of complications the actress
might have had that contributed to her bewilderingly swift demise.
In 2014, almost twenty years after Montgomery's death, the Reelz Channel put out the docu-series
“Autopsy: The Last Hours of..” - a program that deals with the deaths and autopsies of
some of Hollywood's biggest stars.
In June of 2021, the show did an episode about Elizabeth Montgomery and the tragic circumstances
surrounding her death.
In it, Dr. Hunter revealed his shocking findings after examining the late actress's medical
files while combining that info with firsthand testimonials.
What Dr. Hunter discovered throughout his investigation was a series of unnerving events
that he firmly believes forced Montgomery, who was otherwise in good health, to fall
victim to the disease so rapidly.
Dr. Hunter revealed that in the weeks and months leading up to her death, Montgomery
had been experiencing unexplained weakness and fatigue.
She also had persistent abdominal pain.
All of these symptoms should have been red flags that something terrible and life-threatening
was going on – something that could have potentially been prevented.
These are exactly the kinds of symptoms that doctors are on the lookout for that could
indicate that someone might be suffering from colon cancer.
Sadly, these symptoms can also be easily mistaken for other ailments – which seems to have
been the case with Montgomery.
Leading up to her diagnosis, Montgomery had ignored her symptoms, thinking that perhaps
she was dealing with something as comparatively benign as influenza.
By the time she was actually diagnosed with colon cancer in early 1995, it had already
spread to her liver, and it was far too late for any kind of medical intervention.
If only she had undergone a few simple blood tests and scans sooner, she just might have
been able to fight cancer more effectively and potentially even beat it.
With no hope of recovery and being entirely unwilling to die in a hospital, Montgomery
chose to return to her home in Beverly Hills that she shared with her husband, actor Robert
Foxworth, whom she had married in 1993 after having already had lived with him for 20 or
so years.
She ultimately passed away in the early hours of the morning on May 18, 1995 – just eight
weeks after her terminal diagnosis.
A memorial service was held one month later on June 18th, at the Canon Theater in Beverly
Hills.
The star-studded sendoff included a performance by renowned jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and
writer, investigative journalist, and producer Dominick Dunne spoke about their early days
together as friends in New York City.
Others who spoke at her memorial were her late husband, who read tearjerking sympathy
cards from her fans, as well as her brother, daughter, stepson, and her nurse.
Montgomery's remains were cremated per her request.
Her Family Later Revealed Details Of Her Final Days
Not long after she passed away, Elizabeth Montgomery's family came forward and discussed
what it was like in the days leading up to her death.
Not only did they reveal that she wanted to die quietly and privately, but that's also
when it came out that she had only been diagnosed with cancer eight weeks prior to her death.
It was while she was filming the CBS television film Deadline for Murder: From The Files of
Edna Buchanon that she apparently started experiencing those flu-like symptoms that
seemed particularly severe.
While she had experienced similar symptoms before, these were accompanied with extreme
fatigue and weight loss.
But instead of taking these warning signs seriously, she reportedly chose to ignore
them.
After she was finished working on the film, she checked herself into Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center in LA.
She then underwent exploratory surgery.
That's when her doctors finally realized that she was dealing with late-stage colon cancer
and determined that she was likely too weak to undergo radiation therapy.
All they could do was send her home.
According to William Asher, Montgomery's third husband and the father of her three children,
Elizabeth was in a state of shock after learning about her diagnosis, although that shock soon
turned into anger.
Just four days later, she had to go back to the hospital as the pain and weakness were
getting worse.
That's when she underwent a second surgery that made it crystal clear that things were
too far gone, and all hope was lost.
William Asher says that's when Montgomery said that she just wanted to go home and that
that was her 'her final acceptance'.
According to her widower, Robert Foxworth, Montgomery's final days were 'loving and intense'.
Asher likewise recalls that even though Elizabeth would joke that she wanted pina coladas to
be pumped into her IV while cheering on her favorite sports team, the New York Knicks
on TV, she knew full well that she was 'losing the battle'.
On the day that she finally died, Montgomery told her three children and her husband to
wait in the living room because she couldn't bear for them to have to see her in such a
bad way.
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Is There A Bewitched Curse?
Whenever multiple stars who appeared on the same television series die within a short
period of time from one another, rumors inevitably begin to swirl about a 'death curse' related
to the series that they were on.
So, it really shouldn't come as a surprise that Bewitched received this same kind of
treatment.
Prior to Elizabeth Montgomery's death in 1995, two of her Bewitched co-stars also passed
away not long before she did.
The first was Dick York, who died in 1992.
Then you have the death of Dick Sargent, who passed in 1994.
According to rumors, which are admittedly vague, the reason for the supposed curse is
the show's basic premise.
Proponents of the theory believe that the stars of the show were cursed because Bewitch
had been about witchcraft.
According to this line of reasoning – if you can call it that – someone or something
wanted to punish these poor celebrities for dabbling in the devil's dirty work...or something
like that.
All three of these stars were said to have left this mortal coil well before their time.
Other than the kids that appeared on the show, the trifecta of Samantha and the two Darrins
were the youngest characters to appear in the series.
Dick York died of emphysema.
But instead of the illness taking him out with a quickness, he had been ill for several
years before finally losing his battle with it.
Sargent, who died after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, likewise had been diagnosed
with his illness years before his death.
He found out what he was dealing with in 1989 and fought it tooth and nail until his death
in 1994.
So while it's certainly unfortunate that these stars all went out the way that they did,
there is little reason to say that their deaths were in any way unusual or out of place.
Even so, subscribers to a Bewitched curse still are vocal about their beliefs to this
day.
Do you believe in the supposed Bewitched curse?
If so, what makes you think that something sinister might have been going on beneath
the surface to bring about these three tragic deaths?
Also, what are some of your favorite memories of the late Elizabeth Montgomery?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
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