The Real-Life Couples of ‘The Addams Family’: Which of the Oooky Cast Found Happiness in Marriage?
Gomez and Morticia were passionate lovers, but John Astin, Carolyn Jones and more struggled with love
Back in the 1960s, the cast of The Addams Family original series brought to life the characters that had been appearing in artist Charles Addams’ one-panel comic strips in The New Yorker since 1938. What they so successfully captured was the most eccentric and comically macabre family ever (second only to the Munsters perhaps), led by the on-screen romantic dynamic between Morticia and Gomez (Carolyn Jones and John Astin), as well as the antics of former child actor Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester, Ted Cassidy’s zombie-like Lurch and the rest.
And while that family has been capturing viewers’ imaginations for the past 60 years, the truth is that the cast’s real-life relationships have proven to be equally as captivating. Over these six decades, they’ve experienced marriages, divorces, joys and more tragedies than one might suspect, as you’ll discover below.
Carolyn Jones: A life of many roles and marriages
Carolyn Jones and Don Donaldson
Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams) was married four times in her life. Husband number one was Don G. Donaldson, who is believed to have been born in 1922 (give or take a year or two). He was a student at the Pasadena Playhouse when Carolyn attended, the two of them having met in 1949. The following year they were married, but things didn’t last long as the duo filed for divorce in 1951. One of the big problems may have been that she was 19 while he was 27.
Carolyn Jones and Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling, then an actor who was just trying to break into writing (in the years before he became one of television’s biggest producers with shows like Charlie’s Angels and Beverly Hills, 90210), married Carolyn Jones in 1953. This marriage, too, ended in divorce in 1968. The actress’ biographer, James Plyant, who wrote In Morticia’s Shadow: The Life & Career of Carolyn Jones, offers:
“When she met Aaron Spelling, neither one of them had any money, but they were both very hard workers. I think in the early days of their marriage, they were on the same level, both struggling and he supported her financially and emotionally and it’s the same way for her. She’s the one who really told him, forget about acting. You have a talent for writing and you’ve got to focus on this. But they became jealous or resentful of each other when they were successful. And when they were successful, it was not at the same time, so one was down a bit while the other’s career would rise and vice versa.”
Carolyn Jones and Herbert Greene
The same year that she divorced Aaron Spelling — specifically on December 19, 1968 — Carolyn Jones married Broadway musical director, and her vocal coach, Herbert Greene. Initially they moved to Palm Springs, California, but gradually she felt the need to start focusing on her career again and they were divorced on April 5, 1977.
Carolyn Jones and Peter Bailey-Britton
Sadly, in 1981 Carolyn was diagnosed with colon cancer and at the time she’d been romantically involved with actor Peter Bailey-Britton for several years. Despite her illness, the couple decided to get married on September 25, 1982, but only had until August 3, 1983 before Carolyn Jones passed away at the age of 53.
John Astin: From Gomez Addams to lasting love
John Astin and Suzanne Hahn
John Astin (Gomez Addams) has been married three times. He first walked down the aisle on March 26, 1956 with aspiring actress Suzanne Hahn. Although they would ultimately divorce in 1972, in between they became the parents of three sons: David, Allen and Tom.
John Astin and Patty Duke
While attending a wrap party in 1970, John Astin met his second wife, actress Patty Duke. Hitting it off, they were married on August 5, 1972. He adopted Patty’s son from a previous marriage, Sean (who, of course, would grow up to become an actor in his own right, starring in, among other things, the Lord of the Rings trilogy). In 1973, they had a son of their own, Mackenzie, and Patty would go on to adopt his three sons from his first marriage. Through the years they worked together on a number of projects, but eventually things fell apart and they divorced in 1985 following 13 years together.
John Astin and Valerie Sandobal
His third and final marriage was to Valerie Ann Sandobal, who he met in 1988. They married a year later and have been together ever since. Fairly private, there isn’t a lot known about her. Astin will be turning 95 on March 30, 2025.
Jackie Coogan: Four wives and a storied career
Jackie Coogan and Betty Grable
Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) was an acclaimed child star who earned millions in the 1920s and 1930s, most of which was squandered away by his mother and stepfather. His first wife was actress and pin-up model Betty Grable, who he became engaged to in 1935 and married two years later. They divorced two years after that.
Jackie Coogan and Flower Parry
Flower Parry, who became Jackie Coogan’s second wife, was working as a dancer and cigarette girl when the two met. They married on August 10, 1941, with Flower giving birth to their son, John Anthony Coogan, the following year. They were divorced on June 29, 1943.
Jackie Coogan and Ann McCormack
Singer and actress Ann McCormack was next in line for Coogan. They married on December 26, 1946 and had a daughter named Joann Dolliver. Their marriage, too, was short-lived, the couple divorcing on September 20, 1951.
Coogan’s most successful marriage was his fourth and final one, this time to dancer Dorothea Odette Hanson, who he wed in April 1952. In 1953, they became parents to daughter Leslie Diane Coogan, and 1967 saw the birth of son Christopher Fenton Coogan. They were together until his death from heart failure on March 1, 1984 at age 69.
Ted Cassidy and Margaret Helen Jesse: The tall and tragic tale of Lurch
Ted Cassidy (Lurch) married Margaret Helen Jesse on June 14, 1956, not long after he graduated from Stetson University. They relocated to Dallas, where Cassidy began working as a DJ. In 1957 they became the parents of son Sean and, three years later, daughter 1960.
While the reasons are unknown, they divorced in 1975. Four years later, Cassidy died as a result of complications from heart surgery on January 16, 1979. He was only 46.
Blossom Rock and Clarence Warren Rock: A vaudeville romance that stood the test of time
Blossom Rock (Grandmama), the sister of singer and actress Jenette MacDonald, was married once, to actor Clarence Warren Rock on September 26, 1926. The two of them formed a vaudeville act — Rock and Blossom — that lasted from 1925 to 1929. They were married until Clarence’s death in 1960.
Lisa Loring: The Four Marriages of Wednesday Addams
Lisa Loring (Wednesday Addams) led a difficult life. At 15 in 1973 she married Farrell Foumberg and gave birth to their daughter, with the marriage ending in 1974. Then, in 1981, she married actor Doug Stevenson, who was working on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Although Loring gave birth to their daughter, the marriage ended in 1983.
Next up was adult film actor Jerry Butler, who she wed in 1987, but his addiction to that lifestyle led to their divorce in 1992. This union was followed by her marriage to Graham Rich in 2003, the two of them staying together until 2014.
Less than a decade later, on January 28, 2023, Loring died of a stroke brought on by severe hypertension. She was 64.
Quick facts about ‘The Addams Family’ cast:
- Ken Weatherwax played Morticia and Gomez’s son Pugsley on the television series. Never married, Ken passed away from a heart attack on December 7, 2014 at the age of 59.
- One of the more popular family members of the first of several TV shows focused on the Addams family was the derby and sunglass-wearing, hair from the top of his head to his feet, Cousin Itt (played by Felix Silla). Cousin Itt would join the rest of the characters on the big screen in 1991’s The Addams Family and 1993’s Addams Family Values.
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