The character sheet for the ABC series, Bewitched.
open/close all folders
Main Characters
Samantha Stephens
Played by: Elizabeth Montgomery
"Oh, my stars!"
An average, normal, typical suburban housewife, who has to juggle household chores, two young children, and a husband in need of support — with a few shortcuts, as she happens to be a witch.
- Alliterative Name: Samantha Stephens.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She is a kind and friendly person but push her too far and you WILL regret it.
- Category Traitor: She's seen as this by her mother and the rest of the witch community for marrying a mortal and giving in to his demands to renounce her use of witchcraft.
- Character Catchphrase: "Oh my stars!", usually said when things begin to get out of hand. The nasal way she says "Well?" (with two syllables) when she's trying to avoid answering something is also quite distinctive.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Despite her good nature, she gets very jealous when other women show interest in Darrin and it can bring out her vindictive side.
- Cute Witch: One of the best-known examples, and a huge influence on the trope because the show's popularity in Japan helped kickstart the Magical Girl genre.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: More like "Dating What Mother Hates", as her marrying a mortal causes Endora to often try to break up their marriage.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments.(After Darrin's ex-fiancée throws a party with the express purpose of humiliating her) For a while it was kind of hard to tell which witch was which.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blond-haired and too nice for her own good most of the time.
- Happily Married: Despite the witch hijinks and her family's disapproval, she and Darrin are deeply in love and devoted to each other.
- The High Queen: She was chosen by Ticheba, the Queen of the Witches, to be her heir and successor. Though Samantha limited her interactions, so that she could focus on Darrin and Tabitha, it was brought up a few times that she was the current reigning Queen, and would once in a while be requested to intervene in magical affairs.
- Housewife: To Endora's considerable ire. Especially since there was no real reason, other than Darrin's anti-magical prejudice, that she couldn't complete every single household chore with a twitch of her nose and then spend her days enjoying the leisurely pursuits common among witches. To be fair, Samantha herself seems committed to living a 'normal' mortal life, and in the pilot she, not Darrin, is the first one to suggest that she should give up magic.
- Mayfly–December Romance: She is several centuries older than Darrin and ages far more slowly than him, which concerns Darrin to no end.
- Ms. Fanservice: Notice how Elizabeth Montgomery's skirts kept getting shorter and shorter in the last few seasons (and her bra straight up disappeared in the last season). Cranked up whenever she played Serena.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: With Darrin, a regular human.
- Really 700 Years Old: The series contradicts itself and her exact age is never stated, but she was born after the 14th century and before the first Thanksgiving.
- Took a Level in Badass: With respect to her agreeableness with Darrin. In early seasons, she is easily guilted by Darrin whenever she uses her powers, and is constantly apologetic to the point of coming off as an Extreme Doormat. In later seasons (namely after York's Darrin is replaced by Sergeant), she is slower to give in to Darrin's demands, and even stubbornly goes through with using her witchcraft in spite of his objections to the point that he has no choice but to go along with it.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Successful advertising career or no, Darrin (regardless of who played him) never really had any business being married to Elizabeth Montgomery's Samantha.*
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A throwaway gag shows her raining out a ball game in order to get Darrin to teach her to drive. When this plot point is revisited, the game field is in danger of being washed away by a flash flood.
Darrin Stephens
Dick York as Darrin
Dick Sargent as Darrin
Played by: Dick York (Season 1-5) and Dick Sargent (Season 6-8)
"So my wife's a witch. Every married man has to make some adjustment."
Samantha's husband, who works for the advertising agency McMann & Tate. He only found out Samantha was a witch on their wedding night and doesn't want her to use her powers because he disapproves of witchcraft, but he is sometimes forced to concede this point when they are in a jam.
- Berserk Button: Darrin usually throws a fit whenever he catches Samantha using her witchcraft, which is the source of their conflicts in many episodes. However in later seasons, this is downplayed to mild annoyance.
- Bullying a Dragon: And that Dragon is his mother-in-law! Endora can turn Darrin into a frog or a rock, or even blast him to bits, and yet Darrin cannot stop poking that bear by making sarcastic remarks about her or even showing open hostility to Endora. His life would be a lot easier if he didn't keep on picking fights with his mother-in-law for no reason other than his own foolish pride.
