List of Bewitched characters
This is a list of characters in Bewitched, an American fantasy television sitcom which aired from 1964 to 1972.
Cast
Main
Recurring
Cast notes:Main characters
Samantha Stephens
Samantha Stephens is a good witch and the show's protagonist. She is married to a mortal named Darrin Stephens and has two children by him. The daughter, Tabitha is magical. The son, Adam, is magical as well, as demonstrated in "Adam, Warlock or Washout" Samantha often has difficulty adjusting to mortal life, even though she is trying to give up using her powers. She is perhaps the most sensible character in the show; she enjoys her mother's company and is able to take her jabs at mortal life with ease. She is optimistic and treats everyone with respect, be they magical creatures, powerful witches and warlocks, or ordinary people.Darrin Stephens
Darrin Stephens, son of Frank and Phyllis Stephens, is a mortal married to Samantha. He did not know she was a witch until she told him after they got married, and tries to dissuade her from using witchcraft as much as possible, preferring to live an ordinary, mortal life. He works as a Vice President/Account Executive at the McMann & Tate Advertising agency. Dick York was unable to continue his role as Darrin because of a severe back condition, the result of an accident during the filming of They Came to Cordura in 1959. Starting during the third season, York's disability caused ongoing shooting delays and script rewrites. After collapsing while filming the episode "Daddy Does His Thing" and being rushed to the hospital in January 1969, York left the show. Dick Sargent was cast for the role that same month, and went on to play Darrin in the sixth through eighth seasons.Endora
Endora is Samantha's mother and Darrin's chief antagonist in the series. Though the credit "And Agnes Moorehead as Endora" appears in the opening credits of every episode, the character typically only appears in about half to two-thirds of the episodes of any given season.Like all witches, Endora never reveals her surname, indicating to Darrin that he would be unable to pronounce it. However, the name she uses might be related to the Biblical Witch of Endor. Endora finds mortals dull and disapproves of Darrin, as do many of Samantha's relatives. Endora refuses even to speak Darrin's name correctly, alternately calling him "Derwood", "What's-his-name", "Darwin", "Dum-Dum", etc., all much to his annoyance. She refers to him as "Darrin" only eight times during the entire series. Endora's ploys to provoke a breakup always fail, as Samantha's and Darrin's love overcomes every obstacle. Even though Endora casts countless farcical spells on Darrin, she never attempts to destroy him outright. During the first season, Endora threatens her warlock husband Maurice, after he destroys Darrin, saying that she will not have a human being on her conscience. It was one of the few times when Endora went out of her way to protect Darrin from Maurice. Endora once let Maurice kiss her. But when she realizes that, after he has kissed her and disappeared, she has contracted an illness which leaves her unable to use her powers, she is furious—until Maurice returns to gives her an antidote, and take her to "the place we used to go to on the Milky Way" to have dinner. As the series continued, Endora and Maurice's hostility to Darrin mellows to a grudging tolerance.
She does not get along with Darrin's mother, Phyllis Stephens, because she gets along too well with Phyllis's husband, Frank. But they are civil to one another in what Samantha calls "killing one another with kindness". Endora does dote on her grandchildren, Tabitha and Adam; they call her "Grandmama".
Numerous references imply that Endora is hundreds of years old. It is noted at one point that she was "not even born yet" in the 16th century, as an explanation for why her witchcraft did not work when she went back to the time of Henry VIII; however, a few episodes later she states that she was there when the cornerstone was laid at the Louvre 900 years previously.
Larry Tate
Larry Tate is Darrin's profit-obsessed boss and friend. Tate is a regular character, appearing in about half to three-quarters of the episodes of any given season. Tate's opinions turn on a dime to appease a client in an attempt to land a deal. However, there are three episodes which show evidence that Larry has deep feelings as well as having a sense of integrity. In the first season installment, "And Something Makes Three", Larry realizes he is to become a father for the first time and is almost overcome with joyful emotion. In the second-season episode, "The Magic Cabin", he sells his run-down cabin to a newlywed couple for only the price of its down payment, one fifth of his original asking price, to which they had agreed. In the seventh season Christmas episode "Sisters at Heart", Larry turns down work from a potential important client when he realizes the client is a racist.Supporting characters
Louise Tate
Louise Tate is Larry's wife and Samantha's closest mortal friend. Louise Tate was played by Irene Vernon during the first two seasons and then replaced by Kasey Rogers, who wore a short black wig to appear similar to Vernon. According to Rogers,Bill Asher noticed her tugging at the wig and asked why she was wearing it. She laughed and said, "because you told me to." He replied, "Why don't you take it off?" and she did, playing Louise with red hair for the show's final three seasons.
