Lisa Loring, Wednesday in Original Addams Family Series, Dies at 64

Lisa Loring, who played the young Wednesday Addams on “The Addams Family” from 1964 to 1966 and also appeared in “As the World Turns,” died Saturday of a stroke, her daughter Vanessa Foumberg confirmed. She was 64.

“She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” Foumberg said.

A friend, Laurie Jacobson, reported her death on Facebook, writing that she “was in our hearts always as Wednesday Addams.”

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.”

Loring’s shimmying frug dance called “The Drew” frug gained renewed attention with the new Netflix series “Wednesday,” on which Jenna Ortega does her own interpretation of Wednesday’s dance. Her character Wednesday Addams was sweet-natured but gloomy, and had a penchant for collecting creepy pets including a black widow spider named Homer and a lizard named Lucifer, as well as playing with a headless doll.

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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 the age of 3 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.”

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.

Later in the 1980s, she had parts in genre movies including “Savage Harbor” and “Blood Frenzy” and worked as a makeup artist on adult films under the name “Maxine Factor.”

She is survived by two daughters, Marianne and Vanessa.

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Update: 2024-07-01

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