'Bewitched' Star Erin Murphy Remembers Her TV Dad on His Birthday
Erin Murphy paid tribute to her late Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent on what would have been his 96thbirthday. In a post to Facebook on April 19, the former child star shared a throwback photo from the 1960s ABCsitcom that featured her sitting on a carousel alongside Sargent and fellow series stars Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes Moorehead.
"Happy Birthday, Darrin Daddy!" Murphy, 61, captioned the sweet snap. "I love and miss you, Dick Sargent."
Sargent played Darrin Stephens, Murphy's dad and Montgomery's husband, on Bewitched from 1969 to 1972, and was the second actor to do so. He replaced original star Dick York in Season 6 after York left the show due to medical issues. Sargent died of prostate cancer in July 1994 at age 64.
Following Sargent's death, Montgomery was quoted by the Seattle Times as saying, "He was a great friend, and I will miss his love, his sense of humor and his remarkable courage."
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Sargent's death came two years after York also passed away at a young age. The original Darrin actor died in February 1992 at age 63 of complications from emphysema. York spent his final years before his death housebound and on an oxygen tank. In 1989, he joked to the Los Angeles Times, "I feel wonderful--it's just my body that's dying."
"I knew that Dick York was very sick," Murphy once said in an interview, adding that she remembered him leaning against a board between scenes to alleviate his bad back.
Less than a year after Sargent died, Montgomery died of colon cancer at age 62.
In a December 2025 interview with Celebrity Drop, Murphy said she didn't realize how sick Montgomery was just before her death. "She was much too young," Murphy said. "I'm going to be 62 next year, so the thought of that is just crazy."
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Erin Murphy never played favorites
Murphy has long been "diplomatic" when asked to rank her two Darrin daddies. In a 2025 interview with People magazine, she said she had fond memories of working with "both" actors who played her dad. "They were wonderful guys," she said.
Speaking on the Media Path podcast, she noted, "Dick Sargent was a different Darrin. I as a kid acting with him noticed that he played the part differently. It was not the same."
Still, the actress never expressed a preference until last fall. "My entire life I have been so diplomatic because I loved them both," Murphy told People. "They were wonderful guys."
She then added that York was a better Darrin only because he was more like a real father to her off-camera. "Dick York was a dad, and he had a lot of kids, and he was just more paternal. So he was more like a dad," she said. "Dick Sargent was a great guy, and we were in touch up until he passed away."
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This story was originally published April 19, 2026 at 10:32 AM.