Lisa Loring, the original onscreen Wednesday Addams, dies at 64

Lisa Loring, the actor who brought Wednesday Addams to life in The Addams Family sitcom from the 1960s, has died. She was 64.

Loring’s daughter Vanessa Foumberg confirmed the news to Variety, saying that her mother died of a stroke. “She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” Foumberg said.

Calling her “beautiful, kind” and “a loving mother,” Loring’s friend Laurie Jacobson wrote about her passing on Facebook: “[Loring] had been on life support for 3 days. 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.”

Lisa Loring, the first person to play Wednesday Addams onscreen, dies at 64

Loring first appeared as Wednesday at the age of 6. After The Addams Family, Loring had parts on shows like As The World Turns, The Pruitts of Southampton, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island and Barnaby Jones.

Loring’s performance laid the foundation for future depictions of Wednesday Addams, first in The Addams Family movies from the 1990s, where the character was played by Christina Ricci; and most recently in the Netflix series Wednesday, where she’s played by Jenna Ortega.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ortega credited Loring with helping to inspire the show’s dance scene, which went viral after the series premiered in November. “I paid homage to Lisa Loring, the first Wednesday Addams,” Ortega said. “I did a little bit of her shuffle that she does.”

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h/t The A.V. Club