- Deadpan Snarker: Very much so.Newscaster's Voice: We may be closer than we think to actually shooting a man to the moon.Darrin: (Having found out that Samantha's been to the moon) I could save them the trip.
- Dub Name Change:
- His name was changed to "Jean-Pierre" in the French dub.
- He is "James" in the Brazilian dub, for some reason.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: His desperate need to have a normal daughter results in him trying to hide Tabitha's witch heritage from her during infancy, and later forbidding her from using her witchcraft and anyone from teaching her.
- George Jetson Job Security: He seems to be in this situation, which is odd, given how often it is said that he is very well-respected in the advertising business, and presumably would get snatched up by another agency if McMann & Tate ever did fire him for more than a few hours.
- Then again, given how many times Darrin has been forced to lie to Larry about the weird effects of Endora's spells, he might be on thin ice.
- Happily Married: Despite the witch hijinks and Sam's family's disapproval, he and Sam are deeply in love and devoted to each other.
- Hypocrite: In one episode in season 2, Darrin gets into a heated dispute with Samantha over catching her using her powers (which she only used because he was rushing her), and strictly forbids her from using them ever again. Later that night when they run out of gas on their way to a party, Darrin tells Samantha to fill it up with her magic, she throws his argument back at him.Samantha: No no no. (smiles) You're right, I shouldn't use my witchcraft under any circumstances.
- Involuntary Shapeshifter: He became pretty much an honorary one after being transformed by Endora, Maurice, Serena, and other witches and warlocks through the series several times.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He very much comes across as a Jerkass at times (especially to viewers in modern times) but he's shown to love Sam and Tabitha very much and at least one episode ("I Confessed") has implied that the real reason he forbids Sam to use her powers is because he knows that bad things will happen if people discover she's a witch.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Samantha is a few hundred years older than Darrin and ages much more slowly, meaning that she will look pretty much the same as she does now when Darrin is elderly.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: With Samantha.
- Obsessively Normal: Insists that Samantha hide her magic powers, not because of any moral objections to witchcraft or any fear of her being persecuted, but solely because he is obsessed with being "normal".
- Panicky Expectant Father: While waiting for Tabitha's delivery.Man: First child?
Darrin: How could you tell?
Man: You're smoking my pipe. - Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Endora whenever Samantha is in serious danger.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: While he wasn't full-on ugly per se, he was very plain-looking next to his wife. Successful advertising career or no, Darrin (regardless of who played him) never really had any business being married to Elizabeth Montgomery's Samantha.*
- Unfazed Everyman: After a while, he takes all the supernatural happenings in stride.
- Weirdness Magnet: Aside from being married to a witch, a lot of episodes shown that Darrin's life would have been plagued by the supernatural even without Sam. He had been cursed by nymphs, was once sought after by a youth-stealing witch, possessed by ghosts, and his family once owned leprechaun servants.
Endora
Played by: Agnes Moorehead
"When will you ever learn that mother knows best? And what mother knows best is how to prove she's right!"
An old-fashioned woman... really old-fashioned. Samantha's mother Endora is the main antagonist of the show, almost always trying to drive a wedge between her and her husband. Although Endora cares deeply for her daughter and grandchildren, her ways of showing it can make little sense to anyone who isn't a thousand-year-old witch.
- Affably Evil: "Evil" is a rather strong term for her antagonism, but she remains quite friendly towards most members of the household and obviously has a lot of fun doing what she does — especially turning Darrin into various animals.
- The Ageless: Lampshaded in the first season:Endora: I'm just your mother. I won't be around forever!
Samantha: Wanna bet? - And Starring: "Agnes Moorehead as Endora".
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Despite no longer living with Maurice, she's still hostile toward any witch who tries to flirt with him. She even once had a young witch drafted into the army for this.
- Control Freak: The notion that Samantha might actually know what's better for her own life than she does is completely inconceivable to her.
- Deadpan Snarker: At least one thing she has in common with Darrin. They are both the snarkiest characters.
- Drop-In Character: She drops in on Samantha's house so often, she might as well live there. Ironically, her constant presence is lampshaded in one of the few episodes she doesn't appear in.Samantha: I have a good mind to go home to mother!
Darrin: What for?! Your mother's always here! - Even Evil Has Standards: Despite how she constantly tries to end the marriage, the one thing she never does is directly attempt to kill Darrin. In fact, when her husband does kill him, she actually threatens to move in if he doesn't resurrect him.
