The death of Lisa Loring at the age of 64 has left the entertainment industry and Addams Family fans in shock. Lisa Loring, the first Wednesday in the venerable TV series The Addams Family, has died aged 64 of a stroke.
The ‘Giant Stroke’ actress died on Sunday, according to Deadline.com. She was 64 years old. Loring died Saturday after being taken off life support, according to a Facebook post by her close friend Laura Jacobson.
It is with great sadness that I have to inform you of the passing of our friend Lisa Loring, Jacobson wrote. She suffered a severe stroke 4 days ago due to smoking and high blood pressure. She was on life support for three days. She passed away last night after her family made the heartbreaking decision to remove her yesterday.”
Loring’s famous character Wednesday Addams recently regained popularity thanks to the hit Netflix series Wednesday, which starred Jenna Ortega as the fictional daughter of Morticia and Gomez Addams.
According to Deadline, Loring portrayed Wednesday in the first live-action adaptation of the New Yorker cartoons by Charles Addams.
She took up her position at just six years old. The program had 64 episodes in two seasons from 1964 to 1966.
According to her friend Jacobson, she is permanently associated in our hearts with Wednesday Addams and the tapestry of popular culture. Lisa left a lasting impression on the entertainment industry. She is a beautiful, kind, and devoted mother. A wealth of humor, love, and affection will live on in our memories as a legacy to her family and friends. Goodbye, Lisa. Girl, you were so funny. Hell.
Her demeanor was cute but melancholy, and she liked to collect creepy animals including a headless doll, a black widow spider named Homer, and a lizard named Lucifer.
In the 1977 TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family, Loring later played Wednesday again.
Christina Ricci, 42, who played Wednesday in the critically acclaimed 1991 film The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values, later took on the role.
Loring, who was married four times, is survived by her two daughters, Marianne and Vanessa, and her grandchildren, Emiliana and Charles.
She died quietly with both of her children holding her hands, according to her daughter Vanessa Foumberg, who confirmed her mother’s death to Variety.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Loring married her first husband, childhood sweetheart Farrell Foumberg, when she was just 15 years old. The following year she gave birth to her first child.
In 1974, the marriage was over. She later married actor Doug Stevenson in 1981, but the couple split two years later.
Adult film star Jerry Butler was her third husband and they divorced in 1992. She married Graham Rich in 2003 and later divorced in 2014.
After her parents divorced, Loring—then known as Lisa Ann DeCinces—moved to Hawaii, where she was born and raised, before eventually moving to Los Angeles with her mother.
She started modeling at the age of 3 and made her acting debut in 1964 in an episode of Dr. Kildare before becoming known as Wednesday.
She often reminisced about her experience with The Addams Family and how close the ensemble was.
In a 2017 YouTube interview at Monsterpalooza, she said, “Carolyn Jones, John Astin—Gomez and Morticia—were like my parents. It was like a real family—you couldn’t have picked a better cast and crew. They were fantastic.
Astin is now the only remaining member of the original cast of The Addams Family following Loring’s death.
After the Addams Family finale, Loring went on to star in The Pruitts of Southampton, a sitcom created by Phyllis Diller.
Before landing a recurring role as Cricket Montgomery on the daytime drama As the World Turns from 1980 to 1983, she also appeared in The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island, and Barnaby Jones.
Her last acting role was in the 2015 film Doctor Spine.
Loring’s contribution to the entertainment industry will be remembered for years. She will forever be remembered for her iconic portrayal of Wednesday Addams, as well as her work in other film and television projects.