Bewitched

 Herbie, an expert on Bewitched and Elizabeth Montgomery, serves as one of the executive producers (along with Andy Strietfeld, of AMS Pictures, and Joel Eisenberg), writers and commenters on the two-hour documentary, timed to air just one day after what would have been Elizabeth’s 90th birthday (she was born April 15, 1933). Sara Gauchat, also from AMS Pictures — the studio who backed the doc, cowrote the script with Herbie. But Herbie is quick to credit countless creatives for their “dignity” and “teamwork” in bringing this film to light including, Steve Cheskin, senior vice president of programming for Reelz, as he “is the one who believed in the project from the beginning.”

“I’m just so very proud of it,” Herbie shares of the doc. “Billy Asher, Elizabeth’s son, is interviewed on it. Erin Murphy, who played Tabitha (pictured below) is interviewed on it. People like Elliott Gould, who was good friends with Elizabeth and who did the TV movie The Rules of Marriage with her. And Richard Dreyfuss, who made a guest appearance on Bewitched; one of his first ever TV screen appearances, long before Close Encounters.”

“Even though her father didn’t want her to act, she finally convinced him that that’s what she wanted to do,” Herbie shares. “She ended up making her TV debut on his show, Robert Montgomery Presents. He loved it when she married Fred Cammann, her first marriage, because he was was a sophisticated, well-respected member of the upper crust of New York City. And he had worked as a casting director and a producer on Robert Montgomery Presents, and that’s where Elizabeth met him. But Fred wants a wife, she wants stardom.”

Their marriage would only last a year, before Elizabeth falls for Gig Young (1956-63). “Her father was furious, because No. 1, Gig Young [who tragically would later kill his fifth wife and himself] was 20 years older, but he was also not a nice guy. But Elizabeth was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do this. I want to marry Gig, I think, to bug my dad.’ That was the sense of it, because she had some major daddy issues. She did. And then when she became a bigger star on TV than he ever was on the movies, it no longer became, ‘Hi, I’m Robert Montgomery, and this is my daughter, Elizabeth.’ It was, ‘Hi, I’m Elizabeth Montgomery, and this is my father, Robert.’”