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Elizabeth
was born in Los Angeles on 15th April 1933. Both her parents were
actors. Her father Robert featured in more than 50 films and was
nominated for Oscars for ‘Night Must Fall’ and ‘Here Comes Mr
Jordan.’ She attended private schools in New York and made her
first television appearance in ‘Top Secret’. Her father was also
on the show and Elizabeth then appeared regularly on ‘The Robert
Montgomery Show'.
During her twenties she appeared on numerous shows and series,
including ‘Kraft Television Theatre’, ‘Studio One’, ‘Alfred Hitchcock
Presents’ and ‘Wagon Train’. For her first Broadway play ‘Late
Love’ she received the Theatre World Award and in 1955 featured
in the film ‘The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell.’ She narrowly
missed being cast opposite Marlon Brando in ‘On The Waterfront.’
Elizabeth was originally married to Frederick Cammann, a New York
socialite, but the marriage barely lasted a year. She was 21 when
she married the Harvard-educated stage manager of her father’s
show. The break-up came because it was alleged that he refused
to move to the West Coast with her when she sought a career in
Hollywood. Her second marriage was to actor Gig Young, who appeared
in 'Kid Galahad.’
She visited him on the set each day and would often talk to Elvis.
When Young saw this he flew into a rage and created a scene on
the set. Another time he nearly hit her, but Elvis prevented him.
With Young creating rows with Elizabeth on a regular basis, Elvis
said, “I was getting so fed up with this guy that I felt like
it wasn’t worth finishing the picture, but I did. I would often
hear Gig giving Elizabeth some verbal abuse, but I didn’t interfere.
I just hope that one day she will come to her senses … personally,
I never want to work with Gig Young again”.
During the Sixties Elizabeth was active in numerous major shows,
including ‘Burke’s Law’, ‘Rawhide’, ‘77 Sunset Strip’ and ‘The
Twilight Zone.’ In the latter she had the role of the last woman
on Earth while ‘The Untouchables’ brought her the first of nine
Emmy nominations. Her 1963 films included ‘Johnny Cool’, and ‘Who’s
Been Sleeping in My Bed.
Gig Young was engaged to Elaine Strich when he first met Elizabeth
in 1956 during her appearance in ‘Siege’, an episode of the TV
series ‘Warner Bros Present’, which Young hosted. The two married
on 28th December that year.
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The six year marriage produced no children because Young had had
a vasectomy at the age of 25 due to health problems. Young was a
chronic alcoholic and the marriage was turbulent. After six years
Elizabeth went to Mexico where she was able to arrange a swift divorce
and then married director William Asher, whom she’d met during the
making of ‘Johnny Cool.’
It was in 1964, with husband producer William Asher, that she made
her debut as a young witch, Samantha Stevens, married to a mortal
in ‘Bewitched,’ a popular
television series that lasted until 1972. Elizabeth was asked to
continue and film a ninth series, but declined. This was possibly
due to the fact that, although she and Asher had three children,
she fell in love with director Richard Michaels and moved in with
him. She’d been having a 12-month clandestine affair with Michaels,
a director on the ‘Bewitched’ series, before revealing it, although
they broke up after two years.
During her run in ‘Bewitched’ she was awarded four Golden Globes
and five Emmys. Elizabeth subsequently appeared in more than two
dozen TV movies, receiving Emmy nominations for ‘A Case Of Rape’,
‘The Legend of Lizzie Borden’ and ‘The Awakening Land.’
Her fourth marriage was to actor Robert Foxworth, who she met while
filming ‘Mrs Sundance.’ Due to what had happened with her previous
marriages, Elizabeth was reluctant to re-marry and the couple lived
together for 20 years. They were eventually married on 28th January
1993. In 1995 Elizabeth was diagnosed with colon cancer and died
several weeks later on May 18th 1995. She was 62 years old. |
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