One of the most iconic sitcoms of all time, ABC’s Bewitched ran on ABC for eight seasons between 1964 and 1972, telling the story of a witch who marries a mortal man and settles for a seemingly normal life in the suburbs. Though Elizabeth Montgomery would lead the popular show as Samantha Stephens from start to finish, the same can’t be said for the original actor who played her husband, Darrin.
If you grew up watching Bewitched, or maybe caught reruns on Nick at Nite in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there’s a good chance you have memories of Darrin Stephens randomly changing between seasons during the later years of the show. Well, this isn’t an example of the Mandela Effect. In fact, there’s quite an easy to explain yet somewhat tragic story behind the Two Darrins situation. So what happened? Let’s break it down.
Dick York Played Darrin Stephens For Five Seasons
For the majority of Bewitched’s eight-season run, the role of Darrin Stephens was played by Dick York, who received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of the character in 1968 (Don Adam from the Get Smart TV show took home the trophy for lead actor in a comedy series that year). Throughout his five seasons on the show, Stephens brought a great deal of charm and comedic timing with his take on the straight man character who tried everything he could to prevent his wife, Samantha Stephens, from using her powers (and her trademark nose twitch).
York’s time on the show was plagued by the lingering effects of an injury that was caused when a railroad car fell on him on the set of the 1959 Western, They Came to Cordura, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The injury left the actor in a state of constant pain, which he treated with heavy doses of painkillers, sleeping pills, cortisone, and other medicines after each day of shooting, the Los Angeles Times later reported. All of this led to a 1969 incident near the conclusion of Bewitched Season 5 where York could no longer portray Darrin Stephens.
York Was Replaced In 1969
Dick York, who also appeared in one of the best Twilight Zone episodes, was able to fight through the issued caused by lingering back injury and the drug addiction that followed-- thanks in part to the crew putting a board in his trailer that allowed him to stretch out or helping open the door during scenes when he lacked the strength. The actor told People Magazine this information a few years before he died in 1992. But this could only go on for so long, and it all finally came to a head when he passed out on set and had to be hospitalized.
In the same profile story, Bill Asher, a producer and director of Bewitched, as well as Elizabeth Montgomery’s former husband, said he kept York around as long as humanly possible, but it all became too much:
I persisted in keeping him because he was the best actor for the part. He had a wonderfully facile face—that’s what you need if you’re going to be married to a witch. But there came a point when he couldn’t go on.
York’s time on Bewitched would come to an end shortly after the on-set incident, and he would be replaced well before the show returned for its sixth season in 1969.
Dick Sargent Was Brought On To Play Darrin Stephens The Final Three Seasons Of Bewitched
As mentioned above, there really wasn’t that much time between Dick York’s departure and Dick Sargent’s arrival on Bewitched. Though it’s hard to pinpoint on the timeline exactly when the decision was made to have Sargent come on to take over the role of Darrin Stephens, the late Burt Metcalfe, who worked alongside the show’s producer Harry Ackerman, told the Television Academy years later that it wasn’t that long:
When the decision was made that Dick York could no longer continue, it wasn’t that long before Dick Sargent had the part. … I don’t remember, and also because I wasn’t involved with that particular show at that given time, I don’t remember kind of like an exhaustive search of who was going to play that part, I just recall that soon, prior to the decision to replace Dick York, that Dick Sargent was waiting in the wings.
Sargent, who had appeared on several sitcoms like One Happy Family, Broadside, and The Tammy Grimes Show in the mid ‘60s, would join the cast ahead of Bewitched Season 6 and hold the post until the show’s conclusion several years later.
Sargent Was Actually The First Choice For The Darrin Stephens Role But He Was Already Working On Another Show
Oddly enough, Dick Sargent was the first choice to take on the role of Darrin Stephens when Bewitched was first getting off the ground in 1964, but the actor had already accepted a spot on another show between his audition and the time the casting decision was made. In 1992, Sargent opened up about the matter in an interview with Owen Keehnen, stating:
I was set to do it originally. I had the interview and by the time they got back to me I had already signed on a series called Broadside, so Dick York got it, but I was their original choice.
Several years later, the actor and network’s stars aligned and York was able to come in and take on the role he had been forced to turn down initially.
Bewitched Ran For Three More Seasons Before Ending In 1972
Bewitched, with Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick Sargent at the top of the cast, would run for three more seasons after the actor came aboard, airing its final episode in May 1972. However, the show was never officially canceled, as Erin Murphy, the actress who played Tabitha Stephens on the series, told Fox News in 2023:
We weren’t canceled. We’d been picked up for two more seasons. So we went on our hiatus thinking we were going to come back a month or two [later], and we never did. … They sent a letter to our house [stating] that they decided to not continue.
In the same article, it was alleged that Montgomery wanted to pursue other opportunities and no longer wanted to portray Samantha Stephens. Around the same time, Montgomery’s marriage to Bill Asher was on the rocks and the pair would split for good in 1973.
Though several attempts to reboot Bewitched have fallen through over the years, the series continues to be a major part of popular culture, having been adapted into one of the final Nora Ephron movies and then later an inspiration for Marvel’s WandaVision series. And while that might not be because of the “two Darrins” situation, it’s hard to imagine the classic sitcom without either Dick York or Dick Sargent in the picture.
