Dick York Called On-Set Health Episode That Led Him to LeaveBewitchedthe ‘Worst Day of My Life’

Mar. 15, 2025

Elizabeth Montgomery, Maurice Evans and Dick York in the 1969 episode of ‘Bewitched’ in which York was injured filming.Photo:ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Getting the role of Darrin Stephens onBewitchedwas the moment of a lifetime for Dick York. It was for that reason it was so hard to leave it behind.

One interview in the special showed Sandra Gould, who played the Stephens' neighbor Gladys Kravitz, recalling York’s dependence on painkillers after an injury he suffered on a previous set.

“He was on all kinds of pain pills and it finally got so bad that he just couldn’t work anymore. It was devastating," she recalled. “It was just awful.”

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Dick York and Elizabeth Montgomery on the set of ‘Bewitched’ in 1966.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

York would struggle with his lines when medicated, but when he wasn’t, he’d struggle with physical demands. This led writers, trying to help him, to write Darrin’s appearance in at the beginnings and ends of episodes.

The situation came to a head while he was filming an episode in February 1969. York was being hoisted onto a platform when he collapsed and passed out due to the pain. While he was unconscious, York suffered an epileptic seizure that led him to be rushed to the hospital.

In April 1969, York had no choice but to leave the series permanently, which was a crushing blow to him on top of his physical ailments, he said at the time.

Dick Sargent and Elizabeth Montgomery on a 1969 episode of ‘Bewitched’.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“That was the worst day of my life because I thought I’d failed everybody,” York recalled in an interview featured in the special. “It was the only thing I’d started that I didn’t finish. I didn’t finish that show so I felt guilty and I felt embarrassed and I felt that I let everybody down.”

Writers were then faced with the issue of how to address the star’s departure. Knowing that fans wouldn’t accept the idea of Samantha and Darrin divorcing — or Darrin dying — the team behindBewitcheddecided to take a risk and recast the role.

In recasting, they revisited the original actors considered for the part and landed on Dick Sargent. Sargent would stay in the role until the series' conclusion in 1972.

Speaking to PEOPLEat an event in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, Erin Murphy, who played the couple’s daughter Tabitha, praised both actors as “wonderful guys.”

“Dick York was a dad and he had a lot of kids and he was just more paternal. So he was more like a dad,” the 60-year-old shared. “Dick Sargent was a great guy and we were in touch up until he passed away.”

York died in 1992 at age 63, while Sargent died in 1994 at age 64.

source: people.com