Tim Burton’s new Netflix show Wednesday has reminded us why Wednesday Addams has been a pop culture icon for so long. Currently played by Jenna Ortega, this macabre little girl is beloved by many.
Christina Ricci was the actress to play the live-action role in 1993 in Addams Family Values, but the original Wednesday Addams first appeared on our screens in the 1964 sitcom. Before becoming the iconic gothic family on the big and small screen, the Addams family made their debut in 1938 as a series of cartoons for the New Yorker by Charles Addams.
In 1964, The Addams Family, this kooky and spooky family, appeared on the small screen in the beloved sitcom. We also first get to meet Wednesday Addams, complete with black pigtails, a black dress and a love of all things macabre.
Lisa Loring played the original Wednesday Addams in the sitcom until 1966. This is still the character she is best known for, but what happened to her after her rise to fame?
Updated on May 31, 2023: Hollywood suffered an unfortunate loss when Lisa Loring passed away in January of this year. Her daughter shared that the actress had had a stroke, which sent her to the hospital. The decision was made to remove Loring from the ventilator, resulting in her death at the age of 64.
6 Lisa Loring Started Her Career As A Child Model
Lisa Loring was born in the Marshall Islands on the Kwajalein Atoll, a remote island nearly 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Her parents divorced when she was three, and unfortunately her mother died when she was young.
She would soon move to Los Angeles, where she started modeling at just five years old. She made her first on-screen appearance in an episode of Dr. Kildare in 1964.
5 How Old Was Lisa Loring As Wednesday Addams?
Lisa Loring was just six years old when she was cast as Wednesday Addams, a role she is still known for.
She remembers the time fondly. "It was like a real family—you couldn't have picked a better cast and crew," Loring revealed in a 2017 interview at Monsterpalooza. "Carolyn Jones, John Astin—Gomez and Morticia—were like parents to me. They were great."
"I had to learn to memorize before I could read because I was five and a half when I started," she also recalled.
4 Was Lisa Loring Anything Like Wednesday Addams?
While Lisa Loring is still associated with Wednesday Addams, a character she played for over five decades ago, she was nothing like that character.
When asked if she and Addams shared any similarities, she answered, "I don't think so, no. I like lace and pearls and pretty things, and Wednesday liked everything dark and spooky."
3 What Was Lisa Loring's Career Post-Addams Family?
Lisa Loring's version of the Addams family only lasted two seasons, ending in 1966. Once the sitcom finished, Loring joined the cast of the comedy The Pruitts of Southampton, starring Phyllis Diller, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Richard Deacon. The show lasted for just one season.
After her childhood career, she appeared CBS soap opera As the World Turns from 1980 to 1983, where she played the role of Cricket Montgomery.
2 Lisa Loring Starred In Movies
Lisa Loring has appeared in a few slashers, including Blood Frenzy, Iced, and Doctor Spine. Between 1992 and 2015, she would have just three credited roles, all in low-visibility projects.
In 1977, she reprised her role of Wednesday Addams for the TV movie Halloween With the New Addams Family.
1 Why Lisa Loring Quit Acting
Lisa Loring struggled to find work in the early '90s. "I'm trying, but I'm afraid of the rejection," she told People in 1995. She also noted that she was picky about the roles she was interested in. "I will not do any schlock. But I'd love to do a Quentin Tarantino film," she said at the time.
She spent some time working as a makeup artist and later worked for a Santa Monica, California-based interior design firm.