Lisa Loring, the actor who played Wednesday Addams in the original 1960s television hit The Addams Family, has died from what a family friend called a “massive stroke.” She was 64.
Loring died on Saturday night in hospital surrounded by family, her daughter told Variety. “She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” she said.
The author Laurie Jacobson, a personal friend wrote on Facebook that Loring had “suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure” and had been on life support for three days before her family decided to remove it on the weekend.
Jacobson paid tribute to Loring’s “legacy in the world of entertainment”, writing: “She is embedded in the tapestry that is pop culture and in our hearts always as Wednesday Addams.”
Loring played Wednesday Addams from 1964 to 1966 in the first adaptation of Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons, taking on the role when she was just six years old.
Her performance as the iconic Addams daughter, with her gothic streak and classic pigtails, has reverberated through film and TV, greatly influencing following depictions of the character.
Loring went on to reprise her role as Wednesday in the 1977 television movie Halloween with the New Addams Family.
Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on The Munsters, also remembered her on Facebook, writing, “Very sorry to hear of my dear friend Lisa Loring’s passing. We were very close and worked together often. I know she was very weak. I was in her company just a few weeks ago. Godspeed my friend.”
The Variety report sets out her long and varied career.
File/Addams Family cast: Ted Cassidy, Carolyn Jones, Ken Weatherwax, Blossom Rock, John Astin, Lisa Loring (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Loring was born in the Marshall Islands to parents who had served in the Navy, and lived in Hawaii before coming to Los Angeles with her mother. She started modeling at three and then was cast in an episode of Dr. Kildare.
After The Addams Family finished its two-season run, Loring joined Phyllis Diller’s sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton.
Lisa Loring attends a preview of The Hollywood Museum’s “Child Stars – Then And Now” exhibit at The Hollywood Museum on August 18, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Tara Ziemba/Getty Images)
She made appearances on series including The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island and Barnaby Jones, then secured a recurring role as Cricket Montgomery on As the World Turns”from 1980 to 1983, Variety recalls.
Loring was married four times and is survived by two daughters, Marianne and Vanessa.