Sargent/York — A Tale Of Two “Darrins”
The Dynamic Twin Aspects of “Bewitched” Actors Dick York and Dick Sargent
“I thought Dick Sargent did a marvelous job as Darrin on Bewitched.”
— Dick York
It is without a doubt the biggest double-casting controversy in the history of classic television: Dick York and Dick Sargent’s dual turn as mortal ad-man Darrin Stephens, married to Elizabeth Montgomery’s adorable witch-with-a-twitch Samantha on TV’s classic wituation comedy, Bewitched, which originally aired on ABC from 1964 to 1972.
The actors resembled one other, acted like the other, and yet were very different. Cast as Darrin before Sargent, York played the character with animated aplomb while many viewers believed that Sargent, who just so happened to be gay, portrayed a kinder-gentler Darrin. Montgomery explained it all quite diplomatically in The Bewitched Book, which was later revised as Bewitched Forever. By the time Sargent came to play Darrin, Montgomery said, the character was not as startled by Samantha’s magic (or her other-worldly characters):
“Darrin was becoming a more easygoing presence. The show’s situation almost became funnier. He would lapse into this kind of complacency and maybe into something that he just might enjoy for a minute or two. It was almost as if Darrin grew as the relationship…
