Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery

by Herbie J. Pilato

Twitch Upon a Star( The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery) <> Hardcover <> HerbieJ.Pilato <> TaylorTradePublishing

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Tv, Reference, Womens, Film

472 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Herbie J. Pilato is a TV host, writer, producer, performer, and entertainment executive who has worked on several television shows including Bravo’s hit five-part series, The 100 Greatest TV Characters, Bewitched: The E! True Hollywood Story (the seventh-highest rated True Hollywood Story in E!’s history), A&E’s Biography of Lee Majors, TLC’s Behind the Fame specials on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Hill Street Blues, and L.A. Law, among others. Herbie J has also served as a consulting producer and on-screen cultural commentator on various classic TV DVD documentaries for Sony, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros., including The Six Million Dollar Man boxed set, Kung Fu, and CHiPs.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twitch Upon a Star by Herbie J. Pilato is a 2012 Taylor Trade Publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the author and publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you were completely honest, when someone mentions Elizabeth Montgomery, the first thing that comes to mind is the 1960-70's sitcom- “Bewitched”. However, Elizabeth Montgomery had quite a resume in Hollywood prior to becoming the mega popular Samantha Stevens on Bewitched. She also had quite an impressive post “Bewitched” resume as she garnered the title “Queen of the made for TV movies”.

This book explores Elizabeth's childhood as the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery and how the relationship between them was complicated. Elizabeth's mother was a Broadway actress who gave up her career after her marriage. There are hints throughout the book that perhaps Elizabeth's mother had some issues with alcohol, but very little is actually said about her relationship with her mother. The author often refers to Robert Montgomery, however, making numerous parallels between Elizabeth's relationships with older men, her co-stars, her acting roles, and even her appearances on talk shows, where the conversations were perhaps uncomfortable for Elizabeth. While this was interesting to a point, it soon became overkill.

I did enjoy going on a little “You Tube” trip down memory lane, looking at clips of Elizabeth in her roles prior to Bewitched. Many are familiar with her Twilight Zone episode,( playing opposite of Charles Bronson) but another notable performance was her guest role on the Eliot Ness drama- “The Untouchables” starring the late Robert Stack.

Elizabeth was also in several feature films before starring in Bewitched and she turned in some pretty impressive performances.

Other than the infamous Twilight Zone appearance, I was unaware of most of her work prior to Bewitched.

The book also explored Elizabeth's friendships and education, and her early marriages before she met and married William Asher. In all, the actress was married four times and had an infamous affair while still married to Asher. She had three children, two boys and girl all going through their formative years while their mother was working as a TV star. In this way, Elizabeth was a forerunner for the women's movement, proving she could balance a career and family life as well.

Bewitched was a comedy, but the underlying message was encouraging the acceptance of one another's differences. The show did not get political in it's scripts except on one occasion when it addressed race in a subtle way, (this episode was one of Elizabeth's favorites), but the message was received loud and clear all the same. It's a shame that many who view the show today remark on it's blatant sexism with the stay at home wife and mother, the husband making all the decisions, and Samantha having to curb her true nature in order to fit into his expectations of a wife. This is all true of course, but it's not nearly as bad as the Lucy and Ricky relationship and we all still love Lucy. The show depicts a fairly common family unit of the time in which it was originally aired, so if you keep that in mind, viewers can focus on all the good points of the show with it's positive message instead.

But, speaking of offensiveness to women, lets talk about the constant comparisons between Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. This show didn't not have the warmth Bewitched did, and what about that 'Master' stuff? I thought this show was the very definition of sexism. I never made an effort to catch reruns of Jeannie, don't own any seasons on DVD, and don't have fond memories of it, if that tells you anything. ( However, many still enjoy the comedic elements of that show, so if you are one of them, no offense, I'm just saying)

Elizabeth deplored this show and was very angry at the similarity in the scripts. Although I never viewed these two shows quite that way, Elizabeth had very strong feelings about it, believing it was an outright ripoff of Bewitched.

Once Bewitched ended, Elizabeth stepped all the way out of the shadow cast by Samantha Stevens and reinvented herself by taking on edgy roles, such as in “A Case of Rape” one of the highest rated made for TV movies ever. However, many will remember her most for her role as Lizzie Borden, who just so happened to be a very distant relative of Elizabeth's.

Here again, I had a lot of fun looking at clips of these movies, many of which I remembered watching when they originally aired or when aired on cable. Elizabeth had just returned to television in a crime series when she fell ill with colon cancer.

Now, if you have read other articles, watched biographies, or read other books about Elizabeth Montgomery, this book may be a bit of a rehash of material for you. I admit to being a really big fan of the actress and own DVD seasons of Bewitched, but I don't recall ever watching The E True Hollywood Story about her or reading any books about her, so for me this was an interesting collection of facts and memories.

