TV SERIES · 1994– · USA
Touched by an Angel
70 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (70)
- #001
The series was cancelled in its first season. It was brought back the following year after fans organized a letter-writing campaign.
- #002
In numerous interviews, Roma Downey said that her child Reilly is Della Reese's goddaughter.
- #003
According to an interview with Roma Downey, most of the clothes Monica wore in the first season belonged to Downey. She wore such a small size that there was nothing in the wardrobe that fit her.
- #004
Many of Della Reese's friends appeared on the series: Rosa Parks, Marla Gibbs, Gavin MacLeod, Ernest Borgnine, Bill Cosby, Bonnie Bartlett, Maya Angelou and Dame Angela Lansbury.
- #005
The character Andrew was supposed to appear in only two episodes, but he became so popular that John Dye took on a leading role toward the end of the second season.
- #006
Della Reese was 63 years old when the series began.
- #007
At the start of the fourth season, Della Reese threatened to leave the series if CBS and Martha Williamson did not raise her salary.
- #008
For most of the series, Tess drove a 1972 Cadillac Eldorado Fleetwood. Although Tess gave her the car in the series finale, Monica occasionally drove it as well.
- #009
Roma Downey was pregnant during the second season and wore loose clothing to hide it.
- #010
The role of Monica was initially written for a young, foreign American actress. Instead the role went to Roma Downey, who is Irish and could not use an American accent.
- #011
Della Reese developed a health problem and was hospitalized in 2000 after fainting on set.
- #012
The many special guest stars include: Rita Moreno, Cecily Tyson, Scott Baio, Kirk Cameron, Neil Patrick Harris, Kim Rhodes, Cloris Leachman, Gabrielle Carteris, Eileen Brennan, Nancy McKeon, Luther Vandross, Celine Dion, Toby Keith, Thomas Calabro, Carol Burnett, Muhammad Ali, Patrick Duffy, Marion Ross, Randy Travis, David Canary, John Schneider, Rue McClanahan, Delta Burke, David Ogden Steiers and a young Jack Black.
- #013
Throughout the series' run, Tess acted like a surrogate mother to Monica, just as Della Reese did with Roma Downey in real life. In an interview, Downey said she lost her mother when she was very young and that Reese acted like a mother to her after they met.
- #014
When Della Reese was cast in the series, she was living in Beverly Hills, California. (Most of the series was produced and filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah, and various locations surrounding the city.) Throughout the series' production, she traveled home and back every weekend and during other breaks to be with her family.
- #015
This is the only series in which the main characters have no surnames. This caused some problems, such as in the second-season episode Indigo Angel (1996), when they turn to Information to find someone (the person on the phone asks for Andrew's surname, and he does not have one). It also caused problems for Rafael when he served as a soldier, since soldiers are usually addressed by their surnames.
- #016
The nicknames Tess used for Monica were "Miss Wings" and "Angel Girl."
- #017
The series' research, particularly on disabled individuals, was handled with respect.
- #018
When Della Reese was asked to appear in the series, she wanted a one-time deal between CBS and producer Martha Williamson, but more episodes were ordered. Reese was widely seen as a key component of the series' success.
- #019
After reading a pile of insignificant scripts for television, Roma Downey took on the role of Monica for the first time in the series.
- #020
In Bar Mitzvah (2000), Kirk Douglas played an elderly man who had suffered a stroke; in real life, Douglas had suffered a stroke.
- #021
Bill Cosby was planned to make a cameo as the Angel of Entertainment. After the murder of his son Ennis, the appearance was cancelled. However, he appeared as Phil, the Angel of Restoration. In his first appearance, he encourages a son to mourn his father rather than resent the absence of his inheritance; in the second, he pressures a father to appreciate his son before he dies.
- #022
After the series ended in 2003, both Marla Gibbs and Roma Downey attended Della Reese's funeral on December 9, 2017. Gibbs's guest role was Millie in the Season Seven episode "The Invitation," while Downey played Monica, Tess's employee, in the series.
- #023
In the final season, a ten percent cut had to be made from all actors' salaries; Della Reese refused to give it to CBS, knowing the network already had enough money. Unfortunately, it had to be that way, and as a result every actor and actress, Reese foremost among them, was asked not to appear in at least one episode.
