TV SERIES · 1964– · USA
The Addams Family
81 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (81)
- #001
The interior of the Addams house was inspired by Charles Addams's real-life Manhattan apartment, which contained suits of armor, a collection of antique crossbows and other oddities.
- #002
Lurch was originally meant to be largely silent, communicating only with groans. During filming, however, Ted Cassidy improvised the line "You rang?" in a scene in which he rings the family's servant bell. The line's perfect timing and Cassidy's deep voice worked so well that Lurch was rewritten to have dialogue consisting mostly of short, repeated phrases.
- #003
Jackie Coogan was initially turned down for the role of Uncle Fester. He went home, shaved his head and created his own Fester makeup and costume. It won him the part.
- #004
According to the cast, when word came that the series would not be renewed for a third season, much of the eccentric set dressing and furniture was stolen from the show's closed set. Their whereabouts were never determined.
- #005
Lurch received fan letters from young girls insisting he was sweeter than The Beatles.
- #006
The train crash scene, in which model trains collide and explode, was filmed only once, and the footage was reused every time Gomez wrecked his model trains.
- #007
The Addamses were the first TV family to own a home computer (a UNIVAC).
- #008
Filmways did not want to pay singers to record the theme song, so composer Vic Mizzy overdubbed his own voice three times to simulate a trio.
- #009
Thing was usually a right hand. Ted Cassidy (Lurch) occasionally used his left hand to see whether anyone would notice. Thing also had an arm that was seen reaching out of his box to grab something.
- #010
The Addams Family house was largely made up of recycled sets from the film The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964).
- #011
Doing Morticia's makeup took Carolyn Jones two hours every day. She also wore a wig made of human hair.
- #012
John Astin was offered two name options for his character and chose Gomez over Repelli. His son was initially to be named Pubert, but this was changed to Pugsley because Pubert sounded too sexy.
- #013
According to the DVD commentary, Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley) was allergic to the 100% wool costumes provided by the costume designers, so his mother bought all of his costumes for him.
- #014
Gomez and Morticia Addams were the first married couple on American television to be implied to have a sex life.
- #015
Although Gomez kissed Morticia's arm when she spoke French or when he called her "bubeleh," he never kissed her on the lips.
- #016
Thing, the disembodied hand/arm, was usually played by Ted Cassidy. When Lurch had to appear on camera at the same time as Thing, however, associate producer Jack Voglin helped out. A third actor also occasionally played Thing, but his identity is unknown.
- #017
As in the original Charles Addams cartoons, Fester was Morticia's uncle. Grandmama, however, was changed to be Gomez's mother.
- #018
According to John Astin, at his first meeting with Filmways executives about possibly joining the series (with executive producer David Levy present), he was initially offered the role of Butler (Lurch) and told the series would focus on that character. Astin left that first meeting with many reservations, wondering whether he would have to wear stilts to play the character, and eventually convinced himself the role would not work for him. The very next day he received a phone call from Levy (who, according to Astin, had said very little at the previous day's meeting) inviting him to lunch at a popular Hollywood restaurant. At lunch, as Astin voiced his doubts about playing a butler, Levy offered him the role of Gomez; Astin accepted and the series' focus was changed.
- #019
Morticia's favorite chair is a distinctive wicker chair with a wide oval back; it was a prop from the film From Here to Eternity (1953), in which Bob Prewitt sat in it at the New Congress Club.
- #020
The Addams Family mansion seen in the opening of every episode was a matte painting based on a real 19th-century Victorian mansion at 21 Chester Place in Los Angeles. The building's exterior was filmed for the series pilot, but the producers decided it was too expensive and that the location could not sustain the "spooky" atmosphere, so they turned to their art departments for a cheaper solution. The Chester Place house was demolished in 1967 and was lost, reportedly because the matte painting had deteriorated from overuse.
- #021
The pet names Morticia uses for Gomez generally mean "Darling"/"My Darling": "Bubeleh" (Yiddish), "Mon Cher" (French), "Mon Amour" (French) and Querido (Spanish). The pet names Gomez uses for Morticia also carry affectionate meanings: "Cara Mia" (Italian), "Querida"/"Querida Mia" (Spanish) and "Cara Bella" (Spanish for "beautiful face" and Italian for "beautiful darling").
