See ‘The Addams Family’ Cast Young: Carolyn Jones, John Astin and More Before Life on Cemetery Lane
Jones worked with Elvis, Jackie Coogan was a millionaire child star — there's just so much to know!
In 1938, cartoonist Charles Addams couldn’t have imagined how his life would be impacted when he began drawing his macabrely funny, single-panel The Addams Family comics for The New Yorker. Or how those same comics would, nearly three decades later, similarly intertwine with and impact the lives of an ensemble of actors — Carolyn Jones, John Astin and Jackie Coogan among them — and, in turn, generations of television viewers.
The Addams Family TV series, one of many fantasy sitcoms that filled the primetime airwaves of the 1960s, ran from 1964 to 1966 and brought those comics to life, focusing on the twisted antics of the Addams clan, led by the married Morticia and Gomez (Jones and Astin), with their daughter Wednesday and son Pugsley (Lisa Loring and Ken Weatherwax), Uncle Fester (Coogan), the elderly Grandmama (Blossom Rock) and the zombie-like butler Lurch (Ted Cassidy).
As was typical of the times, the cast ended up pretty typecast by the time the show was over — despite its relatively short time on the air — but each of the adult cast members came to The Addams Family with a variety of experiences. What follows is a look back at the roads they traveled before coming together at 0001 Cemetery Lane for the original series.
Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams)
NAME: Carolyn Jones
CHARACTER: Morticia Addams
BORN: April 28, 1930 in Amarillo, Texas
BEFORE THE ADDAM’S FAMILY: A sickly child suffering from a severe case of asthma, she was largely homebound as a child, but was a voracious reader of movie magazines and dreamed of becoming a star. She attended the Pasadena Playhouse at age 17 and made the move to Hollywood where she began appearing in films in 1952 with The Turning Point. Other credits would include the sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Elvis Presley’s King Creole (1958). Prior to The Addams Family, there would also be a number of television guest star appearances.
AFTER THE ADDAMS FAMILY: Guest starring roles, the 1977 TV movie Halloween with The New Addams Family and the daytime soap Capitol.
PERSONAL: She was married four times, to Don Donaldson (1950 to 1951), producer Aaron Spelling (1953 to 1964), Herbert Greene (1968 to 1977) and Peter Bailey-Britton (1978 to 1983).
DIED: Carolyn Jones died on August 3, 1983 of cancer. She was only 53.
1930s
Carolyn Jones as a child in the 1930s. When she was young, she suffered from lung issues that oftentimes kept her isolated at home.
1940s
1947
At the age of 17, Carolyn, with her grandfather’s support, enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse.
1955
Carolyn signing autographs with Canadian actor Jack Kruschen, circa 1955.
1956
A film studio maintenance man fills a cigarette lighter for English actress Joan Collins outside her dressing room, as Carolyn Jones looks on, 1956. The actresses were playing showgirls in The Opposite Sex, directed by David Miller.
1957
Carolyn and producer Aaron Spelling on the set of Zane Grey Theater on January 25, 1957 in Los Angeles, California.
1958
Elvis Presley and Carolyn promoting King Creole, directed by Michael Curtiz.
1959
Carolyn Jones sitting in a scene from the film Career, 1959.
1963
In 1963, Carolyn co-starred with Red Buttons in A Ticklish Affair.
John Astin (Gomez Addams)
NAME: John Astin
CHARACTER: Gomez Addams
BORN: March 30, 1930 in Baltimore, Maryland
BEFORE THE ADDAM’S FAMILY: Small parts in the classic film West Side Story and Doris Day’s That Touch of Mink, and guest star roles in the sitcoms Dennis the Menace and the Donna Reed Show. He co-starred with comedian Marty Ingels in the sitcom I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster from 1962 to 1963.
AFTER THE ADDAMS FAMILY: He reprised the role of Gomez in several projects, both live-action and on an animated series for Saturday mornings also based on Charles Addams’ comics; and appeared in starring or recurring roles on a number of series. Beyond that, there would be numerous guest appearances (including as the Riddler on the Adam West Batman series), film appearances and stage roles, in particular in the one-man show Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight.
PERSONAL: He was married to Suzanne Hahn from 1956 to 1972 (they had three sons), actress Patty Duke from 1972 to 1985 (with two sons born to them, including Sean Patrick Astin of The Lord of the Rings and The Goonies fame) and has been married to Valerie Ann Sandobal since 1989. He’s 94-years-old.
1951
John Allen Astin in the circus sequence of ”The Master Glass Blower,” in which a circus barker faces two young boys, sons of John Lehman (L) and Harold Ingle (R), 1951.
1960
John Astin in a 1960 episode of the James Garner television series Maverick.
