Talk:Elizabeth Montgomery

Cousins

She was 6th cousin with Lizzie Borden. Every human bring on this planet has hundreds if not thousands of 6th cousins -- and just as many or more of such cousins who are once-removed. It hardly bears mentioning. 96.241.16.150 (talk) 03:14, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

You're probably right; if I count it correctly, that's something like a fifteen-degree distance in consanguity (sixth cousin alone would be 14; once-removed makes 15). That's pretty distant. TJRC (talk) 03:26, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Photo

That's a terribly dopey, unflattering photo of Elisabeth Montgomery, who was a stunning creature. I must replace it!2603:7000:B23D:C116:192A:5485:78C1:83F4 (talk) 23:59, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

Godunov Affair

1. The claim traces to a 2012 Daily Mail interview given during Pilato’s book tour. Per WP:DAILYMAIL, the Daily Mail is a deprecated source, generally prohibited for factual claims — particularly contentious claims about people.

2. The claim does not appear in either of Pilato’s books. I own the Kindle editions of Twitch Upon a Star (2012) and The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery (2013) and searched both for “Godunov,” “Alexander,” and “affair.” Godunov is not mentioned in either book. Anyone with the ebooks can verify this in seconds. So the attribution “according to Pilato” rests solely on a tabloid’s rendering of an interview, not on anything Pilato published under his own name.

3. Pilato has never repeated, confirmed, or committed this claim to print in 14 years, despite writing extensively about Montgomery since.

Given WP:BLP-adjacent caution for the recently deceased’s surviving family, WP:DAILYMAIL deprecation, and the fact that the claim is absent from the cited author’s actual published work, I’d suggest the sentence be removed, or at minimum re-attributed accurately (e.g., “a 2012 Daily Mail article attributed to Pilato the claim that…”) so readers aren’t led to believe it comes from his biographies. Interested in other editors’ views.

Gsk777 (talk) 03:59, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

Update: I have removed the sentence and the dependent death-coincidence sentence from the article, per the sourcing issues above. I have also since corresponded directly with Mr. Pilato, who confirmed the claim appears in neither of his Montgomery biographies, stated he could not confirm it, and described it as a rumor he would prefer to see die. While private correspondence cannot serve as a citation, I note it here for the record. Gsk777 (talk) 22:51, 12 July 2026 (UTC)*

Added sourced context on Asher infidelity

I have added one sentence to Personal life, cited to Pilato, Twitch Upon a Star (2012), p. 15, which states: “Asher strayed from Elizabeth throughout their marriage and into the final years of Bewitched, which ultimately led to her two-year affair with Bewitched producer/director Richard Michaels and to their subsequent divorce.” The addition is attributed to Pilato rather than stated in Wikipedia’s voice. Note I have not altered the article’s existing dates, which differ slightly from the book’s. Gsk777 (talk) 03:06, 16 July 2026 (UTC)*

Follow-up: I have consolidated the passage to avoid duplication and removed the unsupported claim that the relationship ended Bewitched. The personal-life chronology remains attributed to Pilato, without presenting one relationship as the sole cause of the series ending. Gsk777 (talk) 04:25, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Note: the infobox shows div. 1973 while both cited sources (Pilato p. 15; Independent obituary) say 1974; the discrepancy may reflect separation vs. final decree. Leaving infobox as is; flagging for any editor with access to the divorce record Gsk777 (talk) 05:03, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Bewitched series ending — added sourced explanation

I have added a sentence to the Career section explaining why the series ended despite the ninth-season renewal, cited to Pilato, Twitch Upon a Star (2012), pp. 320–322. The book states that during the eighth season (circa March 1972) Montgomery consented to a ninth year, then changed her mind and declined ABC's renewed offer, and (p. 322) that she "had chosen not to continue with the series, even though ABC had opted to renew it. She was tired." The same passage supports the article's previously uncited statement that the show was renewed for a ninth season. Gsk777 (talk) 05:28, 16 July 2026 (UTC)