- #024
The recurring character Russell Greene and his family spawned their own spin-off, Promised Land (1996), which focused on the Greene family setting out on the road and traveling across the United States after Russell loses his job. The series aired for three seasons. Roma Downey, Della Reese and John Dyes appeared as guest stars in the roles of Monica, Tess and Andrew.
- #025
Some definite facts about Tess and Monica being born-again Christians acknowledge that Della Reese and Roma Downey were born-again Christians in real life.
- #026
Many events occurred during the filming of the series, but one of its biggest controversies never actually happened. A letter that appeared to have been written by the popular atheist Madalyn Murray-O'Hair circulated in emails. The letter was a request to halt religious television programs on public broadcasts. However, because O'Hair died shortly after the series aired, it turned out to be a hoax.
- #027
Randy Travis is the most frequent guest on the series with 6 appearances. Paul Wittenberg ranks second with 4, appearing in the same 4 episodes as Randy. Delta Burke, Cloris Leachman and Carol Burnett each appeared 3 times.
- #028
Monica has a fear of water. In Fallen Angela (1994), while she was Angela Evans's neighbor, she had to learn how to overcome her fear of water.
- #029
The word "angel" means "messenger" in Greek.
- #030
To develop the series, major changes were made from the pilot to the series so that it would progress properly. After the first pilot was shot, Martha Williamson, a devout Christian, was brought onto the project. In a meeting about the series, she expressed her discomfort with the portrayal of angels.
- #031
Compared to another CBS show, Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), this was another series featuring more country singers, performing either regular country music or Christian country music.
- #032
Tess has a very dry but very witty sense of humor; in real life, Della Reese had a self-effacing sense of humor.
- #033
When an Angel reveals their true identity, they are lit from above with a yellow/orange light and a halo effect is simulated.
- #034
Della Reese was a popular singer throughout the series and was given many opportunities to sing secular songs as well as Christian music.
- #035
By the time production on the second season of Touched by an Angel wrapped, the spin-off Promised Land (1996) was already underway. Because the crew was continuing work on the third season of Touched by an Angel, a new team was hired for the production of Promised Land (1996). Meanwhile, parts of the pilot were rewritten and two characters from the original pilot were reworked. Gerald McRaney and Wendy Phillips, who had appeared as guest stars on Touched by an Angel, were among the first cast members brought into the spin-off. Peg Phillips originally played the role of Hattie Greene, and Celeste Holm replaced her in the cast. The role of Nathaniel Greene was also reworked in the new version of the pilot and throughout the series, along with Eddie Karr, who played the part.
- #036
Monica's favorite drink is coffee. She loves not only coffee itself but anything containing coffee. Over the years she tried to bake it into biscuits and to sell an assignment based on a mocha pizza recipe.
- #037
Before becoming an angel and a supervisor, Tess (Della Reese) worked as a food taster for one of the Caesars on her first assignment.
- #038
It is the only religious show in which profanity was used.
- #039
Bonnie Franklin and Valerie Bertinelli, who had appeared together on One Day at a Time (1975), both appeared on Touched by an Angel, though not in the same season. Before Bertinelli played an angel, Franklin portrayed one of the lawyers.
- #040
Like most serialized series, Touched by an Angel took an episodic approach to storytelling. Aside from a few multi-part stories, each episode focused on a different character who needed to be saved.
- #041
This series is believed to be the 1990s equivalent of Highway to Heaven (1984). Both series were about angels sent to Earth by God to help people.
- #042
Roma Downey, who loves all colors, tended to wear more black because she wore so much white on the series.
- #043
Carol Burnett, a longtime friend of Della Reese, also appeared on the series as a theatrical mother who discouraged her daughter.
- #044
Marla Gibbs, Della Reese's childhood friend, guest-starred in an episode of this series as one of the mediums who attempts suicide. This came after Reese had guest-starred in two episodes of Gibbs's 227 (1985). In one episode Reese played Sandra's long-lost mother visiting the town, and in another she played an angel (in Heaven) whom both she and Mary imagined while going to church.