- Fantastic Racism: Endora is flanderized to have nothing but contempt for mortals.
- Flanderization: During the first two seasons, she's just looking out for Samantha, tolerates and actively makes the occasional attempt to get along with Darrin. During the early color seasons, she makes no secret of the fact that she hates him personally, by the final three seasons, she's an out and out racist, going as far as to refer to Darrin as 'It' on one occasion.
- If It's You, It's Okay: Despite her constant criticism of mortals, Endora frequently mentions her friendships with current and past mortal kings, queens, prime ministers, presidents, great artists, and religious/philosophical leaders; she seems to see any mortal with a drive towards greatness and a willingness to rise above the rest of the world as honorary witches even as she rails against the pettiness of most mortals. In one episode, Endora admits without any embarrassment to having had a fling with the mortal Sir Walter Raleigh. She even expresses a willingness to accept Darrin if he were a more wealthy or powerful person in those episodes in which she uses her magic to bring Darrin fiscal riches or enchants his personality to make him more worldly ambitious and financially successful.
- Jerkass: Endora, as a mortal, would more than likely already be insufferable to deal with. But the fact that she has an almost limitless supply of magic makes dealing with her hell, as Darrin fully was aware. On those occasions when she lost her powers, she would pitifully manipulate him into waiting on her hand and foot.
- Malicious Misnaming: Loves to call Darrin all sorts of "D" names (Darwin, Derwood, Dumbo, etc.) just to get under his skin. She only calls him "Darrin" a total of eight times throughout the series.
- Meaningful Name: Her name, "Endora", is a reference to the Biblical Witch of Endor
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Her main role in the story is to engineer many and varied schemes to drive Darrin away.
- Really 700 Years Old: She admits to being over 1000.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Darren whenever Samantha is in serious danger.
- Vague Age: At two separate points in the final season. She alludes to being around since the year 1000, yet a few episodes later she claims to not have been born until after the 16th century. However since witches are shown to be capable of time travel, this may not necessarily be a continuity error.
Larry Tate
Played by: David White
"You son-of-a-gun!"
Darrin's boss.
- And Starring: Starting in Season Six, "And David White as Larry Tate".
- Benevolent Boss: Is very friendly with Darrin and values him as an employee as well as a friend.
- Catchphrase: "You son of a gun!"
- Everyone Has Standards: Larry will almost always force himself and Darrin to go along with some of their clients' morally questionable behaviors. However he will absolutely not tolerate a racist, as shown in "Sisters at Heart" where he chases off a client who refused to work with Darrin when he thought he was married to an African-American woman. He also won't put up with anyone insulting Darrin or Samantha and by extension their families, as seen in "Aunt Clara's Victorian Victory."
- Intergenerational Friendship: He is about 10-15 years older than Darrin, and is his best friend in addition to his boss.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He genuinely cares about Darrin and Samantha. Even though he sometimes lets his greed get the better of him, there are occasions when even he will refuse a client's offer if they turn out to be scumbags.
- Mr. Vice Guy: One of his most prominent vices is sucking up excessively to clients and potential clients for the sake of profit. The occasions when he decides to value principles over money.
- Opinion Flip-Flop: He sometimes says that one of Darrin's ideas is terrible, right until a client loves it, at which point he is suddenly all for it.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Zigzagged. Most of the time he treats Darrin and other employees fairly, but sometimes his pursuit of clients for profit pushes common decency out of the picture.
Tabitha Stephens
Played by: Erin Murphy and Diane Murphy
"I don't know why we just don't tell everyone we're witches."
Samantha and Darrin's daughter, born in Season 2.
- Breakout Character: She had two spin-offs focused on her and became a main character on Passions. Some people even mistake Samantha's name for Tabitha, probably due to it being a witchier-sounding name.
- Child of Two Worlds: She's part-human, part-witch. Her existence is quite controversial amongst the witch community due to being the product of a Maligned Mixed Marriage.
- Children Are Innocent: Despite her and Adam's human heritage being frowned upon by the witch community, almost all the witches who have met them find the two children most endearing. Unfortunately, a season 4 episode shows that, should humans discover the children's witch heritage, they would not be so merciful.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Tabitha and her brother Adam, being half-human and half-witch, were the subject of considerable controversy amongst witches (and probably would have been among humans had the truth about them been known).
