Dick York skyrocketed to fame as Darrin Stephens in “Bewitched,” but in the years after the popular sitcom aired, he found himself “financially and physically destitute.”
The actor, still recognized as the husband of a nose-twitching witch, died in 1992 at age 63.
For the show’s 60th anniversary, a new independent documentary by Daniel Henares explores the sitcom’s legacy, and why York ultimately gave up the role he loved, People magazine reported.
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Herbie J Pilato, author of “The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery” and “Twitch Upon a Star,” told Fox News Digital that York’s final years out of the spotlight were “very difficult.”
“Yes, Dick York was financially and physically destitute,” he explained. “He just did not have the money anymore. His career had dried up. He was in very poor health. There were no more calls for acting. It was tough to watch.”
“Now here I am, just a fan, and then later a friend . . . to see him in such a horrible situation,” Pilato shared. “He forced himself to be positive, but he also knew he had to still make money. So, he would end up cleaning apartments to make money.
“He became a cleaning man. He went from being a star of one of the biggest TV shows in the history of television to cleaning toilets. It was humbling for him, and he never complained about it, but . . . it should not have happened.”
York’s problems started in 1959 while he was on the set of the Western film “They Came to Cordura.” According to the Los Angeles Times, York and several other actors were shooting a scene on the second to last day of filming that required them to lift a railroad handcar.
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When the director yelled “cut,” everyone let go – except York. According to the outlet, the car fell on him. His spine was wrenched, and the surrounding muscles were torn.
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The outlet reported that York didn’t seek medical attention and instead, he worked through the pain for years. The discs in his spine slowly crumbled and eventually became hunched. He also shrunk “from more than 6-foot-1 to 5-foot-10 or so.”
By the time “Bewitched” premiered in 1964, York was addicted to painkillers. According to the outlet, he took heavy doses of sleeping pills, cortisone and other medicines – anything to alleviate the crippling pain he couldn’t escape from.
“He never really recovered from the pain,” Pilato explained. “He missed 14 episodes. What’s ‘Bewitched’ without Darren, without the main conflict of, ‘No honey, don’t do the magic?’”
York’s Hollywood career came to a screeching halt in 1969. At the time, he was being hoisted onto a platform to film an episode of “Bewitched” when he collapsed and passed out from the pain, People magazine reported. According to the outlet, York suffered an epileptic seizure while he was unconscious, which led him to be rushed to the hospital.
York never returned to “Bewitched.” He was replaced by Dick Sargent.
“They had to replace him – they didn’t have a choice,” said Pilato. “He felt horrible about it. He did not want to damage the opportunity for all those people who were [working on the series].”
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“He didn’t want them to lose their jobs. He didn’t want the show to end, so he just gave in and left. However, he did tell me that if he had that summer of 1969 . . . to fully recover, he [felt] that he would have been able to finish the show.”
York later admitted it was “the worst day of my life.”
“Knowing the good person that he was, he felt, of course, devastated that he had to leave the series and that he would be out of work,” said Pilato.
“He felt devastated for everybody involved. He knew he was throwing everyone in turmoil. ‘What are they going to do?’ ‘What’s going to happen to the show?’ ‘Is it going to end because of me?’ Is it going to fail if somebody else comes along?’ All of those things were going through his head.”
According to Pilato, Sargent originally auditioned for the part of Darrin but was turned down in favor of York. When York had to leave “Bewitched” for good, producers turned to Sargent to take over the role.
“Dick Sargent and Dick York were friends,” said Pilato. “Dick Sargent called Dick York up and asked, ‘Is it OK if I play this part? I don’t want there to be any hurt feelings.’ And Dick York, being the amazing human being that he was, said, ‘Please, you have a job to do. If you have the opportunity, take it. You have my blessing.’”
The Los Angeles Times reported that after his exit from “Bewitched,” York stayed at home in bed for 18 months in a “drug-induced haze.” He then went cold turkey and moved in with his mother “to spare his five children.”
“He only worked a couple of times [in Hollywood] after that,” said Pilato. “He did ‘Fantasy Island.’ He did an episode of ‘Simon & Simon.’ He did a TV movie called ‘High School U.S.A.,’ and that was it.
“Unfortunately, he had to take . . . cleaning jobs because he just did not have work, and he didn’t have any money. . . . But he would not let you know that [because] he didn’t want to put that kind of energy out there. That’s the kind of guy he was.”
York turned his pain into purpose. The star formed the nonprofit Acting for Life, which aimed to help the homeless and others in need.
“He was a very spiritual person,” said Pilato. “That’s probably why he and Agnes Moorehead got along so well, because she was the daughter of a Methodist minister. She was very spiritual. Very religious. They had massive conversations about religion and what really matters in life.”
“Developing a nonprofit organization dedicated to feeding the homeless was a natural outgrowth of who he was as a human being,” Pilato shared. “He knew that his acting career was over. So, he shifted that energy into the nonprofit.”
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Pilato said Bill Asher, the director of “Bewitched,” tried to help York financially – but the actor refused.
“He wanted to give him money,” said Pilato. “He wanted to help Dick York in any way that he could, not just for Acting for Life, but for his life … But Dick said, ‘Don’t worry about me.’ . . . In my opinion, he should have taken that money from Bill Asher. . . . It was going to be major funding to help him get out of his situation. But Dick refused. He refused that help.”
Before York’s death, Pilato visited the ailing star at his small cottage in Michigan. York, who was battling emphysema at the time, would spend hours on the phone speaking to anyone who would be willing to help those without food or clothing.
“This little cottage that he had before ‘Bewitched’ came along, he still had it, and he was with his wife who adored him,” Pilato recalled. “I remember seeing him pale, connected to an oxygen machine because of the emphysema, and it broke my heart. The image of Darrin was gone. . . . But it was magnified more because he was so ill.
“And yet here he was, in the midst of his illness, compounded now by emphysema, establishing Dick York’s Acting for Life. . . . He had nothing himself, and there he was making phone calls to try and get money for homeless people who were worse off than him.”
Pilato said he still vividly remembers watching “Bewitched” alongside York.
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“It was just a joyful memory for him,” Pilato recalled. “It was, ‘There’s David!’ Or, ‘There’s Aggie!’ There was so much love. There was no bitterness in him at all. The only thing he wanted to make clear was that he always felt that Darrin was too harsh on Samantha. . . . He saw ‘The Witch’ as a love story.
“[The character] didn’t want Samantha to do the magic not because he didn’t want her to not be who she was, to take away her heritage. He just wanted her all to himself. He didn’t want anybody else to have her.”
Today, Pilato hopes people will see a different side of York.
“The legacy of who he was as an actor was phenomenal,” said Pilato. “He could do anything. . . . The legacy of Dick York as a human being – he was one of the most beautiful, dedicated, loyal, kind human beings. . . . And yet he does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
“That needs to happen,” Pilato reflected. “Dick York needs a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
