# Who Played "Cousin It" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471 "2004-06-09T16:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/1 "2004-06-09T16:29:45Z")
On the “ADDAMS FAMILY” TV show? As far as i know, you never saw his face. And, was Jacky Coogan (played Uncle Fester) a big Hollywood actor in the 1940’s? By the time of the Addams family, i’m sure he had been long forgotten. Did “Pugsley” and "Wenedsday"ove on to other roles after this show was cancelled? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/2 "2004-06-09T16:41:08Z")
It was played by [Felix Silla](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798061/). Jackie Coogan was a child actor in the '20s & '30s, he costarred with Charlie Chaplin in [The Kid](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0012349/combined). Ken Weatherwax had no movie or TV career other than “Puglsey” but Lisa Loring went on some small roles afterwards, most notably “Cricket” on [As the World Turns](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048845/combined) from '81 to '83. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/3 "2004-06-09T16:41:37Z")
[Here](http://imdb.com/title/tt0057729/) are the credits for _The Addams Family_, including Cousin Itt. As you can see, Jackie Coogan was indeed a very big child star in the 1920s—what isn’t mentioned is that Grandmama (Blosson Rock) was the sister of 1930s musical star Jeanette MacDonald! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/4 "2004-06-09T16:44:41Z")
In case you didn’t know, “Thing” was Ted “Lurch” Cassidy’s hand. Thing rarely moved when Lurch was in the shot. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/5 "2004-06-09T16:45:02Z")
Cousin Itt - Felix Silla (Twikki on “Buck Rogers”) Wednesday Addams - Lisa Loring (went on to star as Cricket Ross on “As The World Turns”) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/6 "2004-06-09T16:45:35Z")
IIRC, Jackie Coogan was also married to Lana Turner. [Findadeath.com](http://Findadeath.com) has a whole section on the Addams Family cast. I can’t vouch for how accurate any of it is, but it makes for a interesting read. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/7 "2004-06-09T16:54:40Z")
TVLand has been rerunning the old “Addams Family” episodes, which I’ve been enjoying immensly, as I loved the show when I was a kid. I always considered “The Munsters” to be a vastly inferior rip-off, largely because that is exactly what it was. However, there is one thing that I junt never noticed when I was seven: Carolyn Jones (Morticia), is a BABE!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/8 "2004-06-09T18:17:09Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > IIRC, Jackie Coogan was also married to Lana Turner. [Betty Grable](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/2440/bg9.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/9 "2004-06-09T18:19:27Z")
Thanks for the correction - I knew it was one of those ladies. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/10 "2004-06-09T18:23:22Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I always considered “The Munsters” to be a vastly inferior rip-off, largely because that is exactly what it was. I agree about the quality of the two shows—they both premiered in Sept. of 1964, so someone must have been spying! What really ruins _The Addams Family_, though, is that awful, instrusive laugh track. Can’t they somehow dub it _out?_ ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/11 "2004-06-09T18:24:51Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > TVLand has been rerunning the old “Addams Family” episodes, which I’ve been enjoying immensly, as I loved the show when I was a kid. I always considered “The Munsters” to be a vastly inferior rip-off, largely because that is exactly what it was. There’s a talking head shot of John Scneider (Bo Duke) on TV Land saying “There’s two kinds of people, Addams Family people and Munsters people. I’m a Munsters person.” Why would you admit to this? I thought it was pretty obvious that the Addams Family is about being different and loving it; the Addamses live life the way they want to, and they don’t change for anybody. The Munsters, by contrast, are always trying to “fit in;” they just want to be like everybody else. Give me Morticia and Gomez’s _joie de vivre_ any day. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > However, there is one thing that I junt never noticed when I was seven: Carolyn Jones (Morticia), is a BABE!!! 😃 Yes. Yes she is. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/12 "2004-06-09T18:26:49Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > However, there is one thing that I junt never noticed when I was seven: Carolyn Jones (Morticia), is a BABE!!! 😃 I noticed that too when I came of age. That slinky black dress: WOW! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/13 "2004-06-09T18:37:44Z")
Also, the intense passion that Gomez and Morticia had for each other was pretty damned hot for 1962 TV! ---
**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:** [June 9, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/14 "2004-06-09T23:09:50Z")
lest we forget many child actors enjoy the benefits of the coogan law. they really owe the man quite a graditude debt. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/15 "2004-06-09T23:59:53Z")
> [@rocking chair](#): > > lest we forget many child actors enjoy the benefits of the coogan law. they really owe the man quite a graditude debt. And let us not forget the e.e. cummings law, which permits people to post entire sentences without the use of capital letters . . . ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/16 "2004-06-10T00:04:08Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > In case you didn’t know, “Thing” was Ted “Lurch” Cassidy’s hand. Thing rarely moved when Lurch was in the shot. According to The Addams Chronicles by Stephen Cox, when Lurch and Thing had to be in the same shot assistant director Jack Voglin filled in as Thing. This happened in Luch’s Little Helper, Addams Cum Laude, Morticia’s Favorite Charity, Uncle Fester’s Illness, Morticia The Writer, Lurch And His Harpsichord, Halloween Addams Style, Fester Goes On A Diet, and Mother Lurch Visits The Addams Family. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/17 "2004-06-10T00:21:39Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > The Munsters, by contrast, are always trying to “fit in;” they just want to be like everybody else. The Munsters didn’t “just want to be like everybody else” - they thought they _already were_ like everybody else. Only better looking - Marilyn was always referred to as “poor, unfortunate Marilyn”, and Herman thought he was “hideous” when an accident made him look like Fred Gwynne w/o the makeup. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/18 "2004-06-10T01:17:05Z")
Hell, I’m gay and male and I’ve always thought Carolyn Jones was incredibly beautiful! ---
**Author:** ![Badge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Badge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badge)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/19 "2004-06-10T01:35:55Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > However, there is one thing that I just never noticed when I was seven: Carolyn Jones (Morticia), is a BABE!!! 😃 Damn straight! I watched the TV Land marathon most of the weekend, and I became more and more enamored of her with each episode. Watch the opening closely. When Morticia snaps her fingers the second time, she gives a tiny little grin that just makes me melt! She had to be the sexiest woman on television in the 1960s, and she and Gomez had to be the most overtly sexual couple as well. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471/20 "2004-06-10T01:47:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wednesday Addams - Lisa Loring (went on to star as Cricket Ross on “As The World Turns”) And for a while was the leading lady (wife, that is) in porn star Jerry Butler’s life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-played-cousin-it/249471.md?page=2)