In the tradition of Judi Dench and Vin Diesel (in a posting of 3/29/15 here), an unlikely pairing of actors in an episode of The Twilight Zone: Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson. Two gender icons of pop culture, early in their careers — a few years before Montgomery started her role as Samantha Stevens on the fantasy tv sitcom Bewitched, about the same time as Bronson broke through as Bernardo O’Reilly in the movie Western The Magnificent Seven.
About the Twilight Zone episode, from Wikipedia:
“Two” is the season 3 premiere and 66th episode overall of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone [originally aired 9/15/61].
The setting is a small, deserted city that has not seen a human being since the end of an apocalyptic war five years before. Serling’s narration suggests the time could be a hundred years in the future, perhaps even sooner — or millions of years in the past.
A female soldier (Elizabeth Montgomery), wearing what looks like a tattered, brown mid-20th Century Eastern European military uniform, stumbles into the town. She looks into some of the shop windows, pausing briefly to wistfully eye a slightly ratty, faded evening dress on a mannequin. She spies what was a restaurant across the street and enters in search of food. She finds a can of chicken in the kitchen, but before she can open it, a man (Charles Bronson) wearing a worse for wear gray, shield-front uniform tunic with U.S. Civil War Confederate-style officer’s sleeve insignia walks in.
(#1) The beginning of the episode
(#2) The end of the episode, and the beginning of a new life
About Montgomery, from Wikipedia:
(#3) Montgomery as a glamorous but domestic sitcom wife (and witch)
Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery (April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995) was an American film, stage, and television actress whose career spanned five decades.
… Montgomery made her television debut [in 1951] on her father’s series Robert Montgomery Presents (later appearing on occasion as a member of his “summer stock” company of performers).
… Montgomery played the central role of lovable witch Samantha Stephens with Dick York (and later with Dick Sargent) as her husband in the ABC situation comedy Bewitched [1964-72].
And about Bronson, from Wikipedia:
(#4) The laconic hypermasculine Bronson as Bernardo O’Reilly
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; Lithuanian: Karolis Dionyzas Bučinskis; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor.
He starred in films such as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the Death Wish series. He was often cast in the role of a police officer, gunfighter, or vigilante in revenge-oriented plot lines.
… After the end of World War II, Bronson worked at many odd jobs until joining a theatrical group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later shared an apartment in New York City with Jack Klugman while both were aspiring to play on the stage. In 1950, he married and moved to Hollywood, where he enrolled in acting classes and began to find small roles. Bronson’s first film role — an uncredited one — was as a sailor in You’re in the Navy Now in 1951.
… In 1960, he garnered attention in John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven, in which he was cast as one of seven gunfighters taking up the cause of the defenseless.
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