- #022
This series and its rival series The Munsters (1964) premiered a week apart in September 1964. At the end of that year's TV season, The Munsters ranked 18th in the Nielsens with a 24.7 rating, while this series ranked 23rd with a 23.9 rating. At the time, the Nielsens indicated what percentage of American TV households were tuned to any given program. By the end of the following year, both series had been cancelled.
- #023
The Addamses often mention the many cousins in their extended family. The named cousins are Blah, Gloomy, Bleep, Blink, Blob, Cackle, Caliban, Clot, Crawl, Crimp, Cringe, Curdle, Droop, Farouk, Fungus, Goop, Gripe, Creepy, Grope, Imar, Itt, Manuel, Melancholy, Nanook, Plato, Slimey, Slosh, Slump, Trivia, Turncoat and Vague.
- #024
Cousin Itt's voice was provided by producer Nat Perrin, who spoke gibberish into a recording device and then played it back at a higher speed.
- #025
Carolyn Jones was Charles Addams's personal choice to play Morticia. Jones was a devoted fan of Addams's cartoons, and the two became good friends.
- #026
According to Vic Mizzy, when he attended the auditions for the theme proposed for the producer, he added only the snapshots that became an important part of the music.
- #027
Charles Addams never gave his characters names, but on the series he had to find names for them. (This was one of his few contributions to the series.) He decided on all of them within a week — except for Mr. Addams, who was nearly called Repelli (for "repellent") instead of Gomez.
- #028
With the launch of the TV series, The New Yorker magazine stopped publishing Charles Addams's Addams Family-themed cartoons until shortly before his death in 1988, though a few familiar characters were allowed to appear on their own (prototypes for Pugsley, Cousin Itt and Fester).
- #029
After Lisa Loring's death on 28 January 2023, John Astin (Gomez) became the only surviving cast member.
- #030
Carolyn Jones not only played Morticia but also portrayed Morticia's blonde, daisy-haired sister Ophelia.
- #031
Nearly every episode opens in the Addamses' living room with the family playing and having fun. The activities included Gomez doing a yoga headstand, flamenco dancing, sword fighting, bullwhip practice, shooting apples launched by crossbows, riding a fully functional carousel horse and other bizarre games.
- #032
The shot of Kitty Cat descending the stairs was filmed only once. It was replayed as stock footage throughout the series. The lion was played by Zamba, who also appeared in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959) and Gilligan's Island (1964).
- #033
Gomez was originally engaged to Morticia's sister Ophelia in an arranged marriage. However, a few days before the wedding he met Morticia, fell in love with her and eventually married her.
- #034
When Gomez wants to know the time, he checks both his wristwatch and his pocket watch. Each is hours apart from the other, but their average always shows the correct time.
- #035
The companies in which Gomez held shares were Consolidated Fuzz, Consolidated Lint and National Dust.
- #036
The Addams family's address is 0001 Cemetery Lane.
- #037
Although Uncle Fester was a regular on the TV series, the prototype Fester in Charles Addams's New Yorker cartoons was almost entirely solitary, appearing with the rest of the family indoors only once (as a painted portrait) and once outdoors with the children (fishing with dynamite).
- #038
The sculpture of the Indian chief always smoked a cigar.
- #039
As of 2026, John Astin is the longest-lived member of the cast and the only one to reach his nineties. He outlived even Ken Weatherwax and Lisa Loring, the two youngest actors, who played the children Pugsley and Wednesday Addams respectively. Ted Cassidy, who played the Addams family butler Lurch, had the shortest life and was the only cast member who did not reach 50; he died in 1979 at the age of 46.
- #040
The interior decoration of the Addamses' house was inspired by the producers' first sight of the eclectic furniture in Charles Addams's own New York City apartment, which is why it looks nothing like the shabby, bare-walled interiors seen in both the original cartoons and the films.
- #041
Although in the cartoons the family lives somewhere in New York City, the name of the city where the Addamses live is never mentioned in the series.
- #042
In 2007, M&Ms spoofed the series in a TV commercial introducing M&Ms Dark Chocolate. The ad recreated the sitcom's opening with new M&Ms dressed like the cast and licensed the original theme music. According to the firm IAG Research, it was the public's favorite commercial among TV viewers during April.
- #043
Gomez is a lawyer.
- #044
Cousin Itt is related to Gomez.
- #045
Carolyn Jones initially turned down the offer to play Morticia because she was focused on her film career and did not want to join a TV series. She was persuaded to accept the role by her husband, Aaron Spelling, even though they were in the middle of a divorce at the time.
