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Lisa Loring, TV’s Original Wednesday Addams, Dead at 64

Photo: Tara Ziemba/Getty Images

Lisa Loring, the first actress to portray Wednesday Addams, has died. She was 64. Loring’s death was announced on Facebook by her friend Laurie Jacobson. “4 Days ago she suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure. She had been on life support for 3 days,” the post read. “Yesterday, her family made the difficult decision to remove it and she passed last night. She is embedded in the tapestry that is pop culture and in our hearts always as Wednesday Addams.” Loring’s work as Wednesday has seen a recent resurgence in pop culture with Jenna Ortega sneaking some of Loring’s dance moves into her viral “Goo Goo Muck” dance on Netflix’s Wednesday. In the Addams Family episode “Lurch’s Grand Romance,” Loring’s Wednesday teaches Lurch how to dance. Ortega incorporated some of that shuffle into the Wednesday scene in which she dances at Tyler to the Cramps. The scene also got remixed to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” helping the Artpop song to chart on the Billboard “Hot 100” for the first time.

After The Addams Family, Loring had a recurring role on As the World Turns and guest-starred on such shows as The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island, and Barnaby Jones. “And the legacy for her family and friends – a wealth of humor, affection and love will long play in our memories,” Jacobson’s Facebook post concluded. “RIP, Lisa. Damn, girl…you were a ton of fun.”

Lisa Loring, TV’s Original Wednesday Addams, Dead at 64