Jill Foster

A Canadian character actress with a penchant for comedy, Jill is best remembered as Darrin Stephens' Girl Friday Betty in Bewitched (1964) -- oft-married, it seems, since her character's surname was changed three times in the course of her ten appearances. The job must have been pretty taxing: seven other secretaries (all played by different actresses) were also variously employed at McMann & Tate in the same capacity! She was born in Toronto, Canada, as Florence Jill Hancock. By 1952, Florence was balancing a job at a stockbroker's office with theatrical work, including a starring turn in the lead role of Born Yesterday (the part played by Judy Holliday on screen). In July 1953, she married the writer Bernard Slade. A rehearsal for a skit with the comedy duo Peppiatt & Aylesworth and a resulting audition led to a contract with the newly established Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the opportunity for Jill Foster (her newly adopted nom-de-plume) to make regular TV appearances in early variety and anthology programs (including Encounter (1952) in which she played eight different parts). The couple moved to California in 1964 where Slade's work as a script consultant and writer for ABC (he also created the character of the bumbling witch Aunt Clara) paved the way for Jill's casting in the sitcoms Love on a Rooftop (1966) and Bewitched. Little was seen of Jill on screen thereafter, though she continued to make sporadic appearances on the Canadian stage. In 1977, she starred in her husband's marital comedy play Same Time, Next Year at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. It was made into a motion picture the following year with Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda in the lead roles.