Lisa Loring, the actress who played the original Wednesday Addams on the classic 1960’s TV adaptation of The Addams Family, has passed away at age 64.
According to her daughter, Vanessa Foumberg, Loring died Saturday night at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of complications from a stroke caused by high blood pressure.
“She went peacefully with both her daughters [Vanessa and Marianne] holding her hands,” she said.
Lisa Loring was born Lisa Ann DeCinces on February 16, 1958 in the Marshall Islands. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born and she and her mother relocated to Hawaii before ultimately moving to Los Angeles. She took on the stage name Lisa Loring, began modeling at age three and appeared in an episode of Dr. Kildare, which aired in 1964.
She is best known for her portrayal of Wednesday Addams on the classic TV adaptation of The Addams Family which aired from 1964–1966.
Loring recalled in an old interview getting the part when she was 5 years old, with filming starting just after she turned 6. She said she didn’t even know how to read yet. Loring explained, “I was 5 and a half when I auditioned for this part. The producer, David Levy, told me later on, he said, ‘I was not prepared to see children of your age that didn’t know how to read yet.’ I didn’t know how to read yet. But he said what got him was my long hair. So the first thing he asked me to do was pout. Won him over. The pout was very essential to the Wednesday character.
The actress went on to say that it was difficult for her to play Wednesday sometimes, because her co-stars, which included John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan and Ted Cassidy, were so funny, but she had to remain morose.
Here’s a clip from that interview:
She was one of the longer-surviving members of the show’s main cast. She later reprised the role for the TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family. With Loring’s passing, Astin is the last surviving member of the original cast of The Addams Family.
After The Addams Family, Loring continued to work in TV with appearances in The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island and Barnaby Jones. In addition to those appearances, she played Cricket Montgomery on As the World Turns in the early ’80s. She also appeared in three B-rate slasher films which were Blood Frenzy, Iced, and Savage Harbor.
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As news of her passing began to spread, many took to twitter to pay their respects:
Loring is survived by her two daughters Vanessa and Marianne and her grandchildren, Emiliana and Charles.
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