- Trademark Favorite Food: According to Endora, she loves chocolate pudding.
Adam Stephens
Played by: David and Greg Lawrence
Samantha and Darrin's son and Tabitha's younger brother, born in season 6.
- Child of Two Worlds: He's part-human, part-warlock. His existence is quite controversial amongst the witch community due to being the product of a Maligned Mixed Marriage.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Like his sister, he's part warlock, part human.
Other Witches/Warlocks
Maurice
Played by: Maurice Evans
"She walks in beauty like the night..."
Samantha's father. The nature of his relationship with Endora is ambiguous.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Even though he and Endora frequently clash when put in the same room together, they occasionally have their moments that show that they still are fond of each other.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Is so enraged at Samantha's choice of husband that he magically destroys Darrin. It is telling that even Endora, who is usually Darrin's antagonist, becomes his protector in this episode and blackmails Maurice into restoring him.
- Domestic Abuse: Implied to be the case when he and Endora used to live together. Notably, he points out in "Just One Big Happy Family" that she had grown stronger when she stands up to him to defend Darrin. In "Witches and Warlocks are My Favorite Things", he outright threatens her.
- Fantastic Racism: He is the most prejudiced member of Samantha's family regarding mortals, so much so that he obliterated Darrin out of sheer spite, which even Endora was appalled by. He eventually develops a grudging respect for Darrin as time goes by.
- If It's You, It's Okay: Despite his criticism of mortals, Maurice frequently mentions his friendships with current and past mortal kings, queens, prime ministers, presidents, great artists, and religious/philosophical leaders; he seems to see any mortal with a drive towards greatness and a willingness to rise above the rest of the world as honorary witches even as he rails against the pettiness of most mortals. He even expresses a willingness to accept Darrin if he were a more wealthy or powerful person in those episodes in which he uses his magic to bring Darrin fiscal riches and power.
- Large Ham: He chews the scenery at every opportunity, and his entrances are accompanied by grand gestures and Shakespearian verse.
Aunt Clara
Played by: Marion Lorne
"I've gone and witched the whole thing up."
Samantha's kind, elderly, absent-minded aunt. Her spells often backfire, unintentionally causing chaos, and she regularly messes up her entrances into the Stephens' household, having to be helped out of the closet, the fireplace, or the summerhouse.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear if her weakening powers are some kind of senility problem (akin to Alzheimer's in a mortal) or simply the result of her advanced age. Other elderly witches have full control of their abilities, but some younger ones (like Esmeralda) struggle with their own, so there is evidence for and against both explanations.
- Been There, Shaped History: Incidents in her long past include causing the Northeast Blackout of 1965 and serving as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After Aunt Clara's final appearance in "Alias Darrin Stephens" (owing to Marion Lorne's death), she practically vanishes from everyone's memory. There's no in-universe explanation for her absence, and Samantha never brings her up again despite having described Clara as her favorite aunt.
- Cool Old Lady: "There's No Witch Like an Old Witch" establishes her as this for the children in the neighborhood—her magical tricks with their toys and games make her seem like the most awesome grandmother around. She also serves as one to Samantha and Darrin, actively using her powers to help them when possible and even siding with them against other mages.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Most of the time Clara is absent-minded with spotty control over her magic. On those occasions when she gets to firing on all cylinders, however, she's able to put on some fairly serious displays of power that send other witches running.
- Friend to All Children: She gets on exceptionally well with kids. The episode "There's No Witch Like an Old Witch" is all about this—she has been feeling down on herself, but perks up when she gets the chance to watch a married couple's little boy for the night so they and the Stephens can go out. Her magical abilities win him over, and soon every child in town is clamoring for Clara to babysit them, too.
- Historical Rap Sheet: She causes the Northeast Blackout of 1965 when she tries to use magic on some candles.
- Good Old Ways: An old-fashioned sort of woman, who dresses in fashions more suitable for the early twentieth century than the 60's. The episode "Aunt Clara's Victoria Victory" explores this trope—after she accidentally pulls Queen Victoria from the past, the monarch decides that she's been summoned to clean up what she views as the moral decay of the mid-1900s. Clara agrees and even wants to help Victoria on the mission.
- Inept Mage: Her spells frequently backfire and produce an effect other than intended.
