# The Addams Family. Are they dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695 "2004-07-31T04:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/21 "2004-07-31T15:16:12Z")
I remember asking my dad this exact question as we were going to see the first _Addams Family_ movie. He said no, they’re just weird. Not much of a cite, but I think it’s clear they’re just bizarre, not undead or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/22 "2004-07-31T15:35:34Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > the character designs matched the 1990’s animated series exactly, but it was dated 1932! Nah. Addams’s first drawing in The New Yorker was “I forgot my skates,” in 1935. He came on board full-time after the infamous “Downhill Skier,” published in 1940. The first “Family” cartoon was “Oh! For a moment you gave me quite a start,” with Morticia and Lurch. In 1937. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/23 "2004-07-31T15:43:40Z")
The Addamses are not undead, but they are beyond merely weird. They’re not quite human; “ghouls” is the best term I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/24 "2004-07-31T15:44:47Z")
This “Morticia’s Morgue” site () not only covers the TV series but gives some examples of Addams’ _New Yorker_ cartoons. Before Gary Larson, there was Gahan Wilson. Before Gahan Wilson, there was Chas. Addams. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/25 "2004-07-31T15:45:29Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > IMDB doesn’t note the death of [Grandma](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539652/) from the first movie and she has a credit from 2003; [Grandma](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001406/) from the second movie is very much alive. I had heard that she had died. I could be completely wrong. It’s worth noting that Uncle Fester was never part of the family in the Charles Addams cartoons – he was just a creepy little guy who served his own purpose in one-panel gags elsewhere. One of his better ones has an old lady feeding pigeons popcorn in the park looking nervously at the next bench… where Uncle Fester is feeding carrion to vultures. I do seem to recall that Charles Addams did name the characters on the TV series, though. “Pubert” was his original choice for the little boy, but network executives nixed it, so it became “Pugsley.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/26 "2004-07-31T15:48:30Z")
Sorry, here’s the link: [http://www.morticiasmorgue.com/addams.html](http://www.morticiasmorgue.com/addams.html) Also: [http://www.geocities.com/~cousin\_itt/charles.htm](http://www.geocities.com/~cousin_itt/charles.htm) [http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/addams\_bio.html](http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/addams_bio.html) [http://www.toonopedia.com/addams.htm](http://www.toonopedia.com/addams.htm) [http://www.addamsfamily.com/](http://www.addamsfamily.com/) [http://www.westfieldnj.com/addams/](http://www.westfieldnj.com/addams/) ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/27 "2004-07-31T18:01:05Z")
[Wednesday]Does it matter? [/Wednesday] PS - John Astin (Gomez from the TV series) is very much alive, and currently teaches at Johns Hopkins University. His son Sean Astin played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings movies. (Although I think recently DNA testing revealed that Sean isn’t John’s biological son.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/28 "2004-07-31T18:23:17Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > For you _Twin Peaks_fans, [Carel “Lurch” Struycken] was the Giant. For me, he was the guy who read my story, [Patron](http://scifiaudio.com/downloads.html) for its audio publication. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/29 "2004-07-31T18:28:13Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > [Wednesday]Does it matter? [/Wednesday] > PS - John Astin (Gomez from the TV series) is very much alive, and currently teaches at Johns Hopkins University. What does he teach? Acting? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/30 "2004-07-31T18:31:34Z")
> [@Master Wang-Ka](#): > > It’s worth noting that Uncle Fester was never part of the family in the Charles Addams cartoons – he was just a creepy little guy who served his own purpose in one-panel gags elsewhere. One of his better ones has an old lady feeding pigeons popcorn in the park looking nervously at the next bench… where Uncle Fester is feeding carrion to vultures. I remember one where a neighbor is looking with bemusement at Fester who is tending to the iron fence around his house (a ancient mansard-roofed Queen Anne, just like Gomez and Morticia’s house) – by sharpening the spikes with a file. And there’s one where Fester is sitting in a movie audience – everybody is crying, except for Fester, who is grinning. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/31 "2004-08-01T00:03:49Z")
the addams family are: creepy and spooky, mysterious and ooky, altogether kookie, they really are a scream! neat, sweet, petite. undead was not mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/32 "2004-08-01T00:17:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What does he teach? Acting? Acting and directing. [Cite (scroll to the bottom)](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040014/bio), although that was back in 2001, so he might have moved on. (BTW, rocking chair, the proper order is ‘creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, altogether ooky’) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/33 "2004-08-01T00:49:52Z")
Some cable channel (Nickelodeon?) had a song parody asking this question, sung to the tune of _The Munsters_ theme song: (I can’t remember the first line) \*A vampire and a Frankenstein, giving birth to a little wolf boy Grampa is a vampire who goes out in the sun And Marilyn, you’re normal, where the **heck** did you come from? It seems that genetics don’t apply To the Munsters To the Munsters\*… > [@HPL](#): > > I never thouht they were dead. They were a bunch of wierd people, unlike say, the Munsters, where at least three members of the family were undead. > > Apu: I don’t understand something. If your father was a Frankenstein, and your mother was a vampire, how come you were a werewolf? > > Kid who played Eddie Munster: I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/34 "2004-08-01T02:10:34Z")
Is it just my imagination, or is there a scene in one of the movies where Morticia and someone walk through the graveyard envying the dead? ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/35 "2004-08-01T04:30:16Z")
Isn’t one of the main plot points of the second movies Fester’s wife trying to kill them? It doesn’t prove anything, but I remember them all looking pretty concerned when she was holding the gun in front of them. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/36 "2004-08-01T05:33:43Z")
> [@percypercy](#): > > Isn’t one of the main plot points of the second movies Fester’s wife trying to kill them? It doesn’t prove anything, but I remember them all looking pretty concerned when she was holding the gun in front of them. > -Lil Yeah, but earlier in the movie she threw a radio in the tub where he put the bulb in his mouth, to light up the room. And then she set a bomb to go off in the house, and he runs outside all black, obvious the bomb went off in his hands. Those two instances should have killed him. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/37 "2004-08-01T05:50:14Z")
[QUOTE=Master Wang-Ka] Slight hijack: When he died in the early seventies, his live-in girlfriend inherited everything. She had him cremated and put in an urn. She later buried the urn in the back yard of the house they shared. [QUOTE] He actually died in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/38 "2004-08-01T06:09:06Z")
And man, they had the best pinball game EVER. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/39 "2004-08-01T07:28:10Z")
Yeah, and in the movie, Wednesday electrocutes Pugsley - and there’s probably some other stuff. It doesn’t seem that they can be killed by normal means, but I don’t think they’re dead - just weird and, you know, fictional. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695/40 "2004-08-01T10:03:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yeah, and in the movie, Wednesday electrocutes Pugsley - and there’s probably some other stuff. It doesn’t seem that they can be killed by normal means, but I don’t think they’re dead - just weird and, you know, fictional. 😉 Heck, even the baby was able to stop a speeding guillotine blade with his fingertips. There’s definitely a Wile E. Coyote aspect to this family. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-addams-family-are-they-dead/257695.md?page=3)