William Asher & Elizabeth Montgomery

I had no idea, either! Peter should be on our "people who are still alive" thread.

He was sexy. They were a hot couple.

Bewitched was created by Sol Saks. Asher directed several episodes before producing the series from the fourth season onwards.

R3 But what did he do for Joyce Bulifant?

Bill Asher gave us The Paul Lynde Show right after Bewitched ended.

I always thought he looked dumpy and that she could have done better.

William Asher was OFFENSIVE looking he was so ugly. I figure Elizabeth got a few extra jobs by being married to IT.

R7 I never cared for Robert Foxworth. I guess Gig Young was her best looking husband, but he was a hot mess.

[quote]I guess Gig Young was her best looking husband, but he was a hot mess.

He died by suicide after killing his wife. But, yeah, "hot mess" is one way of putting it.

After she divorced Gil, Elizabeth clipped all her friends including Dominick and Ellen Dunne . Mrs Dunne was very hurt . There were no calls no closure, and when Dominic was walking his dog on the street in Beverly Hills Elizabeth passes by and looked at him like he was a complete stranger.

R9 It’s the only way to put it.

Liz was a friend of the gays way before it was fashionable and I’ve never read anything bad about her. Maybe Dom deserved a snub.

Robert Foxworth was hot, but we best remember him from an era where he unfortunately wore Photogray® glasses.

R12 I agree. I have no doubt that Dominic Dunne was insufferable company, unless you were someone like Betsy Bloomingdale or Nan Kempner, in which case his tongue would be far up your ass.

R14, but Lenny Dunne was a wonderful lady and she and Liz were close .

1966

Bewitched was way before I was born, but who hasn't watched some Bewitched? Elizabeth Montgomery is every kind of casual cool beauty and realness in that pic at R2. Look up pretty in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of Montgomery or Kelly Preston. Sometimes "pretty" is far more engaging than beautiful. She makes me happy.

Bill & Liz

Read all about 'em!

Why do people post nonsense like OP did? There is no way that the person with Peter Lupus and Annette is William Asher. And don't cite some silly source on the internet. Anyone with two eyes, a brain, and a calendar can figure out that that is not Asher. The linked photo here is Asher with Lucy (he directed over half of the "I Love Lucy" episodes), at least 10 years before "Muscle Beach Party." Do you believe in reverse aging? Asher was nearly 45 when "Muscle Beach Party" was made.

Funny, R20, it looks like William Asher to me

I loved Lucy in Muscle Beach Party.

I’ve read on several occasions that Liz had a dark side.

R19 I read that! Joyce has some entertaining anecdotes about her once mother-in-law, Helen Hayes, but that’s about it.

I always noticed that, maybe because Asher had previously worked a good deal over a period on the "I Love Lucy" show in the late '50s, Liz as Samantha in "Bewitched" seems to have a lot of little "Lucy Ricardo"-like tics and gestures in her comic reactions, e.g. when she's mouth-wide-open-surprised by something outrageous, or doing her little-voice "WeeeellllllLLLLLLL......!!!!???" when confronted by Darrin, her "Bewtiched" version of the husband threat that Ricky was for Lucy, etc. And then after she was no longer with Asher in the show's last season, and she totally revamped her image making Samantha seem not even like the same character anymore, it almost felt as if in real life Samantha would've been having a major midlife women's lib-era crisis, and probably cheating on Darin..!

[quote]Read all about 'em!

I 'd really rather not, thanks.

I like the bald, stocky Asher better than the musclemen in OP's pic. I'm just funny that way.

So do I, R27. I think Asher looks damn sexy in some of the photos posted here.

Threads like this send me down rabbit holes of links. William Asher was a sexy/virile looking guy for many years and fertile as well - he fathered six children... nice! I read the Wiki page; Asher's tenure in early TV is very interesting... he seems to have been a hard working guy, learning and absorbing a lot in the early days of TV. He must have been doing something right to have worked for so long with Lucy and Desi.

Elizabeth has quite the history with men and marriage, doesn't she? I guess the furry R Foxworth made her happiest, they were involved for 20 years. Quick note: I saw Foxworth perform the role of George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at Hartford Stage, decades ago. I enjoyed his performance. Marlo Thomas (!) was Martha... m'eh. Start of the play was delayed so Phil Donohue could escort Bella Abzug to their seats... Christ that was obnoxious!

Gig Young... unhappy man and to end it all in a murder/suicide? Wow, not common and a really sad end. His behavior toward his daughter's mother during the divorce? Not. Very. Nice.

I don’t think the guy in OP's pic is Asher. That guy has round sticking-out Russell Tovey type ears. Asher's ears are longer and flatter, and don’t stick out, as can be seen in R18's pic. Also by 1962 when that photo was taken, Asher was pretty bald, and the bodybuilder has a full head of hair. See the pic below with Patty Duke in 1963.

Good detective work, r30.

It's not William Asher. There was a whole series of photos taken with Lupus, Annette and the third guy, and you can tell in these that it's not Asher at all.

Florence Henderson was a whore! Slept with Sherwood for her role. It was mine!