- Noodle Incident: Amongst others, she is introduced stumbling to Samantha's house, having crash-landed on a motorway.
- Porky Pig Pronunciation: Had a tendency to start stammering when she was flustered and the more flustered she was, the worse it got.
- Power Incontinence: Regularly suffered from this.
- Put on a Bus:
The character was retired after the death of Marion Lorne in 1968, which is something considering that this show is the Trope Namer for The Other Darrin. - Scatterbrained Senior: She is very absent-minded.
- Sticky Fingers: She cannot help but steal doorknobs from anywhere she goes, no matter the situation. She casually steals a hundred and five doorknobs from the client of the week's house, when she's supposed to be helping with a protest, and halfway though a busy London convention, she waltzed in with a huge doorknob she acquired for her collection. This is an interesting bit of Actor-Inspired Element—Marion Lorne actually did have a massive doorknob collection that she'd amassed over the years.Endora: She'd taken it from Buckingham Palace.
- Token Good Teammate: While Samantha's family isn't exactly "evil," per se, their magical hijinks do cause a lot of trouble for Sam and especially Darrin; some take it even further and actively attempt to break the two up because of their prejudice against mortals. Clara, however, doesn't have a cruel or prejudiced bone in her body, and whatever magic messes she creates are always born of a genuine desire to help the pair or an honest mistake on her part. Accordingly, Aunt Clara is the only member of the family who Darrin consistently likes, as he understands that, unlike her relatives, she's not deliberately trying to harm him.
- Truth in Television: At the time Bewitched came out, it was genuinely believed that senility and feebleness are inevitable and inescapable consequences of aging, not realizing how much of this came instead from having had childhoods during the Great Depression and earlier and how much of this would be countered by modern medicine, and so modern notions of Alzheimers and such do not apply to the assumptions of the series. Science Marches On indeed! For this reason, many of the episodes involving Aunt Clara include a plea to the audience to show compassion for their elders and what was believed to be inevitable losses (of the sort famously recounted in Shakespeare's All the world's a stage monologue).
- White Sheep: The sweetest member of Sam's family and the only one who both likes Darrin (and Darrin can't help but be fond of her as well despite his frustration with her out-of-control magic) and is not prejudiced against mortals.
Uncle Arthur
Played by: Paul Lynde
"I've just gotta fly, it's in my blood!"
Samantha's uncle and Endora's brother, an incorrigible prankster.
- Ascended Extra: Of a sort. Paul Lynde first appeared as Samantha's driving instructor, but the rapport Elizabeth Montgomery and the rest of the cast formed with him resulted in the creation of Uncle Arthur as a regular.
- Cool Uncle: Despite him being prone to be a practical joker, he is one of the few members of Samantha's family to genuinely like Darrin.
- The Hyena: He laughs madly very often, especially after he pulls a practical joke.
- Iconic Sequel Character: He's one of the most iconic recurring characters in the series alongside Cousin Serena, but only debuted in season 2.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Like the majority of Samantha's relatives, he doesn't have much use for mortals and is known to insult them on a regular basis. However, he does show decency toward Darrin and admits that he likes him, which is more than most of the witches and warlocks on the show can say. It helps that the two have a common enemy in Endora.
- Prone to Tears: Downplayed. It's not unusual for him to disappear to "pout" if Darrin says or does something to upset him, or even engage in almost childish disputes with Endora if he doesn't get his way.
- Pungeon Master: He can't resist making puns in every situation—and often conjures up whatever he's quipping about to help. In his debut episode, for example, he offers Darrin some cream for his coffee—and promptly summons a cow with the line "I just can't help milking a joke!"
- Really 700 Years Old: Uncle Arthur resembles a man in his late 40's, but has been around for centuries. He and Endora seem to be roughly the same age, given that they share stories about being on opposing sides of the American Civil War.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: One of the best things about watching him quarrel with Endora or Darrin. "Son, in a battle of wits with me, you're unarmed." "Endora, every time I remember we're related by blood, I long for a transfusion."
