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Dick York, the actor who created the role of Darrin Stephens, husband to Elizabeth Montgomery's witchy wife Samantha on the television series "Bewitched," has died. He was 63.
York, who spent his declining years redistributing surplus goods to the homeless through his Acting for Life program, died Thursday at Blodgett Memorial Medical Center in Grand Rapids, near his home in Rockford, Mich.
A former three-pack-a-day smoker, York had suffered for years with emphysema. He also battled a degenerative spine, first injured in 1958 while shooting the Gary Cooper film, "They Came to Cordura." Several actors were lifting a railroad handcar and, when the director yelled "Cut!" York was the last to let go. The car fell on him, wrenching his spine and tearing his back muscles.
That injury prompted York's addiction to muscle relaxants, codeine and sleeping pills, which eventually cost him his best-remembered role in "Bewitched." The Emmy nominee originated the role of the hapless mortal husband and was with the show during its most popular years, 1964-69. After he collapsed on the set in...