Margaret Hamilton Wasn’t Always Wicked: The ‘Wizard of Oz’ Star’s Most Surprising TV Appearances

Margret Hamilton on Mr Rogers Neighborhood — Everett Collection

Margaret Hamilton will forever be remembered as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, but her career did not end there. She spent decades delighting television audiences, often playing quirky or downright spooky characters that made her instantly recognizable. While her witchy cackle may have frightened generations of children, Hamilton herself was a gentle soul who loved to poke fun at her most famous role — and explain to kids that the green-faced villain wasn’t real.

One of her most memorable guest spots came in the mid-1970s on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. After learning that many children were frightened of her most famous character, she appeared on the show to explain the Wicked Witch costume and reassure kids that she was kind in real life. Around the same time, she also appeared on Sesame Street, once again donning the green makeup and pointy hat to reprise her Wicked Witch role in the now infamous 1976 episode.

The storyline backfired and proved so unsettling for some children that parents flooded PBS with letters, causing the episode to be pulled from syndication.

Her talents also stretched far beyond children’s programming. On The Partridge Family, Hamilton played Clara Kincaid, mother of Reuben Kincaid, in a fourth-season episode. She later brought that same spark to Lou Grant, where she portrayed veteran journalist Thea Taft in two appearances between 1979 and 1982.

LOU GRANT, from left: Margaret Hamilton, Edward Asner in 'Hollywood' (Season 3, Episode 12, aired December 17, 1979), 1977-82.

Everett Collection

In the hit sitcom The Addams Family, Hamilton fit right in as Granny Frump, Morticia’s (Carolyn Jones) eccentric mother. She also made an appearance alongside Michael Learned in the TV series Nurse during the second season.

NURSE, Michael Learned, Margaret Hamilton, (Season 2, aired Oct. 1, 1981), 1981-82

CBS/Everett Collection

Hamilton’s television resume went beyond sitcoms as she flexed her talents into drama, thrillers, surreal children’s shows, and daytime programming as well. She had recurring parts on soaps like Valiant Lady, The Secret Storm, and As the World Turns. In the children’s series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, she played Mrs. Eddels, the neighborhood busybody who kept having problems with the sea creatures.

She also appeared in the TV film The Night Strangler and delighted in variety specials like The Paul Lynde Halloween Special in 1976, where she once again transformed into her Wicked Witch alter ego. Beyond scripted television, Hamilton made the rounds as a guest on The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and even appeared as a mystery guest on What’s My Line?, which showed just how much audiences loved her, both in and out of character.

Radio listeners were not left out, either. In 1975, she lent her talents to CBS Radio Mystery Theater, playing in the chilling episode “Triptych for a Witch.”

How many of these guest-starring spots do you recall?