Alice Pearce 1964, Pearce was originally approached to play the part of Grandmama in the ABC television comedy series "The Addams Family". She turned down the part, which went to veteran actress Blossom Rock. In 1964, Pearce joined the cast of "Bewitched" as the nagging and nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz. Pearce's scenes were almost entirely reactions to the witchcraft she had witnessed at the house across the street. Her hysterical accusations against Samantha, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, and the disbelief of her husband Abner (George Tobias), provided a common thread through many of the series' early episodes. She played the role until
Bewitched Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President". But the show had to go on. The pilot concerned "the occult destabilization of the conformist life of an upwardly mobile advertising man". For that first episode, "I Darrin, Take This Witch, Samantha", Academy Award-winning actor Jose Ferrer served as the narrator. First season producer and head writer Danny Arnold set the initial style and tone of the series, and also helped develop supporting characters such as Larry Tate and the Kravitzes. Arnold, who wrote on "McHale's Navy" and other shows, thought of "Bewitched" essentially as a romantic comedy about a mixed marriage; his