‘They’re creepy and they’re kooky’ – but the Addams Family have been keeping us entertained on screen for 60 years!
Since the black comedy clan first appeared on the box on September 18, 1964, they’ve spawned animated shows and films, as well as movies starring Anjelica Huston. Hit Netflix series Wednesday, featuring Jenna Ortega, will soon return for a second series too.
But what happened to the stars of that original US series The Addams Family, with its catchy theme tune?
READ MORE: The Addams Family ‘curse’ explored as cast members met strange, untimely deaths
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Here James Moore clicks his fingers to discover their fates…
Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams)
(Image: Getty Images)
As the sultry raven-haired mum, she loved tending her carnivorous plants. In real life Texas-born Carolyn grew up suffering from severe asthma but went on to star in the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers before landing her Addams Family role.
She later had cameos on shows like Wonder Woman and was wed four times, including to top TV exec and Beverly Hills 90210 creator Aaron Spelling.
Tragically she was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer in 1981 but kept her illness a secret while working on a soap opera.
Carolyn died from the disease, aged 53, in 1983.
Lisa Loring (Wednesday)
(Image: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
The Addams’ daughter was famous for her black plaits, keeping spiders and playing with a headless doll.
Lisa’s own life would have its dark side too… She’d marry at 16, have a baby daughter then get divorced. Lisa would go on to have another child by her second husband, but divorced three more times, including splitting from porn star Jerry Butler.
Lisa later went into rehab for drug addiction. Making a comeback in TV soap opera As the World Turns and some slasher movies, she died in 2023, aged 64, from a stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure.
Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley)
(Image: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
The Addams’ chubby son was obsessed with gadgets and playing with his pet octopus. In real life Ken was born into a showbiz family and got his break in a toothpaste advert.
But he gave up acting after starring in the show to join the US army, though did return to the role of Pugsley in the 1977 reunion film Halloween with The New Addams Family.
He later worked as a movie set builder, but sadly died from a heart attack at his California home, in 2014, aged 59.
Ted Cassidy (Lurch)
(Image: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
As well as playing the lofty, grunting butler famous for his catchphrase “You rang?”, Ted also featured as the show’s disembodied hand, known as Thing.
The 6ft 9in, married dad-of-two started out as a DJ and would later work on TV shows like Star Trek and The Incredible Hulk.
But he had acromegaly – a disorder of excess growth hormone – which resulted in his striking features and led to a benign tumour on his heart. He died, aged 46, in 1979, from complications of surgery to have it removed.
Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester)
(Image: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Fans loved Morticia’s bubbly balding uncle who slept on a bed of nails.
Jackie first found fame as the child in Charlie Chaplin 1921 classic The Kid. He later sued his mother and stepfather for his movie earnings and survived a horror car crash.
An ex-World War Two glider pilot and dad-of-four, he was married four times – his first to pin-up Betty Grable.
He also starred in shows like Hawaii Five-O, before dying aged 69, in 1984, from heart failure.
John Astin (Gomez Addams)
(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
As the original dapper millionaire dad, John would return as the loved-up Latino in a TV film, the animated 1990s series and as Grandpapa Addams in The New Addams Family.
Married three times, the dad-of-five also appeared in movies like Freaky Friday and adopted ex-wife Parry Duke’s son Sean Astin, who found fame as Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings movies.
The oldest surviving member of the original cast, he’s now 94!
Blossom Rock (Grandmama Addams)
(Image: Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Before playing the wizened witch, Blossom was a glamorous movie siren in the 1930s.
But shortly after The Addams Family’s run, in 1967, the widowed star suffered a stroke that affected her speech and retired.
She died, aged 82, in 1978, in California.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