-
Spiritual Successor to Aunt Clara (even though that position had been intended for Esmeralda) after Marion Lorne's passing. He becomes the new Friend to All Children, such as playing "stage magician" at Tabitha's birthday; he becomes the new Inept Mage, with hilarious doubletakes when something goes wrong in the tradition of Aunt Clara (such as when he tried to conjure a cottontail bunny and conjured instead a cocktail bunny); he carries on Aunt Clara's role as the Token Good Teammate, defending Darrin from Endora and the Witch's Council at times and even admitting he likes Darrin even though that never stops him from pranking him. - The Trickster: His most prominent trait.
Cousin Serena
Played by: Elizabeth Montgomery (credited as Pandora Spocks)note
"Innocence is not my bag."
Samantha's fun-loving cousin.
- Affectionate Nickname: She's fond of calling Larry "cotton-top", in a way that implies she Likes Older Men.
- Emotional Maturity Is Physical Maturity: Like Samantha, she is several hundred years old, but looks very young and behaves like a teenager.
- Evil Twin: Very much downplayed; Crazy Twin would be more accurate. She looks like Samantha, is kooky, unrestrained, and not at all fond of Darrin, but she's certainly not evil.
- Facial Markings: A makeup based one on her cheek, usually a heart, but she'll sometimes change it to something else.
- Iconic Sequel Character: She's one of the most iconic recurring characters in the series alongside Uncle Arthur, but she isn't introduced until the second season. Rumor has it that Serena was originally meant to be Sam's sister, until they decided that they didn't want a case of Remember the New Guy? and thought that a never-before-seen-or-mentioned cousin would raise fewer eyebrows.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite her spats with Darrin, it's not so much because he's not a warlock, but rather because he's a square, and she approves of Samantha's marriage to a mortal, at one point joining a dating service to try to find a mortal husband in imitation of her cousin Samantha. This support led to her and Uncle Arthur losing their powers when the Witches Council threatened to de-power Samantha for her mixed marriage. She is also not prejudiced against mortals like the majority of Samantha's family.
- Large Ham: Elizabeth Montgomery clearly had a blast playing Serena.
- Likes Older Men: She clearly has a thing for Larry Tate, and once dated an older, rich mortal man when her powers were temporarily stripped away (though that particular case may have been for other reasons). Though in her case, she is actually older than both of them, making this a gender-flipped case.
- Ms. Fanservice: She is as attractive as Samantha (of course), but considerably less modest. Miniskirts and swimsuits weren't rare for her.
- The Tease: Is fond of turning guys on for shits and giggles.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Naturally she looks just like Samantha with dark hair.
- Vocal Evolution: Elizabeth Montgomery's voice for Serena got hammier and hammier.
Esmeralda
Played by: Alice Ghostley
A witch who serves as the Stephens' housekeeper/nanny in the final three seasons.
- Historical Rap Sheet: She caused the Leaning Tower of Pisa to lean when trying conjure up a sandwich.
- Inept Mage: Her spells frequently backfire or otherwise mess up.
- Power Incontinence: When Esmeralda sneezed, strange objects would temporarily appear, and hilarity would ensure. Also, when she became nervous (and she was nervous a lot), she would become invisible.
- Prone to Tears: She falls apart (literally fading away) at the slightest hint of criticism.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Aunt Clara, as the Inept Mage of the show.
- Tilting Tower of Pisa: Feeling terrible about causing the Tower of Pisa to lean, she once tried to straighten it out. She succeeded...except that it was a popular landmark because of it was leaning.
Dr. Bombay
Played by: Bernard Fox
A womanizing witch doctor, almost always accompanied by a buxom assistant in a nurse's outfit.
- Ultimate Job Security: No matter how many times he messes up his diagnosis, Endora and Samantha still use him as their family physician.
Recurring Characters
Louise Tate
Irene Vernon as Louise
Kasey Rogers as Louise
Played by: Irene Vernon (Seasons 1-2) and Kasey Rogers (Seasons 3-8)
"What are you trying to hide?"
Larry's wife, and Samantha's closest mortal friend.
- Disproportionate Retribution: In "Samantha Loses Her Voice," she is on the verge of collapse, and intends on divorcing Larry... all because he didn't choose her to be on his volley ball team.
- Satellite Character: She basically just serves as Larry's wife and Samantha's friend.
Gladys Kravitz nee Gruber
Alice Pearce as Gladys
Sandra Gould as Gladys
Played by: Alice Pearce (Season 1-2) and Sandra Gould (Season 3-8)
"I came over for a snoop... uh, a scoop of sugar."
