Agnes Moorehead and Endora

While the Wicked Witch of the West may be the first that comes to mind when mentioning witches on film, when speaking of witches on television, the first that usually comes to mind is meddling mother-in-law Endora, played by the incomparable Agnes Moorehead on the American situation-comedy series Bewitched from 1964 to 1972. Here is a fan compilation of some of her best scenes:




Prior to her eight season tenure as Endora, Ms. Moorehead had portrayed another famous witch, Mombi, in an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz presented on The Shirley Temple Show, with Frances Bergman as the good witch Glinda.



Agnes had also provided the voice for the Wicked Witch of the West in a radio series based on Baum's Oz books which aired on NBC in the 1940s. On other installments of the Shirley Temple Show, she played Hepzibah Pyncheon in "The House of the Seven Gables," and the witch in "Rapunzel."

In one of her last television roles, Agnes once again portrayed a witch, this one inspired by Macbeth but with a comedic bent, in the vignette "Witches' Feast" in an installment of Night Gallery, co-starring with Ruth Buzzi.

The Wizard of Oz (Selig, 1910)

This is the earliest surviving film version of the L. Frank Baum children's novel, produced by Selig Polyscope in 1910. The film shows influence both from the 1902 Broadway musical, - dancing girls form part of the Wizard's royal guard, - and Baum's 1900 novel, as well as it's 1904 sequel, The Marvelous Land of Oz. In addition to her dog Toto, Dorothy is accompanied by a cow, as she is in the 1902 musical. The main villian, as in the more familiar 1939 version, is the Wicked Witch, here named "Momba," a variation of "Mombi," the witch in the second Oz book. Glinda also appears, and is seen floating away in a manner similar to the way she floats away in a bubble in MGM's take on the tale. Like Margaret Hamilton's witch, Momba rides a broomstick, something the witch in Baum's book did not do. A nine year old Bebe Daniels plays Dorothy.

An appropriate introduction to this blog, which will cover various portrayals of Witches and Witchcraft in film, television, and video through the years: