Lisa Loring, TV’s Original Wednesday Addams, Dies at 64

TV’s original Wednesday Addams has died. Lisa Loring played the role of the Addams family’s unforgettably peculiar daughter on the original 1960s version of the Addams Family television series. She was 64 years old.

Her passing was first announced on Facebook by a friend, who wrote “4 days ago [Loring] suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure. She had been on life support for 3 days. Yesterday, her family made the difficult decision to remove it and she passed last night.”

Loring was only six years old when she began playing Wednesday opposite John Astin’s Gomez and Carolyn Jones’ Morticia on television. Her version of the character, which wasn’t quite as goth and sullen as later interpretations, received renewed attention last year thanks to Netflix’s hit update of The Addams Family, Wednesday. On the new show, Jenny Ortega’s Wednesday does a very unusual dance — which promptly went viral on social media. But the dance was based on something that Loring did on the original series, in an episode where she teaches the Addams’ butler Lurch to boogie. You can watch the scene below:

After The Addams Family ended its two season run on ABC, Loring appeared on TV series like The Pruitts of Southampton, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island, and Barnaby Jones. As her friend Laurie Jacobson wrote in tribute on Facebook, “beautiful, kind, a loving mother, Lisa’s legacy in the world of entertainment is huge. And the legacy for her family and friends — a wealth of humor, affection and love will long play in our memories.”