Samantha and Darrin's neighbor from the other side of the street. She can be seen regularly peering into their windows, and witnesses many instances of witchcraft, but is never able to convince her husband Abner of what she has seen.
- Alliterative Name: Her maiden name is Gladys Gruber.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite all of the bickering, she and Abner truly love and are devoted to each other.
- Butt-Monkey: Is frequently subject to this, going back to the early first season.Gladys: Nobody asks me. They just say, "Gladys, go sit down in front of a cement mixer."
- The Cassandra: Abner never believes her, and responds to her crazy stories by telling her to take her medicine. This trope is fortunate, considering the damage she could do to the witches otherwise.
- Catchphrase: "ABNER!"
- Highschool Sweethearts: One episode reveals that she and Abner were this when they were younger.
- Nosy Neighbor: She so epitomizes this trope that her name has entered the American lexicon as a shorthand for a busy-body who gossips about their neighbors.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After Alice Pearce was replaced by Sandra Gould, Gladys went from a well-meaning but nosy neighbor to an out-and-out antagonist to Samantha. Although she eventually mellows out somewhat.
Abner Kravitz
Played by: George Tobias
"Gladys, let's play house. You be the door and I'll shut you."
Gladys' husband. He never witnesses the instances of magic that she tries to bring to his attention, and assumes that she is delusional.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite all of the bickering, he and Gladys truly love and are devoted to each other
- Deadpan Snarker: Often snarks about his wife being silly and delusional.
- Henpecked Husband: Downplayed. He goes along with Gladys's attempts to show him the strange things that she has seen, and allows her to lead him to the Stephenses' door or window repeatedly, and doesn't object to her audacious behavior with anything more than mockery.
- Heroic BSoD: Experiences one in a hilarious moment when watching a neighborhood fashion show. He sees a woman modeling an eye-catchingly beautiful dress, only for her to turn around and reveal herself as Gladys.
- Highschool Sweethearts: One episode reveals that he and Gladys were this when they were younger.
- Nice Guy: Despite his bickering with Gladys and his snarky nature, he is genuinely a decent man and is respectful and neighborly to Darrin and Samantha.
- Only Sane Man: He usually remains calm and level-headed, especially when Gladys attempts to show him proof of Samantha's magic, which he almost never manages to glimpse. He usually responds by reminding Gladys to take some nerve medicine.
- Unfazed Everyman: One of the reasons Gladys could never convince him that there was something unusual about Samantha, is that on the rare occasions he did see something strange, he didn't regard it as out of the ordinary. For example, in one episode, Samantha's Dr. Bombay gets turned into a horse. While waiting to be turned back, he passes the time by playing a game of chess. When Abner finds out there's a chess-playing horse at the Stevens house... he challenges it to a game.
Charlie Leach
Played by: Robert Strauss
"I have proof that you're a full-blooded cauldron-stirring witch! And if you don't give me what I want, I'm gonna blow the whistle on you."
A conniving private investigator who knows that Samantha is a witch and tries to blackmail her, with disastrous results.
- Bullying a Dragon: He is only a mere mortal who is knowingly attempting to blackmail and pester a powerful witch and her family. No matter how many times Samantha uses spells on him, he won't quit.
- Butt-Monkey: He frequently ends up suffering some kind of misfortune and he deserves every bit of it.
- Greed: His main motive to blackmail Samantha is due to this. In his first appearance, he demanded that Sam redo his apartment, give him a car and fancy new clothes and in his second, he demanded a million dollars as ransom.
- Jerkass: Out of all the mortals who knew about witches, he was probably the worst about it. While the rest of the people at least had the (implied) justification of being afraid of what witches would do with their powers, he instead blackmails Samantha into giving him gifts with her powers.
- Meaningful Name: He lives up to his last name with gusto, trying to leech everything he believes he deserves off of Sam.
- Too Dumb to Live: It is only because of Sam's own morals that is keeping her back, but had it been someone like Endora, Maurice, Serena or Arthur who have no qualms with attacking mortals, he would have been destroyed long ago.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Ugly guy to Charmaine's Hot Wife.
- Unwanted Spouse: His wife Charmaine thinks he is a deadbeat and crazy for talking about witches.
Charmaine Leach
Played by: Virginia Martin
"What did I do to deserve this? I thought I was marrying Peter Gunn. Instead I end up with Peter Rabbit."
