By Paul

The part of Louise, Larry Tate’s wife, was played by two different actors during the eight year run of Bewitched. The first Louise was Irene Vernon who appeared in 11 episodes during the first two years of Bewitched. At the end of the second season she retired from the show to, as the story goes, pursue real estate opportunities in Florida. Beginning in the third season, the role of Louise was resumed by Kasey Rogers who appeared in 33 episodes throughout the last six seasons.

 

Louise’s first episode was # 4, “It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog.” She is at the party given for the client Rex Barker at the Stephens’s house. She is first seen as Samantha greets her after dinner and offers to get her a drink. Samantha defers to Louise, as the Boss’ wife, by referring to her as “Mrs. Tate,” though Louise refers to Samantha by her given name. Louise is seen again as the guests are leaving, but she has no other lines .

 

Louise appears in four more episodes in the first season with the last being # 31, “That Was My Wife.” She is shown here trying to talk Darrin into giving up the “other woman” that she and Larry think Darrin has been seeing. The problem is solved when it develops that the “other woman” is Samantha wearing a dark wig.

 

Louise is first seen in the second season in episode # 40, “My Grandson, The Warlock,” in London. The Stephens are baby sitting for the Tates when Maurice, mistakenly thinking the Tate baby is Samantha’s, borrows him to show him off at the London Warlock’s Club. Louise is shown here reacting to having seen Maurice with her baby outside the Tate’s hotel in London as Maurice is taking the baby to the club.

 

Louise appeared in five more episodes in the second season, the last being episode # 65, “Disappearing Samantha.” The Tates pick up Darrin and Samantha to take them to hear a lecture by the witch hunter, Mr. Rightmire. Note the new hair style for Louise.

 

In the third season Louise appears in 10 episodes, the first of which is # 76, “The Moment of Truth.” In this episode, the Stephens are trying to hide Tabatha’s witchcraft. In the scene shown here Louise is reacting to one of Larry’s bad jokes.

 

The last episode in season 3 in which Louise appears is # 106, “Nobody but a Frog Knows How to Live.” In this episode Samantha is trying to hide from the Tates, among others, that the obnoxious Fergus is a frog in human form. By Louise’s expression it seems she is not ready to buy into Samantha’s wild explanation.

 

In episode # 109, “Toys in Babeland,” Louise’s first of nine appearances in season 4, Larry thinks that Darrin is trying to steal a client to start his own agency. Louise is shown here trying to calm Larry down so he doesn’t go to the Stephens house and make a fool of himself, which, of course, he does.

 

Louise’s last episode in season 4 is episode # 134, “Tabatha’s Cranky Spell.” Louise’s Aunt Harriet is baby sitting for Tabitha, so the girls can gang up on a client who refuses to update his advertising because he had promised his Uncle Willie that he would never change it. We see Louise’s reaction to Aunt Harriet’s offer to contact the ghost of Uncle Willie to see what he thinks about making a change.

 

Louise’s first of five appearances in season 5 is in episode # 146, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.” Endora has put a spell on Darrin to make him extremely vain about his age and appearance, and to go to extremes in clothing. Darrin and Samantha go to the Tate’s home to meet with a client. Samantha one-up’s Darrin in her dress, so he doesn’t look so out of place. Here we see Louise’s reaction to Samantha’s silver disc dress and Darrin white silk suit and beads.

 

The last episode for Louise in season 5 is episode # 155, “Serena Strikes Again, Part 1.” This is one of the few occasions that Louise is seen at the Stephens home for dinner with a client. Larry makes frequent appearances at the Stephens’s with clients, but usually has some excuse why Louise is not with him. This is one of the few things in which Bewitched varied far from the norm by not having Louise with Larry at social functions more often, since in usual business practice the wife would generally accompany the husband to events such as seen in this episode.

 

Louise is not seen again until episode # 191, “What Makes Darrin Run,” in season 6, a gap of 35 episodes (over a full season of production), and is in only three episodes that season. In this episode, Endora has cast a spell to make Darrin power hungry. Here Louise and Mrs. McMann watch as Mr. McMann tries to overcome his alcohol intake to tell Larry that he is going to make some changes at the agency. Note that Louise is now a redhead (this is Kasey’s hair. She wore a black wig her first three seasons on the show).

 

Episode # 198, “Mona, Sammy,” is the last episode in season 6 in which Louise appears. In this episode, Endora produces a Di Vinci painting that looks like Samantha. In the usual built in confusion, Darrin’s name appears on the picture and Larry and Louise think the painting is one Darrin did of Samantha. Larry demands that Darrin do a portrait of Louise. With Samantha’s help Darrin produces a very good painting of Louise until Endora sticks her nose in and ruins the painting. Larry sees the painting and fires Darrin for how he painted Louise. Before Louise sees the painting Samantha twitches the painting back to what it had been. Louise is seen as she gets her first look at the painting. She then gets mad at Larry for what he has said about the painting when she thinks it looks just like her.

 

Episode # 210, “Samantha’s Old Man,” is the first of three appearances Louise makes in season 7. In this episode Endora, in a fit of temper, ages Darrin by 30 years. When Larry and Louise meet the aged Darrin, whom Samantha tells them is Darrin’s grandfather Grover, they try to fix Grover up with Louise’s flirtatious Aunt Millicent. We see Louise’s reaction to Larry’s suggestion to give Grover and Millicent their theater tickets for the next night.

 

Louise’s last episode in season 7 is episode # 223, “Money Happy Returns.” In this episode, Darrin finds an envelope full of money. He thinks Endora zapped it up to make him look cheap. Finally Darrin expands his accusations to include Samantha, who blows her stack at him and goes to visit Louise. The crook who had lost the money shows up to get it back and when he pulls a gun, Darrin panics and calls Louise to talk to Samantha. Louise, not realizing how serious the situation is, won’t let Darrin talk to Samantha. Samantha finally realizes that there is a problem at home and goes back and straightens out the mess.

 

Louise is seen in three episodes in season 8, with episode # 235, “The Ghost Who Made a Specter of Himself,” being the first one. Here Larry and Louise show up at Darrin and Samantha’s hotel to announce that instead of going home, they are all staying the weekend at an English castle.

 

Louise’s final appearance on Bewitched is in episode # 247, “Serena’s Youth Pill,” in season 8. In this episode Larry stops by the Stephens’s to return Darrin’s putter and meets Serena who is baby sitting. Under the guise of a vitamin pill, Serena slips Larry a youth pill, which reverses Larry’s ageing. When Larry arrives home, Louise freaks out when she sees Larry with red hair.

 

Apparently, Louise and Samantha became good friends since in Louise’s second appearance in season one they are on a first name basis and seem quite friendly. (In the Screen Gems Episode Guide and on the VCR tapes this is listed as episode # 9 although the DVD lists it as Episode # 8). Louise went on to become the only mortal friend that Samantha had in the series. Fans for years have debated the direction of the show had they become “best friends,” and there is even speculation about events if Louise had been let in on the secret that Samantha was a witch.

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