Lurch the Butler -  The towering zombie butler on the sitcom THE ADDAMS FAMILY/ABC/1964-66. Lurch (Ted Cassidy) worked for Gomez Addams (John Astin), an eccentric millionaire who lived at 001 Cemetery Lane-next to a graveyard. Speaking in short groaning phrases, Lurch performed such domestic duties as dusting the house's strange family heirlooms and answering the call of the fog horn that announced the arrival of guests at the front door. When the Addams wanted to summon Lurch they pulled the butler's hangman-shaped bell-pull dangling from the ceiling that sent out a resounding "Gong!" Lurch then entered the room and in a deep voice said "You Rang?" The deep bass tone of Lurch's voice could also be heard saying "Neat, Sweet, and Petite" between stanzas of 'The Addams Family' theme song. The most pleasant thing Lurch did was play the family harpsichord.

Lurch was featured on episodes:

• No. 13 "Lurch Learns to Dance" (12-11-64) when Lurch takes dance lessons so he can attend the upcoming Butlers Ball;

• No. 17 "Mother Lurch Visits the Addams Family" (1-15-65) when Lurch convinces his employers to act as his servants to impress his visiting mother;

• No. 25 "Lurch and His Harpsichord" (3-19-65) when Lurch is upset when the Addams donate their harpsichord to a museum;

• No. 33 "Lurch, the Teenage Idol" (5-14-65) when Lurch records a song and is surrounded by screaming teenage fans;

• No. 61 "Lurch's Little Helper" (3-18-66) when Lurch feels he is being replaced by the new robot butler;

• No. 63 "Lurch's Grand Romance" (3-25-66) when Lurch falls in love with a family friend.

Ted Cassidy later provided the voice of Lurch on the Hanna Barbera animated cartoon THE ADDAMS FAMILY/NBC/1973-75. The motion picture remake The Addams Family: The Movie (1991) and The Addams Family Values (1993) cast the giant actor, Carel Struycken as Lurch the butler.

TRIVIA NOTE: Ted Cassidy died after complication following open-heart surgery on January 16, 1979, at the age of forty-six. His body was cremated and his ashes were buried in his backyard.   See also "Lurch the Butler"