Charlie Leach's frustrated wife. She thinks her husband is insane due to all of the "witch nonsense".
- Deadpan Snarker: Often snarks about her husband being a deadbeat and delusional.
- No Accounting for Taste: It's never shown WHY she married Charlie but it is obvious that she regrets that decision.
- Satellite Love Interest: She doesn't have much of a personality of her own, other than to serve as Charlie Leach's wife.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Hot wife to Charlie's ugly guy.
- Unwanted Spouse: She and Charlie argue a lot and she thinks that he is a deadbeat and insane for talking about witches.
Sheila Summers
Played by: Nancy Kovack
Darren's evil ex-girlfriend and Samantha's rival.
- Alliterative Name: Her full name is Sheila Summers.
- Alpha Bitch: She is a rare adult version of this. She even pulled an It's a Costume Party, I Swear! on Samantha. Twice!
- Arranged Marriage: In the episode where Endora shows Sam how much better off Darrin would be if they never met. Darrin's very successful, but confesses to the bartender that their families encouraged him to propose to Sheila. When he meets Sam, the spark he feels is enough for him to call off the wedding.
Phyllis Stephens
Played by: Mabel Albertson
Darrin's strait-laced mother who visits occasionally but never learns of Samantha's supernatural powers.
- Friendly Enemy: With Endora. As Sam puts it, they are "killing each other with kindness".
- Individuality Is Illegal: A less severe form. Phyllis is so devout a conformist that she becomes physically ill "with a sick headache" at anything unconventional. At one point, she notices Serena using an enormous hourglass in which the sand flows upward instead of down (a not uncommon real world novelty item at the time using mirrors) and asks Serena to get rid of it entirely because just the sight of its strangeness is making her sick.
- Jerkass: In every episode she appears in, Phyllis is condescending and disapproving of nearly everyone who isn't her. She is one of the few characters in the entire series to dislike Aunt Clara and outright calls Samantha "selfish" for not allowing her to control how Tabitha is raised. On those rare occasions when Endora tries to help Darrin, she treats him better than his own mother treats him.
- My Beloved Smother: Especially in her first appearance, where she is intensely critical, and later jealous of, Samantha. Phyllis is especially upset to learn that Darrin and Samantha figured out that he was allergic to her signature dish, which he liked but had always had problems after eating.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Of the mortal variety. Phyllis is passive-aggressively antagonistic towards Samantha and is not above badmouthing her during a "polite" conversation with Serena, who gets annoyed and turns Phyllis into a cat.
Frank Stephens
Played by: Robert F. Simon and later Roy Roberts
Darrin's laid-back father.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: He is much more relaxed and laid back than his son is, that's for sure.
- The Other Darrin: He was first played by Robert F. Simon and later by Roy Roberts.
Dave
Played by: Gene Blakely
A barfly Darrin sometimes shares his troubles with, even though he never listens past the first sentence.
- The Alleged Expert: In his own words, "Yeah, you came to the right guy for advice, Darrin. I'm an expert. I know everything about marriage. That's why I'm still single."
- No Full Name Given: Even in the cast list, his name is only ever given as "Dave".
- No Listening Skills: When he gets going, he doesn't hear a single word Darrin says, which works out well because it allows Darrin to talk through his problems without fear of actually being heard.
- One Scene, Two Monologues: All his scenes with Darrin are based on this trope, as Dave is always monologuing about his philosophy of marriage, regardless of what Darrin has just said.
One-Shot Characters
Liza Randall
Played by: Cheryl Holdridge
A high school student who once interviewed Darrin.
- Likes Older Men: She is a high school student who once tried to seduce Darrin.
- Ms. Fanservice: Wears a very
◊ figure-hugging dress◊ when she tries to seduce Darrin.
Marvin "Monster" Grogan
Played by: Roger Ewing
Liza Randall's very jealous boyfriend.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He is violently jealous and very possessive of Liza and would have assaulted Darrin, had it not been for Samantha.
- Likes Older Women: Despite dating Liza, he was briefly infatuated with Samantha.
Merle Brocken
Played by: Craig Hundley
A ten year-old warlock whom Samantha babysat.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He acts polite around his parents and Samantha, but is willing to use magic to screw with everyone if he can get away with it.
- Bratty Half-Pint: And how!