Now comes the part I really would rather leave out, but it must be pointed out that as lovely as this book is, with color and black and white photos, recommended reading, and an appendix, the editing was just awful. There were lots of mistakes, lots of repetitions, way too many parenthesis reminding us of a point already made- for example – several times we were reminded that one of Elizabeth's sons was named after her father and her daughter was named after her grandmother. There were also parts where the author strayed out of the “ just the facts” area and into pure unsubstantiated gossip.

One person, as a child, overheard his parents talking about Elizabeth and her troubled marriage and thinks he may have passed that conversation along to Elizabeth's children, who in turn may have passed it on to their parents. The person being interviewed would not reveal what he overheard, but blames himself now for having repeated it. However, this entire interview was vague and pointless since it didn't reveal anything except a guilty conscience, leading to even more speculations.

There were several other incidents like that one in the book, especially when it came to the affair Elizabeth had while still married to William Asher. There were some who jumped in to make a guess on when and how that relationship changed from a professional one to a personal one. But, they had no proof and these interviews should not have been added because they were guessing, gossiping really, and there was no hard concrete proof to back up their suspicions.

Another confusing habit was the author's switching back and forth between 'Elizabeth' and 'Lizzie' when referring to the actress. It would appear she had several nicknames and didn't mind being called Lizzie and even insisted on it while shooting “The Legend of Lizzie Bordon.” This could be nit picky on my part since the reader knows the author is referring to Elizabeth, but it distracted me, non the less.

However, in defense of the author I must say it is obvious he loved Elizabeth and Bewitched. He seems to catch himself sliding into outright adoration for the actress and then pulls back to keep the book looking like an unbiased biography. I have experienced this author's work on other performance arts books, such as the “The Gidgets” a homeage to the TV actresses of the 60's and 70's and I thought it was very well done. This book however, was a huge undertaking and quite ambitious for someone to tackle alone without a lot of experience in writing biographies.

To sum it up, I did enjoy reading about the life of Elizabeth Montgomery and being reminded of her vast body of work in television before and after her most iconic role as Samantha Stevens. Even if she is remembered mostly for her sunny, pleasant, always optimistic character on Bewitched, that is not a bad legacy to leave behind.

Overall this one gets 3 stars

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

The rating is not a reflection on the subject but the writer's style. Elizabeth Montgomery comes across as a decent, down to earth, caring, professional woman who gave freely of her time and money for worthy causes. The author obviously venerates her but his style is so mired in overly worded prose and redundant statements that the focus is often lost. He reiterates certain facts to the point that it becomes annoying, one small example: Montgomery's grandmother was named Rebecca she named her daughter Rebecca after her, understood after one reference but there are least 20 instances where he restates it throughout the book, this happens continuously and causes the reader to become restless. A sharper editor should have winnowed down the book by at least 50 pages.

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a textbook example of how not to write a biography: gather a bunch of random quotes from magazines, pull comments from some old interviews, subjectively praise everything the star does, then blend it together in an order that makes no sense. There is mixed-up chronology, unrelated comments about something else tossed in the middle of a paragraph, asides about people that often have nothing to do with the actress, and some of the poorest writing style ever in a major star's biography. It's hard to believe this had an editor. At over 400 pages it's way too long, includes too many large chunks from other books (bordering on breaking copyright laws), and is too subjective to give a far view of the actress or anyone else. (He really slams Agnes Moorehead.) And the author constantly calling the actress "Lizzie" will drive you crazy (especially since it appears there were times that she didn't like that name used.) I still can't figure out some of Montgomery's life story after reading this--the marriage information is so confusing that I tried to go back and re-read sections but it was so bad the first time I just gave up. Believe all the bad reviews--though there may be a few interesting tidbits you didn't know before, this book isn't worth digging through in order to find them. One of the worst Hollywood biographies ever.

[Rama Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Montgomery: The portrait of a great soul

This biographical work takes an in-depth and multi-dimensional look at the life of Elizabeth Montgomery. This is fascinating story that includes her childhood, career, her children, and her work with numerous charities. This book is based on author’s exclusive interviews with her friends, co-stars, and studio archives. There are three books about Montgomery and two of them were written by author Herbie Pilato.

Elizabeth Montgomery placed too much emphasis on age, and perhaps ignored her own health issues. She died too young and cared for many issues; gave herself little credit for her artistic accomplishments; but devoted her privacy being a mother to her children. She was a liberal democrat, a strong supporter of gay and lesbian rights. But her father was staunch conservative. And the relationship with her famous father, Robert Montgomery was difficult and tumultuous. Elizabeth’s life has many parallels with Jane Fonda who also had a difficult relationship with her father, Henry Fonda, due to opposing political and social beliefs. But both women cared for issues and fought for it despite strong opposition. In 1986, Elizabeth Montgomery and Roddy McDowall were the first two celebrities to lend their support to benefit HIV/AIDS awareness. It was revealed by producer Doug Chapin that Elizabeth attended every event for the benefit until the time of her death. You wouldn’t see her at Hollywood parties, but you almost certainly see her at benefits. In 1991 her co-star Dick Sargent announced his homosexuality and asked Montgomery to be present as a co-Grand Marshall for the 1992 Gay Rights Parade in Los Angeles which she gladly did.