Gladys Kravitz
Gladys Kravitz is Samantha and Darrin's nosy neighbor who lives across the street. She often witnesses incidents of witchcraft, but never can convince her husband Abner of what she saw. The Alice Pearce version of Gladys Kravitz was nosy and confused, but generally good-hearted and was often friends with the Stephenses; Samantha and Gladys were particularly friendly, and were seen together at lunches and social events. Though she sees many strange events, and connects Samantha with many of them, Pearce's version of Gladys doesn't actually bear ill-will to Samantha. By contrast, the Sandra Gould version of Gladys Kravitz was more mean-spirited and very much an antagonist to the Stephens -- she was convinced Samantha was responsible for the strange events she kept witnessing, and was determined to expose her.Despite being a secondary character, the name "Gladys Kravitz" has gained wide societal use as a synonym for an annoying busybody.
Abner Kravitz
Abner Kravitz is Gladys's retired husband, frequently seen reading the paper, doing a crossword, or watching a sporting event. He does not believe the stories his wife tells about the unusual goings-on she claims to have seen at the Stephens household—by the time she gets him to come to the window to see some magic she has just witnessed, it is invariably all over. His sister, Harriet, stayed with him once while Gladys was out of town. Harriet also witnessed some behavior that caused her to share her sister-in-law's opinion of their neighbors. Abner again disagreed just as he always did with his wife. The Kravitzes did not appear in the final season, but they were referenced.Aunt Clara
Aunt Clara is the only one of Samantha's relatives who had a truly good relationship with Darrin. She is Samantha's bumbling, elderly, and absent-minded but lovable aunt. The well-meaning Aunt Clara's spells usually backfire, and her entrances and exits are often a grand fumble, such as entering via a chimney or colliding with a wall. She has a collection of over 3,000 doorknobs. Rather than recast the role after Marion Lorne died at the end of the fourth season, a new character was introduced in season six with Samantha's bumbling new housekeeper Esmeralda.Tabitha Stephens
Tabitha Stephens is Samantha and Darrin's older child born in season 2. She has supernatural powers. Tabitha Stephens' birth in the season 2 episode "And Then There Were Three" featured infant Cynthia Black in the role. For the remainder of the season, Tabitha was played by twins Heidi and Laura Gentry, followed by twins Tamar and Julie Young. Fraternal twin toddlers Diane Murphy and Erin Murphy were cast for the role at the beginning of season 3. In time, they began to look less alike, so Diane was dropped during season 4. Diane made several guest appearances in other roles, and filled in as Tabitha one last time in season 5's "Samantha Fights City Hall", because Erin had the mumps. The character was the focus of a spin-off series, Tabitha, initially played by Liberty Williams in the 1976 pilot and by Lisa Hartman in the short-lived 1977 series. Despite airing only five years after the end of the original series, and being set in the 1970s as were the final seasons of Bewitched, Tabitha is depicted as a 20-something college graduate in the spin-off.Adam Stephens
Adam Stephens is Samantha and Darrin's younger son. Just like his mother and older sister, he has supernatural powers. In the Tabitha TV show pilot, he is played by Bruce Kimmel and he also possessed warlock powers and a mischievous nature, but in the series itself, he was played by David Ankrum, and was often the disapproving mortal figure of the family, much like their father, Darrin was. Despite his entreaties to his sister to not use her powers, and his dismay when their Aunt Minerva encouraged her to use them, he really does love his sister very much. A continuity error switched the birth order of Tabitha and Adam.Serena
Serena is Samantha's cousin on Maurice's side. Serena is first seen in episode, #54, "And Then There Were Three".Serena looks like Samantha, with a few notable exceptions. She has raven-black cropped hair, sports a tattoo under her left eye which changes from one episode to another, often referencing the episode theme, and wears mod mini-skirts.
Serena's personality is, however, the antithesis of Samantha's. Egocentric, ever mischievous, irresponsible, and somewhat bawdy, she often flirts with Larry Tate just for sport. She occasionally dates mortals and has been known to flirt with Darrin while pretending to be Samantha. Despite her conduct and frequent co-plotting with Endora, Serena has been known to assist Samantha and Darrin, although she finds them "both a bit square".