Lisa Loring, well remembered for her role as Wednesday Addams in the television adaptation of The Addams Family, died at the age of 64. Vanessa Foumberg, Loring’s daughter, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter, adding that her father died on January 28, 2023. Loring died as a consequence of complications caused by high blood pressure, which resulted in a stroke.
Foumberg went on to say:
“She passed away calmly, with both of her daughters [Vanessa and Marianne] holding her hand.”
Loring died in Burbank, California, at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center.
Rest in Peace Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Addams.
The original Wednesday dance with Ted Cassidy from the 1964 episode, Lurch Learns to Dance. pic.twitter.com/ri3wTorYUo
— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) January 30, 2023
Lisa Loring was a young model and performer who started working at the age of three.
Lisa Loring was born on February 16, 1958, in Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. When her parents split when she was a child, she relocated to Los Angeles to live with her mother. Loring started modeling when she was three years old. In 1964, she made her debut television appearance as Cindy Norcross in an episode of NBC’s medical drama Dr. Kildare. She was then cast as Wednesday Addams in David Levy’s television version of Charles Addams’ The Addams Family cartoon. Key characters in the series were John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, Ted Cassidy, Marie Blake, and Ken Weatherwax.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lisa Loring started working on the comedy series when she was five and a half years old. She once said that she learned to remember before she learned to read in order to give her dialogues. Lisa Loring discussed her experience working on The Addams Family in a 2017 YouTube interview with Monsterpalooza. She stated:
“It felt like a true family – you couldn’t have selected a finer cast and crew. Carolyn Jones and John Astin, often known as Gomez and Morticia, were like parents to me. They were fantastic.”
The television show lasted two seasons and had 64 episodes. In 1977, the ensemble reassembled for the NBC feature Halloween With the New Addams Family. Her other television appearances include The Phyllis Diller Show, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island, As the World Turns, Savage Harbor, Way Down in Chinatown, and more.
Lisa Loring has two kids and has been married four times.
Lisa Loring married for the first time at the age of 15 in 1973. She married Farrell Foumberg, her childhood sweetheart. Vanessa Foumberg, her first child, was born the next year. Lisa and Farrell, on the other hand, divorced in 1974. In 1981, she married Search for Tomorrow actor Doug Stevenson. They had a daughter called Marianne, but their love was short-lived, and they divorced two years later.
Lisa then went down the aisle with adult film star Jerry Butler, who swore to give up p*rnography but never did. In 1992, the couple divorced. In 2003, she married Graham Rich for the fourth and last time. They were married for 11 years before splitting up. Loring is survived by her grandchildren Emiliana and Charles, in addition to her daughters. With Loring’s death, Astin is the sole living member of The Addams Family’s original cast.