In 1977, Elizabeth starred in “A Killing Affair” a CBS TV movie with O.J. Simpson. They were portrayed as big city detectives who were partners on the street and at home. The two locked in a heated bedroom scene. Elizabeth rallied for additional steamy performance on the bed, but CBS was ready to pull the plug. But still what we saw in this movie was extremely racy, in all sense of the word. Montgomery wanted to do be honest in romantic stories and did not accept the race was coming in her way. She challenged the traditional thought of 1970s audience; her insistence on “A Killing Affair” further proved her attempts to push the creative envelop to make network television an educational platform. Sometimes her outspoken opinions in Hollywood did not help her win the Emmy Award.

In playing Samantha on Bewitched, Montgomery shared unique interplay with Dick York and Dick Sargent. Off screen she considered Sargent, a friend. Elizabeth had issues with York. She may have expressed her frustration with her real-life husband on her TV husband. To make matter worse, York was in love with Elizabeth. During the rest between filming, due to his severe back ailment, he would glance over Elizabeth ‘longingly.” He was really smitten with her, but Elizabeth, due to her personal problem with real husband, was not amused. In fact, she was outraged. Bewitched writer Doug Tibbles observed that Dick York was deeply affected with his back pain, and wanted to rest up in the summer of 1969, but due to his frequent absences from the set, he was replaced by Dick Sargent. However, Elizabeth and Dick York stuck gold with their on-screen chemistry in Bewitched.

Montgomery was not religious, but spiritual. Once she said, “I think God as the beauty of life. It is loving and being loved.” This enchanting woman, who bewitched us all on television, also suffered from colorectal cancer. Overpowered and racked with emotion, she lost the will to live. Her body literally gave away to the ravages of surgical procedures of the early 1990s.

[ladywallingford · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, let me just say that this book could have really benefited from better editing. It contained way too many grammar mistakes and reflects very badly on the publishing company because of it.

Second, as biographies go, this one wasn't the best I've ever read but it wasn't the worst either. Sometimes, I felt as if the author became a little too bogged down with details, but I very much appreciated the fact that he portrayed Montgomery honestly without trying to damage her reputation as some biographers do (e.g. a certain "biography" of the Queen Mother I tried to read recently but had to shelf due to the vitriol spouted by the author). He really captured that beauty that was Montgomery (both inside and out) but also managed to put a little perspective on some of the demons that she faced and how they shaped both her public and private life.

As for recommendations, unless you are a fan of Elizabeth's, I think I would choose a different biography to read first (but come back to this one!). I loved the fact that the author pulled excerpts of interviews not only from Montgomery but her close friends and family; however, some parts of the book are a little slow going. It's not as light of a read as expected.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was poorly edited. Information is repeated to the point it makes your head spin. Information that is totally irrelevant (not this Elizabeth Allan not this Elizabeth Allen either but THIS Elizabeth Allen) who cares?! Okay so past reports were wrong I didn't read those and it means nothing to me. To those that may have he could have been more to the point. Same with the year she was born does the author have to keep noting how he above all others has the year right as 1933? Okay, we get it, you did your homework. Some of the transitions are poorly worded jumping from time from to time frame. This looks and reads like a total cut and paste job from past magazine articles written from the perspective of someone who is such a devoted fan I'D be nervous to be in the same room as them. Which is a shame because he actually was granted interviews by Elizabeth Montgomery. He'd have done better to stick to the interviews and relied less on previous interviews with other reports. He didn't need it, he spoke to the lady herself. If he didn't have enough of his own material to publish another book maybe he shouldn't have.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

The publisher should be embarrassed for releasing something this bad to the public. I will be trading this in at a used bookstore as soon as possible.

I'm going to finish the book this week, but I doubt the last forty pages of prose will change my review. It isn't worth finishing. Earlier I wrote, "At the moment, I don't love it, but I do like it." That is no longer true. I cannot like this book. It is apparent that the author is a fan in love with his subject. Therefore he is not objective and makes a poor biographer as well as a terrible writer.

The author uses wordy language that could even be considered flowery, restates facts over and over, and provides a little too much background information in some places. He also misuses the word "literally," which is a pet peeve of mine. The cliches, the overuse of italics, the pointless comparisons to absolutely everything, and the long digressions made me want to take a pen to the text and send it back to the publisher with my suggestions for improvement.

Others have commented on the structure. This is not a chronological biography. I think it is best described as being topical, as it skips around in time and touches on different subjects. For example, one chapter deal with Elizabeth's relationship with different pets. Yet it digresses from this topic. The fact that the book skips around in time so much makes it difficult sit back and enjoy-- especially when a topic that has already been covered is revisited 100 pages later. But had it been well-written, I wouldn't have cared.

Pilato has A LOT of information about Montgomery in her own words and from virtually every other possible person still alive who agreed to be interviewed, but some of those relate to Montgomery only a little. We hear a little from Ed Asner, who like Montomgery, but who didn't talk to her about politics much. We are given background on Asner, his career, his familiarity with Montgomery, his politics, an anecdote or two that don't have to do with Montgomery... in a biography of Montgomery. I'm not saying that Asner bears no introduction, but his interview added so little to the book that all the extra stuff wasted time that I can't get back.