I looked up all the beefcake bodybuilder actors from Muscle Beach Party and I don't think he's one of them. They must have hired a different bodybuilder for those promotional photos.

Bill Asher was the brother of bi-sexual predator Betty Asher, who worked for Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling at MGM. When Judy Garland moved out of her mother's house (after her 1939 marriage to a family friend whom Judy hated) Betty was assigned to be her minder, pretending to be Judy's friend, became her roommate and reported on Judy's every move. According to some, they even became lovers. Betty sabotaged Judy's romance with Tyrone Power by lying and spreading rumors about Tyrone discussing their relationship unfavorably, and when Judy found out they were lies, threw Betty to the curb.

I agree with R 32 and others. That's clearly Peter Lupus and a very young William Shatner holding the surfboard in OP's pic.

WHET the Strickling files guy?

R29 Asher is a rabbit hole! He also adopted Bulifant’s son from her marriage before him to soap opera Edward Mallory; Mallory was not father material. Mallory married 1970s TV regular Suzanne Zenor (here with Woody Allen) and locked her up and threw away the key, although I think Suzanne became disillusioned with the rat race after being cast then dropped as Samantha (aka Chrissy) in one of the pre-Suzanne Somers pilots.

Gig Young was really good in his comeback…They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Awesome, dark movie. He won an Oscar in 1970 and expected great things….but nada. Just like his original bout with fame 20 years before. He had six wives.

I've never heard this before: According to author Herbie J Pilato, Montgomery had an affair with Alexander Godunov while she was with Foxworth but not yet married to him.[14][15] By sheer coincidence, Godunov died the same day as she did.

Peter Lupus, though.

It's not Asher, it was a pic for Annette's album cover for Muscle Beach Party. But I give OP credit for trying, because the guy is not named anywhere. Even Brian's Drive-in, which is an expert on retro hunk, couldn't identify him.

It would make sense if it was one of the other muscle dudes from the movie, but none seem to match. The closest one I could see would be Gene Shuey.

This thread also sent me down the wiki rabbit hole. Samantha and the two darrins all died relatively young.

Gene Shuey a few years before he was in Muscle Beach Party.

R39 Was he still with Jackie Bisset at that point?

R42 Elizabeth was such a major TV star. All those great TV movies she did after Bewitched. I loved the one where she played Lizzie Borden.

She wanted to play the lead in Dominick Dunne’s TV movie adaptation of Two Mrs Greenville’s and he heard she desperately wanted the role . He was still bitter after the abandonment and blacklisted her! Ha ha . When he found out she was dying of cancer years later, he softened and wrote her a letter . She responded and asked to give part of the eulogy on her life during the time he knew her. She clipped everyone.

R41 How old do you think guy on left/not Asher would be today? Could I still do him? I saw 80+ Jack LaLanne on a flight to LA 15ish years ago. He was flirting with the flight attendants and was still sexy. Petite, but tight.

[quote]Dick York, furiously masturbating

I have never masturbated furiously. Enthusiastically, yes, but never furiously.

R46 She was prickly and a spoiled child of Hollywood her entire life…all the more credit to her acting ability and high Q rating. Claudette was superb in The 2 Mrs. Gs. Ann-Margret was serviceable…albeit a little old and too warm. Needed more of a hot conniver. Who do you think could have torn that role up at that time?

R40? Right? I just want to climb that tree. I would feel safe with him.

R50, I used to run in the same circle as a young NYC hustler that was a dead ringer for Peter Lupus with those big brown Hollywood eyes you could fall into.

He was such a sweetheart too. He was a bit of a Tina whore though, I was willing to overlook that, but nada.

Aren’t there nudes of Peter Lupus out there somewhere?

thanks for bringing me back to DL!

R38 One of Elizabeth’s and Bill’s kids owns a bespoke guitar shop. I think that is one of the best outcomes for children of entertainment industry wealth: something esoteric and tailored to their personal interests.

Ann-Margret & Colbert

One of the sons married Jenny McCarthy, sired an autistic kid, dumped her and started McCarthy on the anti-vaxxer path.

the boys

R42 Meanwhile, the life expectancy of the cast of Mission Impossible has been surprisingly robust: Lupus, Bain, Lynda Day George, Lesley Ann Warren. Well, the women, at least.

Thanks, R57. Seeing that clip makes me think it was Gene Shuey in OP's pic. Go to the 4:30 mark when they introduce the line-up. Gene Shuey is the fourth one introduced, named "Riff" (the one who whistles and bounces his pecs).

Sol Saks got the creator credit, although Harry Ackerman (the original executive produce) helped develop the format. Asher was the main director in the early years but others --Danny Arnold, Jerry Davis had the producer credit and the shows reflected their sensibility.

Elizabeth didn't stay married (or at least faithful) to anyone for very long. Gig Young often was described as the perfect actor type--extremely vain, but it took her awhile to realize this. She began an affair with "Bewitched" director Richard Michaels before the show ended and that ended her marriage to Asher.

[quote] She began an affair with "Bewitched" director Richard Michaels before the show ended and that ended her marriage to Asher.

That was not her, that was her cousin Serena who had the affair.

