At the age of 64, Lisa Loring, the first actress to portray Wednesday, the youngest member creepy, spooky, mysterious Addams Family, has died from a stroke.
Vanessa Foumberg, her daughter, corroborated the information.
“She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” Foumberg said.
Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on The Munsters, paid tribute to Loring on Facebook, writing: “Very sorry to hear of my dear friend Lisa Loring’s passing. We were very close and worked together often. I know she was very weak. I was in her company just a few weeks ago. Godspeed my friend.”
From 1964 until 1966, Loring portrayed the princess of all things morbid in The Addams Family, the original film version of Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons. She was just five years old when she was cast.
The recent Netflix adaptation starring Jenna Ortega spawned a viral dance which payed homage to Loring’s moves “The Drew” frug from the original series.
Ortega, the sixth actress to play Wednesday (after Loring, Christina Ricci, Nicole Fugere, Krysta Rodriguez and Rachel Potter) choreographed her new dance herself in the 2022 show, and thanked Loring when the dance went viral online.
Loring was born in 1958. Before moving to Los Angeles, she resided in Hawaii and the Marshall Islands. When she was three years old, she began modeling and was subsequently cast in a Dr. Kildare episode.
After The Addams Family finished its two-season run, Loring joined the ABC sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton.
She made appearances on series including Fantasy Island and Barnaby Jones, then had a recurring role as Cricket Montgomery on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns from 1980 to 1983.
She later had parts in various 80s slasher movies including Savage Harbor, Blood Frenzy and Iced, and worked as a makeup artist on adult films under the name “Maxine Factor.”
She is survived by two daughters, Marianne and Vanessa.
Author- Roberta Appiah
