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Lurch the Butler - The towering zombie butler on
the bizarre situation comedy 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.
Lurch the Butler
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.
The remake series THE NEW
ADDAMS FAMILY/FOX/1998-99 featured John DeSantis as Lurch. Jim Cummings
provided the voice of Lurch for the animated series THE ADDAMS FAMILY/SYN/1992.
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
"Character Bios"
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