In Memory of Character Actress Sara Seegar: 34 Years After Her Tragic Death from a Brain Hemorrhage

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It's been 34 years since actress Sara Seegar, best known for TV shows like Dennis the Menace (ABC, 1959-1963) and Bewitched (ABC, 1964-1972), died tragically at 76 from a brain hemorrhage. This is her story.

A Closer Look

Sara Seegar was born July 1, 1914, in Greentown, Ind. After attending school in London and Paris, Seegar enrolled at Hollywood High, and graduated with honors in Drama from Los Angeles Community College.

In 1935, Seegar was a character actress in radio, television, movies, and theatre. She began her career on the London stage in a production of Three Men on a Horse; continued performing in the UK until the onset of World War II, and was cast in four British feature films including Dead Men Tell No Tales (1938). She then returned to America, where she appeared in motion pictures such as The Music Man (1962).

Seegar had made her Broadway debut in 1940 in Horse Fever, a flop of a farce that starred Erza Stone, who she wed two years later.

Then Came Television

Sara Seegar's first major role on TV was in the Screen Gems sitcom, Dennis the Menace. In that show's final Seegar portrayed the second Mrs. Wilson following Sylvia Field. Field was replaced because Joseph Kearns, who played the first frustrated neighbor, Mr. Wilson, died and was replaced by Gale Gordon. (Sidenote: Gordon had been Lucille Ball's first choice for Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, and later co-starred on Ball's second, third, and fourth series: The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, Life With Lucy).

Into this mix was Seegar's numerous beloved appearances on Bewitched, in which she was usually cast as the wife of one of Darrin Stephens' mortal advertising clients.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, Seegar performed in American plays such as At War With the Army (1949 on Broadway), directed by Stone, and also starring Gary Merrill (once married to Bette Davis), and two off-Broadway: School for Scandal (1953 with Patricia Neal), and Ernest in Love (a musical based on Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest performed in 1960).

For almost a quarter of a century, Seegar toured with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the American College Theater Festival, and the United States Army.

In 1983, Seegar and Stone produced and staged Sweet Land, a pageant celebrating the 300th anniversary of their Bucks County community that utilized the varied talents of 300 of their neighbors.

Relatively Speaking

Sara Seegar was the youngest of four diversely talented siblings: Dr. Helen Seegar Stone, an educator; Dorothy Seegar, a Broadway and opera singer, and Miriam Seegar, a silent film actress who was married to director Tim Whelan.

Seegar and Ezra Stone had two children: a son, Josef Seegar Stone, and a daughter, Francine Lida Stone.

Conclusion

They simply do not make character actresses like Sara Seegar anymore. She was a rare breed of performer whose affable person remains cherished, particularly by classic TV fans.