Though plenty of adults love The Wizard of Oz (1939), to many children who watched the film a bit too young, The Wicked Witch of the West was one of the most terrifying figures in cinema.

Children were so afraid of the character that Margaret Hamilton, who played the Witch, appeared on the popular children’s series, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, in an attempt to calm their nerves.

In the episode, Hamilton visits Mister Rogers at his home, where she discussed winning the role of The Wicked Witch of the West.

“I really was very thrilled,” said the actor. “I had done it very often…when I was a little girl [on] Halloween, that [a witch] was the thing that I always wanted to dress up as…When I had the chance to do this, I was very, very happy about it.”

Hamilton said that working on the film was “fun,” but also acknowledged it was “lots and lots of hard work.” In an effort to dispel fear of her character, Hamilton tried to explain the Witch’s motivation.

“I’ve always felt that sometimes the children feel that she’s a very mean witch, and I suspect she does seem that way,” said the actor. “But I always think that there are two things about her: She does enjoy everything that she does, whether it’s good or bad, she enjoys it. But she is also very unhappy because she never gets what she wants.”

Hamilton understood that her character struck fear into the hearts of children.

“Sometimes, Mr. Rogers, I’m a little unhappy because lots of children are quite scared by her,” said the actor. “That always makes me feel a little sad because I don’t think any of us thought that it would be as scary as it sometimes seems to be.” However, Hamilton was quick to emphasize that acting as the witch was all pretend, and there was no need to be truly fearful. “When you understand, when you realize it’s just pretend…” said the actor.