Elizabeth Montgomery's LIFETIME SEARCH FOR LOVE!

The Bewitched star endured three turbulent marriages, but never gave up on finding Mr Right

For eight seasons Elizabeth Montgomery enchanted TV viewers as the charming and beautiful witch next door who tried to lead the ordinary life of a suburban housewife. But as hard as she tried, Bewitched’s Samantha Stephens could almost never resist bringing the fantastic to life with a twitch of her nose.

Samantha’s witchy ways often created problems for her mortal husband, Darrin Stephens, but love always prevailed. Belief in the power of love was something that Elizabeth, who endured three divorces, shared with her small-screen alter ego.

“Bewitched was a love story,” the star’s biographer Herbie J Pilato reveals. “She could have anything she wanted, but she loved a regular guy.”

Born after the death of her sister Martha, Elizabeth grew up sheltered by her mother Elizabeth Allen, a stage actress, and father Robert Montgomery, a former 1930s matinee idol. “They were very wealthy,” says Herbie, author of Twitch Upon A Star: The Bewitched Life And Career of Elizabeth Montgomery and The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery: A Guide To Her Magical Performances.

“Robert was very strict with her. He would not let her do things like – strangely – go to the movies.”

Their difficult father-daughter relationship would haunt Elizabeth for much of her life.

“They didn’t get along very well,” Elizabeth’s widower, actor Robert Foxworth, admits, noting that his wife’s father took it personally when she starred in 1975’s acclaimed drama The Legend Of Lizzie Borden.