Imagine being so close to one of the characters in the Bewitched television series that you could twitch her nose. In Bewitched and Beyond: The Fan Who Came to Dinner, author Mark Wood shares his fifteen years of laughter, tears, and off-beat yet festive moments that he enjoyed with Kasey Rogers, who portrayed Louise Tate on the Bewitched series (1964-1972) that starred Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Dick Sargent, Agnes Moorehead, Maurice Evans, David White, Erin Murphy, George Tobias, and Alice Pearce, among others.
Each chapter explores a Bewitched episode in which Kasey appeared and the exploits Mark and their friends took pleasure in along with her. Together, they journeyed through her battles with about launching a Bewitched spin-off series, as well as Kasey’s several battles with throat and breast cancer.
Mark remembers, “In my early twenties, I knew that I wasn’t overly good-looking and I wasn’t built like a Greek god, but I was funny. I knew that if I was ever going to make it in Hollywood I’d better have a good story. So, enter my favorite TV show of all time—Bewitched. Some may remember that Samantha and Darrin had a son, as well as a daughter, and his name was “Adam.” With that, I realized two more things: I looked like the love child of both Darrins and I could twitch my nose. Bingo, a sure thing! Wrong. However, because of my persistence, I became friends with many of the remaining cast members and their friends, but most especially, Kasey. She was the most amazing person I had ever met. She was so much more than her roles as “Louise Tate” or as “Miriam” in Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train (1951); she was a talented writer, a beauty who had two separate Hollywood careers under two separate names, and she was the creator of Women’s Motocross. Her friends became my friends, and I soon realized I was not in Bewitched but living what felt like an odd episode for the next fifteen wonderful years . . . complete with magic and sound effects.”
33 chapters. 208 pages. Available in paperback and Kindle editions. Forewords by Bernard Fox (who played Dr. Bombay on Bewitched) and Rose Marie (who played Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show). The book also includes an Index plus many never before seen photographs from Bewitched, as well as personal pictures of the stars through the years when Mark knew them.
About the author: Mark Wood is the co-author of five other books, including The Bewitched Cookbook: Magic in the Kitchen.