- #045
After this work, Della Reese would work with Martha Williamson again on both episodes of Signed, Sealed, Delivered (2013), playing a supervisor who comes with stricter policies and procedures. This would be her final role, nearly 4 years before her death on November 19, 2017.
- #046
Like her character Tess, Della Reese was a singer by profession.
- #047
In All the Tea in China (2002), Lady Penelope Berrington confesses to her granddaughter that she is not an English aristocrat at all. She is actually a stolen orphan who founded the tea business, describing having grown up in England and lost money in the war. This sets up a great moment in which her longtime butler asks whether she wants tea. In real life, Angela Lansbury was born and raised in England.
- #048
Before joining the series, Roma Downey had never been a Della Reese fan; she had not grown up listening to Reese's music or watching her mentor's films and/or television programs.
- #049
The series premiered on Wednesday, September 21, 1994, at 9:00 p.m. on CBS. EST/8:00 p.m. PST, moving In the Heat of the Night (1988) to Fridays a month later. It later aired at 9:00 p.m. EST/8:00 p.m. PST later that same season, before Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) and, for two years, immediately after Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), before the series moved to Sunday at 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. PST, immediately after 60 Minutes (1968), then replaced the later-canceled Murder, She Wrote (1984) for five years and moved the series to Saturday at 8:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. PST, where it stayed for its final two years.
- #050
When John Dye joined the series, he had not auditioned. Producer Martha Williamson offered him the role of Andrew. The two were friends, and she had worked with him many times before on other television programs.
- #051
Tess hated traveling to Hollywood; in real life, Della Reese lived in Los Angeles, California.
- #052
Bill Smitrovich and Chris Burke, who appeared in Life Goes On (1989), appeared in the episode Great Expectations (1997). Whereas they had been a loving father and son on the first series, Smitrovich's character is now horrified by the fact that his unborn child will have Down syndrome and will be like Burke.
- #053
In the two-part series finale, Carol Burnett promoted the series, which is about a young barefoot angel meeting a mature archangel for the first time.
- #054
Monica is Irish. In real life, Roma Downey was born in Ireland.
- #055
The poem of the same name was written by Maya Angelou. She also guest-starred on this series.
- #056
Marion Ross wore the gray wig she had worn when she appeared in Brooklyn Bridge (1991) for the role of Sophie.
- #057
The Devil (also known as Satan) appeared in Breaking Bread (1998) as a local town auto mechanic named Derek, as a temporary disguise.
- #058
In Angel of Death (1997), both Jeanne Cooper and Corbin Bernsen played mother and son. In real life, the two were mother and son.
- #059
Tess's favorite food is angel food cake.
- #060
Timothy Van Patten directed episodes of the series, while his stepbrother Dick Van Patten appeared as a guest star in both episodes.
- #061
The sixth-season episode "Bar Mitzvah" was dedicated to the memory of Jack DuVall.
- #062
Marion Ross also played Sophie in Brooklyn Bridge (1991). Unlike her character, she played a mother in the 1950s.
- #063
According to Jane Seymour, most of her costumes from the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman series were later worn by Roma Downey on this series.
- #064
Wendy Phillips was first a guest on this series in a different role. She later reprised the role of Claire Greene on this series before starring in the spin-off Promised Land (1996).
- #065
Before Della Reese worked with Gavin MacLeod on this series, where he played one of the veteran actors obsessed with staging a show to mark the Egyptian Theatre's 50th anniversary and where Tess, Gloria and Andrew came as a video crew, the two had previously worked together on an episode of The Love Boat (1977), in which Reese played the mother of a bartender chased by a crazy boyfriend.
- #066
Before starting search and rescue work, Monica began by singing in a choir, and later made announcements.
- #067
God appeared in the final episode.
- #068
Many of the actors who appeared as guest stars on the series also appeared in Knots Landing (1979).
- #069
Faith Hill appeared as a guest star in the episode The Road Home: Part 1 (1997), playing Karen Lamar, Joe Greene's ex-girlfriend.
- #070
After Matlock (1986), it is the second-longest-running dramatic show to include five Western- or Country-themed episodes: The Southbound Bus (1994) (the pilot episode), Sympathy for the Devil (1995), Written in Dust (1996), Beautiful Dreamer (1998) and The Face on the Bar Room Floor (2000).
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