1961
In season 2 of The Twilight Zone, John Astin co-starred with Cliff Robertson in the Rod Serling-written episode ‘A Hundred Yards Over the Rim.’
1962
John Astin starred in his first sitcom from 1962 to 1963, I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster, which saw him co-starring with Marty Ingels (who would eventually go on to become Partridge Family star Shirley Jones’ second husband).
John Astin looking over the shoulder of Emmaline Henry in a scene from the television series I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster, 1962.
Doris Day and John Astin in 1962’s That Touch of Mink. The following year he would also appear in Doris Day’s Move Over, Darling, which co-starred James Garner.
Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester)
NAME: Jackie Coogan
CHARACTER: Uncle Fester
BORN: October 26, 1914 in Los Angeles.
BEFORE THE ADDAM’S FAMILY: He was a major child star, discovered by Charlie Chaplin and featured in 1920’s The Kid, and things went on from there. Not only was he featured in a wide variety of motion pictures, but there was merchandise featuring his likeness and he was the first child actor millionaire. Unfortunately, by the time he turned 21 in 1935 he learned that his mother and stepfather had squandered his $4 million fortune and he was left with virtually nothing. This resulted in the creation of the California Child Actor’s Bill, which stopped something similar from happening to other children, though it didn’t help him.
AFTER THE ADDAMS FAMILY: He always managed to find work, with Uncle Fester and The Addams Family bringing him to national attention again, and while he could be found on a wide variety of television shows and movies, he never achieved the kind of success he had as a kid.
PERSONAL: Jackie Coogan was married four times, to actress Betty Grable from 1937 to 1939, Flower Parry from 1941 to 1943, Ann McCormack from 1946 to 1951 and Dorothea Lamphere from 1952 until the time of his death. He was the father of four children.
DIED: He died on March 1, 1984 at the age of 69.
1920
Charles Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid, 1920.
1924
American child actors Jackie Coogan as Nello, and Jeanne Carpenter as Alios Cogez in a scene from the film A Boy Of Flanders, 1924.
1930
Junior Durkin (left) and Jackie Coogan tell fish stories as they play the roles of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer in the 1930 film Tom Sawyer.
1938
Full-length image of married American actors Betty Grable and Jackie Coogan posing in front of a railroad car. Grable wears a long fur coat.
1947
Former American child star Jackie Coogan with his wife Ann McCormack, London, 1947.
1957
July 2, 1957: Actor Jackie Coogan poses with (L-R) Patricia Deane, Patricia Craig, Jacqueline Sarrall, Kathi Thornton, Gloria Holliday, Joyce Andre in Los Angeles,California.
Ted Cassidy (Lurch)
NAME: Ted Cassidy
CHARACTER: Lurch
BORN: July 31, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
BEFORE THE ADDAM’S FAMILY: His show business career pretty much consisted of his being a disc jockey, and with that distinct voice of his, it’s not really surprising. He worked in Florida and then in Dallas, before auditioning for and being cast in the part of Lurch.
AFTER THE ADDAMS FAMILY: As an actor he could be seen in everything from Star Trek to The Six Million Dollar Man, Mannix and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., while his voice was heard on such cartoons as Birdman and the Galaxy Trio and Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles. On the big screen, there would be a number of movie appearances as well.
PERSONAL: He was married to Margaret Helen Jesse from 1956 to 1974 and was the father of two.
DIED: Following an operation to remove a non-malignant tumor from his heart, something went wrong and he died on January 16, 1979 at the age of 46.
1959
Ted Cassidy working as a disc jockey at radio station WCOA in Pensacola, Floria in 1959. His first job outside of radio would be as Lurch on The Addams Family.
Blossom Rock/Edith Marie Blossom McDonald (Grandmama)
NAME: Blossom Rock/Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald
CHARACTER: Grandmama
BORN: August 21, 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
BEFORE THE ADDAM’S FAMILY: The sister of actress Jeanette MacDonald, she had a career in vaudeville and in motion pictures. She is probably best known (outside of the family Addams) for playing hospital switchboard operator Sally in MGM’s series of Dr. Kildare movies between 1938 and 1942.
AFTER THE ADDAMS FAMILY: Suffering a stroke in 1967, she was unable to act any further.
PERSONAL: Married to Clarence Warren Rock from 1926 to 1960, the two of them had performed a vaudeville act together under the name “Rock and Blossom,” and after his passing she decided to go with the stage name Blossom Rock.
DIED: She died on January 14, 1978 at age 82.
1930s
For many people it’s going to be hard to believe that this is the same woman who played Grandmama, but it’s true. In the 1930s she went by the name Marie Blake.
Edith MacDonald with her sister, actress Jeanette MacDonald.
1943
Nat Pendleton, Van Johnson and Marie Blake in Dr. Gillespie’s Criminal Case.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