Had the book been heavily edited and reorganized a bit, I think it would have been a good 200 pages shorter and had a structure that readers would find more satisfactory. It's too bad Montgomery didn't publish memoirs of her life growing up in Hollywood. I'm sure she had tons of anecdotes- maybe one of her children will write a book about Elizabeth Montgomery and Bill Asher. Maybe then we will really get to know what she was like.

[David L. Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up to now there hasn't been a biography about the witch with a twitch that even came close to being worthy of her memory. And it's suitable that Herbie J. Pilato is the one to give us a biography about Elizabeth Montgomery, as he was one of a handful of people to be able to interview her in her post-Bewitched years. Pilato had originally interviewed her for his awesome "The Bewitched Book" and he had lots of material left over which he was able to put to good use here along with interviews with some people from Liz's life like her old friends Sally Kemp and Cliff Robertson amongst others. These are interspersed with snippets from magazine interviews that happened her whole life. There are also behind-the-scenes stories from "Bewitched" which have never been told before!

The book includes photos, both black and white and color.

But the most important thing is that Pilato doesn't present a rose-colored glasses view of Liz. He presents a real view of a very complicated woman without being sensationalist about it. All though most of us always think of her as being the beautiful perfect Samantha, after reading this book, you will think of her as the imperfect, but still beautiful, Liz.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being completely honest, I could barely finish this. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to bother sharing a book review on it because it is just that bad. Twitch Upon a Star needs editing because I know there is a good book in there somewhere. As it is right now it is simply a messy compilation of random facts that occasionally appear out of order and are nearly impossible to follow.

The author has the tendency to regurgitate facts over and over and over again. During a few points I just wanted to shout, "Omg! I GET IT!" because the same details are being told repeatedly which made it feel like filler to squeak out on more page. It was so tedious to read and I hate to admit that. This book is a complete disservice to the beautiful vibrant legacy of Elizabeth Montgomery.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best biography of a person, it feels like it still needs to be edited and maybe a more senior editor should have looked this book over due to redundancy. I loved learning more of her works before and after "Bewitched" (her most iconic role) and look forward to seeing said shows and movies. Her works and deeds of screen did not surprise me as I knew a bit of it before reading. I put 4 stars, but really is a 3.5.

[Joe Holtzinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it very much. She was an incredible person but she had her share of issues. Very strange to think of someone on tv as much as she was as being shy, which she was. This definitely had an affect on her career.
Of course it was very sad at the end with her leaving this world much too soon.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

It really pains me to give this book one star because I love Elizabeth Montgomery, but this biography was bad to put it lightly. As mentioned in previous reviews, Pilato included so many irrelevant facts and if he took them out this book could easily be reduced to 200 pages. Just one example of something totally unnecessary was when talking about David White's son, who died on Pan Am flight 103, Pilato included the N-number of the plane. That piece of information added absolutely nothing and I would put money on it that many people do not even know what the N-number is, nor do they care. Besides the plethora of grammar mistakes, there were way too many block quotes. And most of them didn't add anything to the story, if anything they distracted the reader. Towards the last quarter of the book I found myself skipping many of them and did not feel like I missed out on anything. There was also a few instances were stories of meeting Elizabeth were unnecessarily repeated and a quote about how Elizabeth thought of Bewitched as an extended college course. Both could have and should have been referenced once. As for the last chapter of the book I was a bit disappointed since it seemed like Pilato chose to end it with quotes speculating that Elizabeth had a substance abuse problem. This was news to me and I honestly can't ever remember reading anything about this so I found it a bit rude (I don't know if that's the right word) to speculate any problems she may or may not have dealt with after celebrating her work for the prior 300+ pages.

[Newport Librarians · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I couldn't get through this book. I love Elizabeth Montgomery, and love Bewitched even more, but besides mentioning some TV movies of hers I'd like to find, this book was written in a very awkward manner.

The author continually jumps all over the place; this is not your typical memoir. His introduction is long and lengthy, and I'm not sure what differentiates it from the rest of the book, which is written the same way. The timeline jumps all over the place, and so many people and titles are mentioned in one paragraph that there is no way to keep everyone straight (especially since the author is never talking in a continual timeline). There has to be better biographies of Montgomery out there, and though the author states that this is the only one that includes excerpts of his personal interviews with her, I couldn't wade through the information easy enough to continue reading and find them. The quotes from Montgomery grab your attention, so if you are looking for a completely different sort of biography, give it a try. I hope you like it better than I did!