R52) When I was a senior in HS, I was friends with some of the female teachers. One night, one teacher and I went over to another teacher’s house. I had to go to the bathroom. I went into the bathroom and above the commode was the centerfold of Peter Lupus. They had a big smile on their face when I walked out of the bathroom, but nothing was ever said.

She was the runner up to Eva Marie Saint for the role in On The Waterfront. I’d snub Dominick Dunne too. Insufferable.

😍 Lizzy Likey

[quote]She was the runner up to Eva Marie Saint for the role in On The Waterfront.

Saint won an Oscar for her work on the film, but Montgomery(and Bewitched) are probably more fondly remembered.

Was Peter Lupus the guy on the original Mission Impossible or an I confused?

R66) Yes, Peter Lupus was on MI

R55 I assume you're joking. Your photo is of the REAL Mrs William Woodward Jr on the left and her mother in law Mrs William Woodward Sr on the right. The younger Mrs Woodward 'accidentally' shot her husband in the 50s. Her mother in law supposedly covered up the murder to protect her grandsons and the memory of her late son even though she was convinced her daughter in law had done it. Eventually, both Woodward Jr and her two sons killed themselves over the next 20 years.

Elizabeth Montgomery was a big ole slut. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Bewitched had the gayest cast in tv history. Weren’t Liz and Dick York the only straights?

Lizzie has a difficult relationship with her cold narcissistic father Robert Montgomery, who ultimately abandoned Elizabeth, her younger brother, and her mother for a younger woman.

Elizabeth's relationship with her father was remarkably similar to Jane Fonda's relationship with her cold and distant father Henry. Elizabeth had the advantage of a loving mother to support her, but she was never able to find any reconciliation with Robert Montgomery before his death.

Elizabeth spent a lot of years working through those issues, and it took a toll on her personal relationships. Of all her husbands, William Asher seems to have been the most obvious father-figure.

The success of the series "Bewitched" exceeded everyone's expectations. It was the first Top Ten series ABC had ever produced until that time - it stayed in the Top Ten (or eleven) rated series for the first 5 seasons.

While that success buoyed Bill and Elizabeth's relationship in the early years, it ultimately contributed to the demise of their relationship. ABC kept throwing money and production deals to Bill and Elizabeth to extend the run of "Bewitched". Bill has said he made the mistake of committing to all those sweetheart deals from ABC at the expense of his marriage.

After a time, Elizabeth felt trapped by "Bewitched". And for the security and healing that Bill's father-figure image represented in the early years of their relationship, it later became stifling for Elizabeth who knew she could do more.

One of the documents that were part of the dissolution of Ashmont Productions, along with Bill and Elizabeth's marriage

r68 Of course he’s joking...those of us of a certain age (and many others) know all too well the story of ann and her tragic social climbing.

Ann may have hung on to life a bit longer if not for Truman Capote bringing the whole sordid affair up again in Answered Prayers. I believe she used cyanide.

Peter Lupus is an unfortunate name. It's like being named Peter Fibrosis.

R60 To be fair, Asher had allegedly been fucking around on her for years before she finally moved in with one of Bewitched's producers and ended the show. They still had a good relationship though and Elizabeth teased him a lot when he was producing the "I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later" movie.

[quote]Aren’t there nudes of Peter Lupus out there somewhere?

Kids today. No sense of gay history.

Peter Lupus was the all nude (and well-hung) centerfold in an early issue of PLAYGIRL.

Peter Lupus is still with us at 89. Would you hit it? (It might break.)

I always thought William Asher was a hot hairy Daddy. Woof.

If you thought that a man who was in his fifties during the 60s was a hot daddy......that makes you about 85 years old. Am I right?

Thank you for bringing that to my attention, r68.

Bill and Elizabeth and their sons in 1967...

Their house at 1230 Benedict Canyon Rd was less than a 1.5 from the 10050 Cielo Dr house where Sharon Tate, her friends, and Steven Parent would be murdered in 1969

We alway end up on Cielo Drive…

R72 I want more! I love those old documents.

Are we sure that’s not really Connie Stevens?!

[quote]We alway end up on Cielo Drive…

Have you heard about Dyatlov Pass, comrade?

Whatever you call "It"

Elizabeth had that spark...

R26 What do you mean? (asking sincerely)

r87 - That voracious succubus, little Miss Joyce Bulifant, stole poor Jo Anne's husband right away from her, she did.

Little Miss Joyce Bulifant...

was a purse shitter

[quote]Their house at 1230 Benedict Canyon Rd was less than a 1.5 from the 10050 Cielo Dr house

As are about 10,000 other houses. Amazing!

Dang, Little Miss Joyce Bulifant had a LOT of husbands per Wiki.

OP, that's not William Asher in that photo. That's Paul Lynde.

..........

Not Asher in photo.

Peter Lupus was the first "star" to go full-frontal in Playgirl in its first year of publication. Other celebrities came before, but the maximum they would go was a little patch of pubic hair. He wasn't planning on a full-frontal, he was in a bathrobe for the photo shoot. His wife insisted he take off the bathrobe and go all in.

This is the result:

Yes, he is looking at his wife in disbelief she would ask for this.