You know that feeling when you realize your favorite sitcom star has a dark side? Most of us grew up watching Elizabeth Montgomery twitch her nose as the charming Samantha Stephens in Bewitched. She was the ultimate girl next door, even with the magic. But then, in 1975, everything shifted. She traded the suburban kitchen for a bloody hatchet in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.
It’s one of those "before and after" moments in TV history.
People expected a campy thriller. They got a cold, clinical, and genuinely haunting portrait of a woman pushed to the edge. Honestly, looking back on Elizabeth Montgomery in Lizzie Borden, it’s weird how much more intense it feels than modern true crime docs. It wasn't just a role; it was a total reinvention.
The Shock of the New (and the Nude)
When this movie hit ABC on February 10, 1975, it didn't just trend; it dominated the conversation. Think about the era. TV movies were usually safe. Montgomery’s performance was anything but safe. She played Lizzie with this "sphinx-like" coldness that made you lean in, trying to guess what she was thinking.
The film didn't shy away from the brutality. It popularized the theory that Lizzie committed the murders while totally naked to avoid getting blood on her clothes. In the European theatrical version, you actually see Montgomery's character in the nude during the killings. For 1970s audiences, seeing America's sweetheart do that? It was a seismic shift.
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Why the 1975 Movie Still Holds Up
- The Script: William Bast used actual trial testimony. It feels grounded in reality, even when it gets stylized.
- The Casting: Fionnula Flanagan as the maid and Katherine Helmond as Emma provided the perfect foils for Lizzie’s stoicism.
- The Atmosphere: Directed by Paul Wendkos, the film uses weird camera angles and "shock cutting" that feels more like an indie film than a network special.
The Bizarre Connection Nobody Knew About
Here is the part that sounds like a fake Hollywood legend, but it is 100% true. Elizabeth Montgomery didn't know it while she was filming, but she was actually related to the real Lizzie Borden.
Genealogist Rhonda McClure eventually did the legwork and found out they were sixth cousins once removed. They both shared a 17th-century ancestor named John Luther. Montgomery died in 1995 without ever realizing she had literally portrayed her own cousin.
"I wonder how Elizabeth would have felt if she knew she was playing her own cousin," McClure famously noted. It adds a whole different layer of "creepy" to the performance, doesn't it?
Elizabeth Montgomery in Lizzie Borden: Fact vs. Fiction
While the movie is celebrated for its accuracy, it took some creative swings. The real trial in 1893 was a mess of circumstantial evidence. Lizzie was acquitted, partly because the jury couldn't believe a "well-bred" woman could swing an axe with such violence.
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The movie’s "nude murder" theory is actually a bit of a stretch when you look at the logistics. The Borden house didn't have indoor plumbing. If Lizzie had stripped and showered, where did the water go? Where did she dry off? The movie shows her rinsing off in the basement, but historians point out that the police found no signs of wet floors or basins.
Still, the film gets the "burned dress" detail right. Lizzie really did burn a dress in the stove shortly after the funeral, claiming it was stained with paint. That was the smoking gun that never quite fired in court.
The Trial Details the Film Nailed
- The attempt to buy prussic acid (cyanide) at a local pharmacy.
- The "note" Lizzie claimed her stepmother received, which was never found.
- The fact that Lizzie never actually took the stand herself.
The Enduring Legacy of a Spinster
If you want to understand why we are still obsessed with this case, you have to watch this specific version. Elizabeth Montgomery in Lizzie Borden bridged the gap between old-school Hollywood and the gritty realism of the 1970s. She didn't play a monster; she played a woman trapped by a parsimonious father and a suffocating social structure.
Lizzie lived until 1927 in her "Maplecroft" mansion, ostracized by the town but wealthy. Montgomery’s performance captures that strange duality—the victim and the predator.
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How to experience the history yourself:
If this deep dive has you hooked, you can still find The Legend of Lizzie Borden streaming on platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. It’s worth the rental fee just to see the courtroom scenes, which are widely considered some of the best period legal drama ever filmed.
For the real die-hards, you can actually visit the Borden house in Fall River, Massachusetts. It's a Bed and Breakfast now. They even have one of the dresses Montgomery wore in the film on display. You can sleep in the guest room where Abby Borden was found, though maybe keep the lights on.
The best next step is to compare the 1975 film’s conclusion with the 1893 trial transcripts available via the Fall River Historical Society to see just how much of Montgomery's dialogue was taken verbatim from the record.