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I knew I probably wouldn't read the whole thing when I got this book from the library and opened it to find that the whole book had tiny font. I skipped the introduction/prologue/whatever and was disappointed to find so much excruciating minutiae-the endless discussion of her real date of birth; the Elizabeths who were NOT her mother; the -gasp! No!!- foreshadowing of things to come, such as the phrase "once upon a time", etc., etc., had me flipping through pages to find something of substance. It's as if the author is an Elizabeth Montgomery worshiper who's used a microscope instead of a magnifying glass to examine the life of a star that I've always been curious about. I enjoyed the photos, though.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very thorough telling of the story of Elizabeth Montgomery by an author who has done extensive research and has written several books on "Bewitched". While he knows his subject, and I have no reason to doubt his accuracy, his writing tends to be choppy, uneven and long-winded. He often goes off on tangents, so that it is easy to lose track of the story he is telling. Once one accepts this, this is a very worth-while read for those interested not only in "Bewitched", but the very rich & full life of Elizabeth Montgomery.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know if this is the new style of writing but I don't like it. It is very disjointed and doesn't flow. The first part of the book just talks about what you will read in the book. I think they could have just deleted that part. The next part jumps all around comparing Elizabeth Montgomery to her famous parents or her famous friends or her character on Bewitched. It's almost like someone took a bunch of scrap book entries and made them into a book. I couldn't finish it.

[Amelia Drake · Rating 1 out of 5]

All over the placel

All over the placel

I don't think this book even resembled a professionally written bio. The chapters are all over the place and the same descriptions are repeated over again regardless of what the current chapter you're reading is about. Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, especially a Liz Montgomery fan.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twitch Upon A Star: Herbie Pilato

Elizabeth Montgomery was a complicated and complex person. Creating a tribute or memoir spotlighting her career and focusing on those relationships that were unique and special to her is what author, playwright and screenwriter Herbie Pilato does within this memorable account of her life: Twitch Upon a Star. Most know Lizzie or Elizabeth for her role in the sitcom series Bewitched as Samantha Stephens who twitched her nose and made people disappear, room’s change or even finding herself in different places. Throughout the book the author has readers enter into many different worlds unique to both Samantha Stevens and Elizabeth Montgomery including her difficult relationship with her father, Robert, her need to be accepted by him and her desire to follow in his footsteps on the silver screen. The memoir allows readers to understand her goals, her personality and her need to do things in her own way. Interviewing numerous family members, friends, other actresses and actors even ex-husbands the author gives us the full spectrum of this amazing actress, mother, daughter and friend’s career. Imagine growing up with Robert Montgomery as your father and Elizabeth Allen as your mother in a world filled with money, fame and relationships that were often difficult and dealing with a father whose personality was not easy to deal with both at home and at the studio.

The author shares many aspects of her life but the one that is most interesting is her relationship with William Asher and how she revered him both at home and at work. Focusing on her career, making sure that she made eye contact with him during her rehearsals and performances we understand her great respect for him as a man, husband and creator of Bewitched. Four marriages three which failed we see the constant rise and decline Elizabeth Montgomery. Relationships are what I think this book is most about and her need to deal with people that are honest, upfront and forthcoming and ending those without cause or notice when necessary.

Her relationship with Dick York was quite tight and finding she having him replaced by Dick Sergeant caused a rift in the cast when Agnes Moorehead gave Sergeant a hard time and literally brought him to tears. A great mother, long hours and children that she loved and adored and never failed she were the quintessential of many things.


Beginning with her childhood and focusing on her relationship with her father the reader learns from an early age that Elizabeth felt she needed to work hard to match up and live up to what she felt her father wanted. Her mother was an actress on Broadway and stopped working when married. Throughout the novel the author alludes to the fact that Elizabeth Allen might have had some difficulty with drinking leading to her faltered relationship with her daughter. Her relationships with men, other stars, appearances and more often made her uncomfortable. From Bewitched, to the Twilight Zone, the Untouchables and on the wide screen Elizabeth Montgomery encompassed it all.




Flashing back to when the pilot for Bewitched began and how the famous twitch was born, you understand her connection to Bill Asher and the importance he played in her life both private and professional. How he reacted to her and if an interviewer was not as the author states “Her cup of tea,” both Lizzie and Bill were at times “brisk, businesslike, tireless, competent, hardnosed, personable and pragmatic,” almost like a fine tuned violin playing in sync with each other. Throughout the chapter titled Remember the Mane you learn more about her relationship with Asher and the knowledge that he would never be known as Mr. Montgomery and why.

The pictures within the chapter titled Double Double are breathtaking as the photographer brings many aspects of her career and life to light including her own children with her, Samantha and Darren, Endora and Samantha and the cast of Bewitched. These photos are priceless.

The author shares her relationship with Agnes Moorehead, which was complex. Often yielding to the older of the two in many respects you begin to wonder just why Moorehead was able to get away with many of the things she did on and off the set. Both were strong-willed and competitive and both great at their craft. Family values and family relationships were explored in Bewitched and Samantha or Elizabeth had to allow her husband at times to make decisions and curb her true feelings or nature. At times you begin to wonder what would have happened if Samantha Stevens was a working mom and not a stay-at-home mom.

