57 years ago today, the best "nosy neighbor" in the world passed away

57 years ago today, actress Alice Pearce died from cancer at the age of 48. She was the original - and the best - nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz, on the television show 'Bewitched'. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series posthumously after the second season of the series, filming 27 episodes in those two seasons.

Pearce was diagnosed with ovarian cancer before she was cast in the show in the summer of 1964, however, she kept it a secret from the network, producers, and the cast. Yet by the second season, everyone could see that she was losing weight and looking gaunt. She passed away just as the second season was wrapping up production (the remaining episodes to be shot did not involve her character). Elizabeth Montgomery picked up her Emmy Award which shortly after her death.

Sandra Gould was no slouch, though. I thought she was a better recast than Dick Sargent.

Alice also appeared in the 1966 film “The Glass Botton Boat” as Doris Day’s nosy neighbor Mabel with George Tobias as her husband Norman. Alice looked thin but not as gaunt as in her final “Bewitched” episode “Samantha the Dressmaker”.

She was a sad woman deranged from living near dishonest occultists who gaslighted her and let the world think she was crazy because they were sloppy, indiscreet and cruel. They turned her husband against her and her last two years were completely miserable.

But the final curse Endora placed on her ("May your womb rot!") was the last straw, especially since it had been done well before casting was finalized because Endora had someone else in mind. And the mother witch took visible pleasure in watching Gladys wither all through the two seasons she lived through. Samantha didn't care in the least, even as her disordered family and her own laziness in preserving the secrecy of her craft exacerbated the poor neighbor's mental and physical health problems. And Endora's witch friend eventually got the part, which pleased them all, because when pissed at something Endora was pissed at all creation.

Terrible, trashy creatures, television witches. I'm glad feuds with another witchery family cleared away Darren 1, Samantha and Endora before even more damage was done to the neighborhood and its residents.

I always thought Carol Burnett would have been a great replacement for her. Burnett could do the voice and the facial antics of Alice's "Gladys". She may have been too young for Abner, but I think they could've made her look a little bit older back then. Sandra Gould was OK, but I found her to 'over-act' in many scenes. She wasn't as natural as Pearce was at the time.

I loved Gladys Kravitz! To this day, I still use her name to describe nosy, officious people of any gender.

The first time we meet her, she's eating a sandwich by the window spying on 'the new family' looking at the house for sale across the street. One is a young woman and the other is an older woman and as she deduced, "Maybe a mother and her daughter ?" She almost chokes on her sandwich when she sees the landscaping appear and disappear outside of the house (one of the funniest episodes in TV history).

She calls Abner to the window, and he tells her to 'take her medicine'. It's already established - before she meets The Stephens - that she's crazy and on some kind of medication (liquid form) to keep her sanity. So does anyone know why she's crazy already ? Is it ever mentioned in the series what was wrong with her before she met Samantha ?

^^^ There is no Gladys without Abner. Love them both.

[quote]I always thought Carol Burnett would have been a great replacement for her

Carol Burnett was a star and would never have been offered that role, let alone do it.

[quote]Is it ever mentioned in the series what was wrong with her before she met Samantha ?

Before marrying Abner and becoming the nosy neighbor of Morning Glory Circle, Gladys was the neighborhood whore of Morning Glory Circle where she contracted a horrible case of syphilis. She was in the final stages of brain rot when the Stephens moved in.

Poor Mrs. Kravitz. Does though not anyone have sympathy for me. A sickly woman with a case of the nerves or jitters. She had no support from her husband. Would it have killed him to just say Yes Dear You Are Right! I saw an elephant disappear from their front yard as well! Couldn't he take her out places and make her feel like a woman. Everyone knows. That when your spouse says, thinks or does something crazy you at least half pretend you're on their side.

Alice had quite an impressive career.

She was a great comedic actress. Gone way too soon.

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