In Memory of 'Bewitched' Actor Bernard Fox ("Dr. Bombay"): 8 Years After His Tragic Death

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[Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes and commentary that appear in this article were culled from interviews the author conducted with those individuals mentioned.]

Overview

It's been eight years since beloved television, film, and stage actor Bernard Fox died of heart failure at 89 in 2016. Best known as the skirt-chasing, slightly-arrogant, and delightfully debonair witch Dr. Bombay on classic TV’s long-running sitcom Bewitched (ABC, 1964-1972), Fox left an indelible mark on his millions of fans.

Calling Dr. Bombay, Calling Dr. Bombay

The phrase, “Calling Dr. Bombay, Calling Dr. Bombay,” voiced by the sitcom’s charming lead twitch-witch Samantha, as portrayed by Elizabeth Montgomery, was Fox’s calling card on the show.

Samantha and her supernatural friends and family members including her meddling magic mother Endora, as played with delightful acumen by Agnes Moorehead (who owned an acting school at which Fox taught fencing) were in constant need of Bombay’s magic potions to cure various other-worldly ills.

As Fox once explained of the role, “I never wanted him to be a run-of-the-mill character. I based him on a commanding officer I encountered while serving in the naval transit camp in what was then Ceylon. He was an elderly gentleman who in civilian life had been a veterinary surgeon of the old school, and he was hard of hearing. He assumed everyone else was also, so he constantly yelled at everybody.”

Two decades later, when Fox came to play Bombay, he was seeking a more colorful way to interpret a not-so-everyday doctor and, as he continued to recall, “…that officer came to mind.”

The actor brought a great deal of his own ideas to everything he did, including Bewitched.

In 1989, Montgomery confirmed how the show’s writing staff enjoyed creating situations for Fox as Bombay, as much as the actor delighted in portraying the off-beat role. "Dr. Bombay was so outrageously odd. And we were always on the lookout to present unique characters and actors. One of the neat things about Bernie was that he would come up with all of these really weird kinds of sides to Dr. Bombay.”

Backstory

Born in South Wales, Bernard Fox was the fifth generation of his family to pursue a career in theatre. During the war, he served in the Royal Navy. Upon his release, he joined the well-known York Repertory Company.

In 1952, he appeared in live stage productions such as Reluctant Heroes, Simple Spymen, and Dry Rot for London’s Whitehall Farce Players. Upon leaving that troupe, he was seen in other London productions, such as G.B. Shaw’s Misalliance, Saturday Night at the Crown, and a musical version of The Bells at the Irving Theatre.

Fox’s British big-screen movies included Star of India (1954), Blue Murder at St. Trinians, and The Safecracker (also 1958, with Ray Milland), while the 1958-1959 U.K. television season saw him starring in Three Live Wires, a sitcom somewhat similar to America’s Sergeant Bilko series with Phil Silvers.

The actor’s treasured initial Hollywood performance was at the Civic Playhouse in Write Me a Murder, which was followed by several TV appearances including those on sitcoms starring Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke, Andy Griffith, and more. Besides his recurring role as Dr. Bombay on Bewitched, Fox was best loved on American TV as Colonel Crittenden, a semi-regular character in the military comedy, Hogan’s Heroes.

Beyond Bewitched

Post-Bewitched, Bernard Fox ventured into TV-movies with a starring role in The Hound of the Baskervilles in which he was ideally cast as Dr. Watson to Stewart Granger’s Sherlock Holmes.

Other small-screen films followed, along with theatrical motion pictures like Big Jake (1971), Herbie Goes Bananas (1977), and Private Eyes (1980). As fate would have it, Fox was also featured in both big-screen adaptations dramatizing the sinking of the Titanic: A Night To Remember (1957) and Titanic (1997).

From 1973 to 1979, Fox played host as the Victorian chairman (master of ceremonies) in America’s only British music hall, the Mayfair Music Hall, located in Santa Monica, California, which also once housed the West Coast troupe of Chicago’s Second City comedians.

The Magic Off Screen

Bernard Fox was also good friends with the multi-talented Milt Larsen, creator of The Magic Castle the renowned Los Angeles performance facility, where Fox also frequently appeared.

The experience and knowledge Fox gained over the years proved invaluable; his one-man show, Music Hall Memories, played successfully around colleges, conventions, private groups, and in large gatherings, such as the British-American festival in Sante Fe Springs, California.

In frequent demand for roles throughout his entire professional life, Fox rejected work only when necessary. Such was the case shortly after he finished work on The Mummy feature film in 1999 when he was cast as The Great Gazoo, an air-bound, alien-super-powered character from The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas feature film sequel that was based on the 1960s animated TV show.

Fox had planned on doing The Flintstones movie but then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and thought it unwise to work during radiation treatment for scenes that would have flying around in tights and a harness.

A Challenged Upbringing

Bernard Fox grew up poor in England. His entire family acted and traveled all over doing all kinds of shows, and never really lived in one place for more than the length of a show. He had a tough life at times, and at one point was forced to learn how to box because he was always the new kid in school who would get beat up.

However, none of that derailed the actor's vibrant, diversified, and long-lasting career filled with characters that as he once said, “I tried to play…energetically.” Any obstacles, professional and personal, also never prevented him from performing his favorite role in real life: that of being a devoted father and husband.

When not acting or performing, Fox adored animals and gardening, and was an avid painter, as was his wife.

Conclusion

Bernard Fox will be forever cherished by his countless TV and movie fans around the world