Creation

The Addams Family were originally created by Charles Addams for his cartoons in the New Yorker magazine.

They were later made famous by a live action 60's television series. This adaptation led to further appearances including two animated series, several movies, another television series, a musical and several comic books.

Members

• Gomez: Husband to Morticia and father to Wednesday, Pugsley and (in the film continuity only) Pubert, Gomez shares authority over the Addams household equally with his wife Morticia.
• Morticia: Strong, smart and sultry, Morticia is the Addams matriarch. She and Gomez have a very loving and passionate relationship.
• Uncle Fester: Morticia's bald, crazy but good-hearted uncle in the TV series continuity, and Gomez's brother in the film continuity.
• Grandmama: A wise old crone, the Addams' grandmother the fortune teller of the family -- Gomez's mother in the TV series continuity but Morticia's mother in the film continuity.
• Wednesday: The black haired daughter who carries around a headless doll. Quiet and serious, Wednesday has a fascination with the more morbid aspects of life, and (in the film continuity) a penchant for torturing her brother Pugsley.
• Pugsley: In the TV series continuity, chubby Pugsley is a mad scientist in the making (he has built for fun a disintegration ray gun and an anti-gravity ray gun); he relates to Wednesday as an overprotective older brother. In the film continuity, Pugsley is a bomb-loving but sweet hearted -- and perhaps slightly simple- - boy. As odd as the rest of his family, Pugsley appears to enjoy the many experiments he and his sister perform, even though in the film continuity they invariably result in Pugsley being harmed in some way.
• Lurch: The Addams' butler communicates mostly through groans. Though a man of little words, Lurch is fiercely loyal, and considered a member of the family in all continuities.
• Thing: A sentient hand who helps out around the house, and appears to have some form of friendship with Lurch. In the TV series continuity, Thing also possessed a forearm; he seemed capable of appearing out of any box or aperture (he has popped out of a tree before), with popular fan thought of the time being that he teleported from place to place or might even be only the extrusion into this reality of a multiple-limbed Cthulhuan oddity. Thing seemed to be a member of a hands-and-forearms only species, as in the episode where he fell in love with a female "thing". In the film continuity, Thing is a hand without any forearm and seems to be a one of a kind relative of Gomez Addams.
• Itt: A cousin to the family, Itt is easily recognisable as his body is covered entirely in long, shiny hair.

The Addams House

The Addams house is a generic haunted mansion: it has a moat, a freaky door bell, bats in the belfry, the works. Their address is 001 Cemetery Lane, advantageously located beside both a cemetery and a swamp.

Other Media

The Addams Family feature in the following adaptations:

Movies

• The Addams Family - the first Addams movie, in which Fester returns to the family with amnesia after 25 years.
• Addams Family Values - sequel starring the cast of the original, this time focusing on an unscrupulous woman who intends to marry Fester and kill him for his money.
• Addams Family Reunion - third movie, made without any of the original cast members.

TV

• The Addams Family (1964 live action) - the first on screen adaptation of Charles Addams' work.
• The Addams Family (1973 animated) - the first animated Addams series.
• Halloween with the Addams Family (1977 live action) - a Halloween television special featuring the original cast.
• The Addams Family (1992 animated) - second animated series, released after the success of the first live action movie.
• The New Addams Family (1998 live action) - a nineties remake of the original live action series.