Dick Sargent

Dick Sargent was an American actor best known as the second Darrin Stephens on Bewitched (1964), joining the series in 1969 and replacing Dick York. He came out publicly as gay in 1991 — three years before his death from prostate cancer — to coincide with National Coming Out Day, calling himself a "retroactive role model" out of concern over the high rate of suicide among LGBTQ+ youth. He was a longtime supporter of AIDS Project Los Angeles and the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and served as a Grand Marshal of the Los Angeles Gay Pride parade in 1992 alongside his former Bewitched co-star Elizabeth Montgomery. His story highlighted the decades of secrecy many LGBTQ+ performers in the studio system maintained at enormous personal cost.