Lisa Rowling, “Original” Wednesday of “The Addams Family,” Dies at 64; Played Wednesday in 1964 at Just 6 Years Old

Last Updated on 02/01/2023 by てんしょく飯

Lisa Rowling, the former child star of the 1960s hit “The Addams Family,” has died days after suffering a stroke at the age of 64.

Rowling got the role of Wednesday Addams in 1964 when she was only 6 years old.

RIP Lisa Loring!🖤#lisaloring #wednesday #addamsfamily pic.twitter.com/wIRvYNbsqg

— valerie perrine (@TheValPerrine) January 30, 2023

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rowling’s daughter, Vanessa Fanberg, acknowledged her death, saying, “She left peacefully with her two daughters at her side.”

Rowling got the role of Wednesday Adams in 1964 when she was only six years old. She was an endearingly odd character, caring for a black widow spider named Homer and a lizard named Lucifer, and playing with a headless doll of Marie Antoinette. She also helped spark the dance craze of the 1960s with her famous scene in which he teaches Lurch, the butler of the Addams Family, how to dance (the move became known as the “Lurch”).

Originally, “The Addams Family” was an untitled one-panel cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker magazine beginning in 1937. The original version aired for only two seasons in 1966, but the characters have long been beloved in pop culture. The Wednesday Addams, in particular, has recently been revitalized with the Netflix series “Wednesday,” starring Jenna Ortega.

After the series ended, Loring briefly appeared in Phyllis Diller’s sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton, but then she was away from acting for about 10 years. as the 1970s ended, Loring returned to the screen, appearing in the Addams Family She played Wednesday again in a TV movie, and also began appearing in TV shows such as “Fantasy Island” and “Detective Jones.

In the early 1980s, she had a recurring role in the drama As The World Turns (ATWT). She then appeared in two slasher films, Blood Frenzy and Savage Harbor. Rowling also struggled with addiction for several years, and although sober, she once again turned away from acting. However, in the mid-2010s, she appeared in a B-movie horror film.