Lisa Loring, the actor who played Wednesday Addams in the first screen adaptation of The Addams Family, has died at the age of 64 from a stroke.
Loring died on Saturday night in hospital surrounded by family, her daughter told Variety.
“She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” she said.
Loring’s personal friend, the author Laurie Jacobson, wrote on Facebook that Loring had “suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure” and had been on life support for three days before her family decided to remove it on the weekend.
Loring played Wednesday Addams from 1964 to 1966 in the first adaptation of Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons, taking on the role when she was just five years old.
Her performance as the macabre Addams daughter, with her gothic streak and classic pigtails, has reverberated through film and TV, greatly influencing following depictions of the character.
A recent Netflix adaptation starring Jenna Ortega spawned a viral dance inspired by Loring’s angular moves from the original series. Ortega thanked Loring when the dance gained traction online.
After breaking out as Wednesday Addams, she took roles in the sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton and spy drama The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., before being cast in a recurring role on As the World Turns, a long-running daytime soap.
She also appeared in a number of slashers in the late 80s, including Blood Frenzy, Iced, and Savage Harbor.
In the same period, she worked as a makeup artist on the set of adult film Traci’s Big Trick – where she met her third husband, adult film actor Jerry Butler, on set.
Her marriage to Butler was the source of much media interest, and the couple had several public spats over Loring’s dissatisfaction with Butler’s continued involvement in the adult film industry. They eventually divorced in 1992.
Loring is survived by her daughters, Marianne and Vanessa, as well as her grandchildren, Emiliana and Charles.
The former child star was a mother and grandmother, her agent added, saying: “She will be missed dearly.”
Laurie Jacobson, Loring’s friend, also reported her death on Facebook, saying she had “suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure.”
Loring “passed away on Saturday surrounded by her family,” longtime agent Chris Carbaugh told CNN in a statement on Jan. 30.“She brought to life one of the most iconic characters in Hollywood history that is still celebrated today,” Carbaugh added.
Laurie Jacobson, a producer and close friend of Loring wrote in a Facebook post that the actress had “suffered a massive stroke brought on by smoking and high blood pressure.”
Loring had been on life support for three days before her family “made the difficult decision to remove it,” she wrote.“She is embedded in the tapestry that is pop culture and in our hearts always as Wednesday Addams,” Jacobson added.
Loring, born Lisa Ann DeCinces in the Marshall Islands, was cast aged six as the pigtail-wearing Wednesday in the sitcom in 1964. It would be her most famous role and set the standard for subsequent portrayals of Wednesday.
Following news of her death, fans flocked to social media to pay tribute, with one person writing on Twitter: “Farewell to Lisa Loring, the person who DEFINED Wednesday Addams at a time when she was just a frowning newspaper drawing.”
Loring was the blueprint for the pale, pigtail-wearing Wednesday after being cast in the sitcom “The Addams Family” in 1964. She took on the role when she was six years old and played the death-obsessed character until the show ended two years later.
In 1977, she appeared as Wednesday Sr. in the television film “Halloween with the New Addams Family.”
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