1975 Made-for-TV Cult Classic Film Showed Fans a Shocking Side of Beloved Sitcom Star
In 1975, Elizabeth Montgomery was three years out of her long-running TV role as Samantha Stephens on Bewitched. After eight seasons on the ABCsitcom, the actress appeared in a couple of made-for-TV drama movies, but she shed her wholesome suburban witch image for good with the film The Legend of Lizzie Borden.
The ABC TV movie of the week aired on Feb. 10, 1975, and featured Montgomery in the lead role as Lizzie Andrew Borden, a 19th-century, New England spinster who was on trial for the double axe murders of her father and stepmother. Montgomery's portrayal of the disturbingly dark character was a major departure from the beloved TV image she portrayed for so many years on her hit sitcom, and it scored her an Emmy nod.
The Legend of Lizzie Borden won two Emmy Awards for Editing and for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design. The film also received a Golden Globe nomination and became a cult classic.
ScreenRant ranked The Legend of Lizzie Borden as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, describing it as "a sensationalist classic."
Fans still talk about the film
Decades after it originally aired on primetime TV, fans continue to talk about The Legend of Lizzie Borden. In a Reddit thread, fans recalled being terrified by the film 50 years ago.
"I remember seeing this movie as a young boy - freaked me out," one viewer wrote.
"It was on TV, but I was too little and my parents made me go to bed," another recalled. "Then they watched it and I could hear the whole thing. Every commercial break they broke into the song...Lizzie Borden took an axe...scared the crap out of me and I didn't even see it."
"This movie was a few years after the end of Bewitched. It was crazy seeing 'Samantha Stephens' murdering people. But it got people to look at Elizabeth as an actress, and not the TV role," another chimed in.
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Elizabeth Montgomery kept a souvenir from the film
Despite the scary subject matter, Montgomery was reportedly a dream to work with. The film's Emmy-winning editor, John Martinelli, once told the Television Academy Foundation that Montgomery was fabulous to be around while on the set.
"Elizabeth Montgomery can say not enough about her," he recalled. "She's magnificent…She was just, she could make you feel like a million bucks. …We ran for her. I mean, she was the highest-paid movie of the week actress at the time."
"She's just that charming person," he added. "She's Bewitched, she's Samantha and … I mean, she had 100 nominations, never won…but she was just a doll."
Montgomery once poked fun at her Lizzie Borden role, according to ReMind magazine. Bewitched historian Herbie Pilato recalled that the first time he met the star, she was dressed all in black and holding a creepy accessory.
"The first time I met her, she still had the axe from her film The Legend of Lizzie Borden, with the dried, fake blood on it," Pilato recalled. "And she had it next to the fireplace. She picked it up, and I said, ‘Would you please put that down?' She was freaking me out, and she knew it, and she loved it."
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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 11:11 AM.