In the chapter titled Twitch or Not Twitch she had to decide when and if she was going to walk away from being Samantha and go into other areas such as in “A Case Of Rape and her role as Lizzie Borden. Conversations that were overheard and messages passed on to others and things that should have remained silent about her marriage found their way to young ears. Elizabeth liked to be addressed as Lizzie and at times the author switches off between both names.

Within the chapter Temperatures Rising we learn more about the struggles within her marriage to Bill Asher their estrangement and how Bill had someone named Nancy to help him feel better. But, working on other projects such as The Paul Lynde show took its toll on their marriage, which began to disintegrate. Within the chapter we are privy to many other tense moments and interviews and statements by other people explaining why Bill and Elizabeth divorced. Discussions and interviews comprise most of this book as we get different perspectives about the many aspects of her life from numerous viewpoints shared by the author. You hear the voices of Robert Montgomery, her many husbands, Cliff Robertson and you share the good times, the bad, the rise and fall and you get to understand why Herbie Pilato had to spotlight and honor this great actress. Relationships are what I have stated this book is about as you understand her interaction with many stars, producers, directors and her own family. But, the focal point is Bewitched and the author explores the many avenues and roads followed by Elizabeth when deciding which roles to take and when it was time to turn in another direction.

You can tell from the dialogue and tone of the book that Elizabeth and each time he interviewed her really enamored Herbie brought him new insight into her viewpoints and the real person behind the twitch. From the Successes of the Awakenings to becoming a free spirit and free agent no longer locked into one role, she became what most would state a legend in her own time. The many faces of Elizabeth are portrayed in the pictures that follow at the end of the chapter titled The Awakenings. Spirits and Angels is followed by Humanities each chapter brilliantly titled featuring some aspect of her career and her interactions with other actors, friends and family. Her political viewpoints and views related to Political science follow and the book concludes with an afterword that ties it all together. Placing too much “Emphasis on age, she might not have made the best choices with regard to her health…”Unfortunately she died too young and the world lost her on May 18, 1995. Withering away quite rapidly the cancer too over and although she tried hard to fight it, it won. The author states: She gave herself little credit for artistic accomplishments that also failed to win the formal acceptance of her peers.” Her life was full, exciting, difficult, cut short and then she left this world but her family, friends, fans, and those that still remember her know that somewhere up in the sky there is a special star that is bright and will be one star that Twitches brightly and reminds us that she is watching over us: “ In this sense Elizabeth’s…..Lizzie’s… Lizbel’s ethereal essence is somewhere beautiful nose wriggling the light fantastic, leaving Hollywood to wonder if it will ever again emanate a more luximary….twitch upon a STAR! Told by Herbie Pilato this memoir is heartfelt, heartwarming, well told and will keep you interested from start to finish.

This book brings to light why so many still love Samantha, Darren, Endora, Uncle Arthur, Gladys and so many more. So, Elizabeth wherever you are: Keep Twitching!

Fran Lewis: Just Reviews

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took some time for me to finish Twitch Upon a Star. I am a huge Bewitched fan and looked forward to the biography. It was packed with details about Lizzie's life before the series, during the series, and after the series. My only complaint was the speculation the author concluded, especially in the end. Would have rather just read about the facts, or comments from those who knew her which were covered extensively. Otherwise, Pilato's book is a good compilation of Montgomery's life and career. Happy to have read it.

Twitch Upon a Star is available on hoopla if your public library subscribes to it. I listened to the audiobook.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a messy repetitive non critical book by a great fan. I only listened to parts of it to get the gist of it and checked more on youtube (i.e. Bewitched, many movies, password appearances and interviews) Irrespective a very grounded engaged impressive friendly person who died much too young. See good detailed review of Julie 9 years ago

[Brent Silveria · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a great example of a terrible biography. Its author obviously has never heard of a footnote or index making it almost impossible to read. Its author obviously needed a serious edit just for repetition I’d information, sometimes within the same page.

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be one of the worst books I have ever read, which seems a bit harsh considering the author's obvious devotion to Elizabeth Montgomery. It would have been merciful to have kept that devotion to himself, however, rather than inflict it upon the reader. Because . . .

. . . where does a reviewer start? The book is filled with simple factual mistakes. I was particularly taken with an actress's desire to play Hephzibah in The Trojan Women, the role not played by Katharine Hepburn in the film of the play. I can't even begin to sort out how old Montgomery was at any given point in her life. Pilato is obsessed with this, and eventually seems to settle on April 15, 1933. A few pages later he represents her birthdate as 1930. Montgomery herself seems to have wandered a bit on the topic, but not to the extent that she made herself older, Herbie. Pilato is a tease; Montgomery's relationship with her father was fraught, but Pilato never explains why. There is a post-death psychoanalysis of the actress at the end of the book, but since the analyst never met Elizabeth or Robert Montgomery, feel free to disregard it. Montgomery may or may not have had a drinking problem. Pilato refuses to speculate, except he implies that the colon cancer that killed her may have been caused by the alcoholism that Montgomery may or may not have suffered. By this time I had endured Pilato's description of Montgomery's career. I hate to say it, but it was pretty small beer. Scattered guest appearances on television in the 1950s, one solid appearance on Broadway, a solid run on Bewitched followed by twenty years of made-for-television movies that were designed to transform her light comedy image. Unfortunately, as William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Adam West, Barbara Eden and dozens of other actors from the days of network television discovered, you can't always get there from there. Unlike most of them, Montgomery rejected any idea of reprising Samantha Stephens, and grew annoyed when asked to twitch her nose post-Bewitched. As who wouldn't, of course.

