Name: Ted Cassidy
Date of Birth: 31 July 1932 Worked as a staff announcer for WFAA radio in Dallas prior to his acting career and was part of WFAA's ongoing coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Among the first to interview assassination eyewitnesses W.E. Newman Jr. and Gayle Newman. Played one season of college basketball at Stetson University in the 1950s and averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds a game. Lurch was supposed to be silent, as in the Charles Addams cartoons, but during the shooting of the pilot, when Ted made his very first appearance at the sounding of the gong, he ad libbed the now famous line, "You rang?" in his trademark sonorous voice, and everyone was so impressed that Lurch became a speaking role. ... Married immediately after graduating from Stetson and worked at a radio station in Jacksonville, Florida, and then at a radio station in Pensacola, Florida (where his children were born), before taking a job at WFAA in Dallas Texas. Contacts made at WFAA led to his audition for The Addams family. Two children, a boy (Sean) born in 1957 and a girl (Cameron) born in 1960. Both children are now lawyers. Brother-in-law of actor Dan Jesse. He was married to Jesse's sister from 1956 to 1976. Best remembered by the public as Lurch in "The Addams Family" (1964). Read more Ted Cassidy movies (actor)User Comments |
