"Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan"
Elizabeth Montgomery's role as real-life journalist Edna Buchanan in CBS's movie "Deadline for Murder" is a far cry from the magical mischeif maker she played on Bewitched. "She has no personal life except for feeding her cat, but her search for truth is so complete that she'll pursue the people most ignored in the framework of a story," the actress says. "That is the energy that carries her through." Montgomery's own considerable energy carried her through recent surgery to remove a malignant tumor, as well as grueling night-time shoots for the film. 
"At the end of shooting, getting home each day when the sun was rising, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck."
The first Buchanan movie, "The Corpse Had a Familiar Face," filmed a year prior was a success and Liz's portrayal of Edna Buchanan headed her for a semi-regular series in the vein of Columbo. It would have been Liz's first series since Bewitched thirty years earlier. Unfortunately Miss Montgomery was more ill that she knew. Aired just nine day before her untimely death, "Deadline for Murder" would be the last time we get to see beautiful Liz act.