Pilato stuns the reader into submission by reprinting literally every word anyone seems to have ever written about Montgomery, sprinkling his twee text with liberal quotes from TV Guide to Entertainment Tonight. He also interviews tons of Montgomery's friends, most of whom she dropped as she moved from marriage to marriage (she had four husbands, and three children with William Asher, the third). Two of the most quoted, Sally Kemp and Cliff Robertson, are used to discuss a woman they hardly ever saw once Bewitched was on the air. Kemp in particular is always ready to interpret Montgomery post-friendship (which Kemp doesn't seem to realize was over).

Pilato loves Elizabeth Montgomery, but within the pages of this book can only come across as a stalker. He isn't Chapman or that poor idiot who shot Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. But it still feels a bit creepy to encounter the star by telling her how much a light-hearted sitcom meant to him, and spending a serious amount of money he didn't have to gift Montgomery with a glass unicorn because Samatha Stephens loved them. To be clear, Samantha was fictional (Pilato can't help but cross the line about that fact once in awhile), and it is Pilato, not Montgomery, who emerges as Laura in The Glass Menagerie.

Not recommended.

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF (did not finish)

This book is full of lots of info about the star, but it is put together in such an unorganized fashion. Facts are thrown around willy-nilly, often repeated many times. This really needs editing to make it interesting. I'm sure there is an organized story in here somewhere, I just don't feel like trudging through it to find one.

Two stars for the research that must have gone into this. But no more than that for the extremely poor editing.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but didn't. It bounced around in time period and some things are repeated over and over...yes her and her father had differing opinion on politics. She was a very private person so most of the book was from third hand accounts so we really never got to know what Elizabeth was like. I read Herbie's Bewitched books and I didn't find anything new here.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author repeated himself multiple times throughout the book which was very tiring. There's a huge difference between an objective biographer and a fan with a crush on the subject. This author fell into the latter category instead of the former.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter but was in need of an objective non-fan editor.

[Jeaninne Escallier · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Boomer growing up in the 60's and 70's, Elizabeth Montgomery was up there with Natalie Wood, Jane Fonda, and Ann Margaret as young acting icons who possessed looks, brains, and drive, symbolizing independence. I wanted to be like them when I grew up. They did inspire me to follow my passions without help from anyone. Therefore, I have been enjoying "Bewitched" re-runs on social streaming platforms--a nostalgic stroll down Memory Lane, if you will. While looking up various actors of certain episodes on Google, I came across this book. Intrigued, I ordered it.

Twitch Upon A Star is a thorough look at Elizabeth Montgomery through other people's eyes. I appreciated the effort Herbie Pilato devoted to his subject. He culled through hundreds of Liz's interviews, comments, quotes, and summaries about her life to fill out the facts other people, who knew her well, proffered. Of course, anyone who followed Liz's movies, TV specials, and TV movies, other than "Bewitched," would want to read a book full of her own words. However, I liked her so much, I was willing to keep reading. This truly is a fully fleshed biography that includes some juicy tidbits about her personal life and her time on "Bewitched" with her co-stars and guest stars, and there were many. It is obvious that Herbie was a huge fan. He gives Elizabeth her dignity throughout this lengthy read.

I found it interesting to learn about her nuclear family, consisting of her loving mother, famous father, Robert Montgomery, and shy brother. Herbie dwells deeply into her complicated relationship with a father she spent her lifetime trying to please. Robert expected much of her, but it was never clear if he was jealous of her success or if he thought she should have gone further with it. The truth was probably somewhere in the middle; I'm sure Robert never really knew himself. Herbie delves into her four marriages, all very different--as different and deep as Elizabeth could be at any one time in her life, depending on her presenting experiences with the men she loved.

Liz grappled with the guilt of loving to work with raising her children; yet, her children rave about their attentive and loving mother. She was always striving for the perfect project in which to showcase her talent. Herbie summarizes all her projects in depth and displays the fact that Elizabeth Montgomery was, indeed, a very talented actress. Her problem was that she was as humble and down-to-earth as she was desirous of a super star career. Liz just didn't have the cut- throat attitude to climb over others. In reality, that warm, funny, creative, cunning, intelligent witch is much of who Elizabeth Montgomery was.

