The creator of the show “Bewitched,” Sol Saks, has said that the inspiration for the show was a movie called “Bell, Book, and Candle.” in this movie, the main role is a blond beauty just like Samantha.
Actress Kim Novak portrays a beautiful young witch who lives in New York City. In this movie, she really loves her neighbor but does not like the fiance of the neighbor. She uses her magic to put a spell on him to fall in love with her, however, it all back by her is when she ends up falling in love with him as well, especially since he is a mortal.
Aunt Clara Actress Marion Lorne Collected…What?
Here is a fun fact! You know how Aunt Clara on “Bewitched” is totally obsessed with doorknobs? Well, the actress who played Aunt Clara, Marion Lorne, had an obsession with them in real life! The basis for this funny obsession was based on the actress's real-life hobby!
Marion Lorne had over one thousand antique doorknobs in her personal collection. We mentioned earlier that some of the supporting cast would bring in their own wardrobe and accessories to be used in the show, this was no different for Aunt Clara. She used her own doorknob collection in the show as well!
Darrin Wasn’t The Only Character to Be Swapped
“The Darrin Syndrome” was contagious! The producers were at it again, they did not stop at the replacement of Darrin, they also swapped out Samantha’s neighbor Gladys.
Originally the role of Gladys Kravitz was played by actress Alice Pearce. When Alice left the show, she was replaced by another actress named Sandra Gould. As if they thought nobody would notice, the producers just swapped out these actors without so much of an explanation. It is funny when you think about it! Do you think this would ever fly today? Probably not!
Drunk On Set!
A lot of things that happened back in the sixties while filming television shows would never fly in this day and age! One thing, for example, was that cast members would often drink on the set of “Bewitched.” in fact, they were even filmed drunk at times. Sometimes if you saw them drinking on the show, they really were drinking! Even the producer, William Asher, would drink on set!
The drinking was so expensive that there were even stand sites created that would calculate the number of times a character was seen drinking and each episode. Sounds like a pretty fun drinking game!
Enter Dick Sargent
Poor Dick York was suffering and in a lot of pain due to his torn muscles and injuries from filming “Cordura.” This was, of course, affecting him on set while filming episodes of “Bewitched.” One day while they were filming season 5 of the show, there was a replacement doctor on set. Dick was experiencing pain, and this doctor administered some B-12 to Dick while he was on his lunch break. At this time, Dick began to have a seizure on set, and they had to rush him to the nearest hospital.
After this incident, the next few episodes of the show had no Darrin in them, and Dick York never did return to the show. At this point, they hired a replacement Darrin, actor Dick Sargent.