- #046
One of the series' sponsors was Dutch Masters Cigars.
- #047
According to Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family (1965), the Addams Family's house is located on North Cemetery Road in the "Greenbriar-Woodlawn area."
- #048
The occasional role of Granny Frump was played by Margaret Hamilton.
- #049
Ophelia Frump's appearance was based on Jean Simmons's role as Ophelia in Hamlet (1948). When Cousin Itt took a photo of her, the flowers in her hair had roots that reached down to her feet, which caused Ophelia's leg to lift.
- #050
Morticia's maiden name is Frump.
- #051
Despite being a favorite of television critics and appearing on the cover of "TV Guide" twice, the series never ranked higher than 23rd in the Nielsen ratings.
- #052
Gomez and Morticia first met when he was suffering from bronchitis. Whenever he was near Morticia, however, it apparently disappeared.
- #053
Wednesday's middle name is Friday (from Wednesday Leaves Home (1964)).
- #054
According to Thing Is Missing (1965), Thing's full name is Thing T. Thing. The T stands for "Thing."
- #055
According to Wednesday Addams in Fester's Punctured Romance (1964), the polar bear rug that growls whenever anyone walks on it is named "Bruno."
- #056
The Addams Family's pet vulture was named Zelda.
- #057
Gomez almost always reads his newspaper while standing on his head.
- #058
Grandmama Addams and Grandma Frump were high school classmates.
- #059
Pugsley's pet octopus was named Aristotle.
- #060
Filmways planned to shoot Season 3 in color, but ABC cancelled the series.
- #061
Although the Addams' cuckoo clock had a lynx head instead of a cuckoo, the Addamses called it a wolf.
- #062
The role of Lurch was Ted Cassidy's screen debut. About five years earlier he had done voice work as a Martian in the film The Angry Red Planet (1959).
- #063
The harpsichord Lurch played was a Krupnick.
- #064
The Addamses' version of the cuckoo clock was a lynx that emerged and growled at every hour of the day.
- #065
Cousin Itt's favorite spot is the Addamses' chimney.
- #066
The Addamses' pet lion was named "Kitty Cat".
- #067
Morticia's man-eating plant was named Cleopatra and is described as an African Strangler. Morticia feeds it meats such as hamburger, zebra and yak, so it is carnivorous. The closest real plant would be the African Strangler Fig, though it is not carnivorous. It takes its name from its tendency to strangle the trees it grows around.
- #068
Gomez's favorite dish is salamander eyes… roasted.
- #069
In the Spanish-dubbed version of the series, Gomez was named "Homero", Uncle Fester "Tío Lucas", Pugsley "Pericles", Wednesday "Merlina" and Lurch "Largo".
- #070
The series holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 critic reviews.
- #071
Ted Cassidy, who occasionally helped Thing, later voiced Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, in the short-lived Fantastic Four (1978) animated series.
- #072
Two baby vultures were painted on the door of Pugsley's bedroom.
- #073
The doorbell sound resembles a foghorn.
- #074
Blucher (pronounced "Blooker") is the name of Gomez's stockbroker.
- #075
Thing's name in Spanish is "Dedos," which translates to English as "Fingers." Fester's affectionate nickname for Thing is Fingers.
- #076
The distinctive "finger-snapping" intro of Vic Mizzy's theme melody is partly derived from Giuseppe Verdi's "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" ("Va Pensiero").
- #077
This series and its "rival" The Munsters (1964) have probably been subjected to more comparisons (because of their similarities) than any other two "rival" series in TV history.
- #078
Gomez often refers to Morticia as "Cara Mia," which means "beloved." This is also fitting because it is something frequently written on the gravestones of the dead.
- #079
Through a series of strange interconnected coincidences, The Addams Family (1991) was originally created by Orion Pictures, based on its earlier acquisition of Filmways, the company behind the 1960s TV version. Because of Orion's financial troubles, the live-action film was bought by Paramount, and Universal was the losing bidder. In 2019, Orion became part of MGM, which co-distributed the animated The Addams Family (2019) with Universal.
- #080
Perhaps not coincidentally, Filmways later became part of Orion Pictures, which led to the acquisition of nearly the entire combined library by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM then released the animated The Addams Family (2019) through the United Artists label/Universal Pictures. It is unclear whether the computer animation was based solely on the original Charles Addams source material or partly on the "inherited" Filmways television version due to legacy rights.
- #081
As of 2022, this series is no longer broadcast on MeTv.
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