Where this book felt short for me was near the end when Herbie wraps up her life with her tragic ending, the cancer that took her much too soon. He slips in some very arbitrary new information about her lifestyle, hinting that her drinking may have been a factor in her colon cancer diagnosis. What? He had never mentioned anything about her drinking habits before this. It just felt so out of place and against character to what he had portrayed throughout the book. Everyone had cocktails before dinner in the 60's. Drinking was a part of the American fabric in upper middle-class homes with respect to entertaining. I'm sure Liz loved to entertain at home and drink in restaurants, but I had never read that she was a problem drinker. And then, to link this with her cancer was so out of place. The real problem was that she didn't go to the doctor to get check-ups, or preventive checks, like we do today. By the time, Liz had her advanced symptoms checked, the cancer has spread throughout her body. What a waste of a wonderful human being. I think of her children and know they must cherish their memories with such a beautiful, loving mother who shared her special glow with the world.

[Joe B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A “very private and shy” woman or is that the best explanation they contrived for Elizabeth Montgomery. Raised in privilege and wealth. Oh, she had a “bad” relationship with her father is another reason Lizzie was the way she was. Or she didn’t want anyone to know she had a “drinking problem” or that an ill contrived notion to justify her early demise? Who knows? Who cares? No one really. All we cared about was Samantha Stevens and that’s it.

All the pre-witch movie appearances were unnoticed by most and the highly dramatic TV movies post-witch outside the rape and Lizzie Borden were the ones that were somewhat memorable to most. That’s it for me. Nothing new under the sun in this book. A Hollywood actress who was famous because of her father Robert and then became a pop icon because an eight season comedy that is still going in perpetuity due to reruns and streaming platforms.

No one knows Elizabeth because who she was or what movie or other TV roles she did. No one knows she was married four times to interesting men who all tried to fill a void left by her father. No one knows about her 2 sons and one daughter from her third husband and business partner from “Bewitched”;Bill Asher. No one knows anything about her until almost 30 years after her passing. This book reveals everything. Now we know everything, but do we?

Who is or was Lizzie Montgomery? I don’t think she didn’t know herself either. Always trying to play the parts of her life on screen that she either toiled with or was to afraid to expose to the press or public. She was aloof and shallow with her friends. Never had any except when she wanted them. But, when they embarrassed her, made her feel uncomfortable or rubbed her the wrong way then they were discarded regardless of how long she knew them or how intimate she was in their life. That was Liz Bette.

She was truly an introvert and an antisocial person, but was still welcomed and remembered by all because that which she played on TV. That’s the way she wanted it. Even though she avoid her extraordinary popularity as that witch.

A humanitarian, liberal and activist for the LGBT community she was as well. But, again we never knew because Samantha was all we cared about. That’s the way she liked it. A beautiful talented person gone too soon, but which witch was she? Who knows? That’s the mystery of Elizabeth Montgomery.

[Len Knighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book because I loved Elizabeth Montgomery. I think she may have been the first woman I saw, followed by countless women since), whose physical beauty increased as she aged. Perhaps, even likely, that is because I was also getting older. I was eager to learn about her through this biography. I did learn a lot about Elizabeth, often called Lizzie by the author. I suspect I would have learned more but had to slug my way through awful writing. Too many typos, even a wrong name of a former TV host correctly identified earlier. Sloppy.
My main criticism has been addressed in other reviews. It is no small wonder that programs of the Entertainment Tonight genre were frequently quoted in this book. Each chapter seemed to be the written version of such documentaries or reports, independently written with no regard or recollection of what previous chapters revealed. How many times do we need to be reminded that Elizabeth's daughter was named after her grandmother or one son after her father? Or that Ronny Cox was one of her best friends. On and on went the repetition ad nauseum. It also reminded me of the cycle of pictures shown on these programs, as if they have exhausted their supply and so repeat them.
Indeed, author Herbie Pilato would have done well to have taken Elizabeth’s advice, or more to the point, followed the writing principle of David McCullough, who does not write about events or persons he knows or has extensive knowledge of. He picks subjects he would like to learn more about. Pilato is too familiar with Elizabeth Montgomery, and while he tries to maintain a modicum of objectivity, his idol worship bursts through.
A victim of my own bias, I rate this book

Three stars waxing.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slow and repetitive

He went into too way to much info in the prologue. By the time the story began I had little interest. I didn't even finish the second chapter.
He added too much genealogical research my the book. He repeated too often her relationship with her dad. He couldn't keep little facts straight.
I had been most interested with her life during Bewitched & her relationship with the cast. However, I never got close to it. He jumped around from time periods. He didn't seem to have a good grasp on exactly when things happened. For instance, Elizabeth's very acting was in the fifties on her dad's show. Later, he first tv role wasn't until much later.
He spend quite a bit of time praising himself in his friendship with Elizabeth & how many t was rare for her to give interviews etc. I was interested in he life, not his.
There was a big passage on her brother, his life and all. You may add some of that but it was far more about him than I cared to know. It just helped the book drag.
Far too much little pieces of information thrown him. I'm really surprIsed he didn't tell about her bathroom habits, as overly detailed as it was. I tried for almost a week to slog through it.
I do not recommend this book, unless you want to risk.throwing it across the room or in the trash.
Based on this book, I will not be resting anything else he may have written.