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Lisa Loring, best known as the first actress to play Wednesday Addams in the original "The Addams Family" sitcom, has died at the age of 64. She was born Lisa Ann DeCinces on Feb. 16, 1958, in the Marshall Islands; her parents divorced when she was very young, and she came to live in Los Angeles with her mother. She was given the stage name Lisa Loring and started modeling at age 3. Her first television appearance came in 1964 on an episode of the NBC medical drama Dr. Kildare.
Loring's daughter, Vanessa Foumberg, confirmed in a statement to Variety that her mother died Saturday of a stroke."She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands," Foumberg said.
Loring's deadpan delivery of the character, based on the New Yorker cartoons by Charles Addams, paved the way for other actresses, including Christina Ricci, who starred as Wednesday in the 1991 hit movie "The Addams Family" and its sequel, "Addams Family Values."
Jenna Ortega said her version of the pop-culture icon was also inspired by Loring, following the premiere of Tim Burton's Netflix comedy horror "Wednesday," last year.
Following her stint as Wednesday in "The Addams Family," Loring joined Phyllis Diller's sitcom "The Pruitts of Southampton." She later landed a recurring role in "As the World Turns," playing Cricket Montgomery.
Her acting credits also include shows "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.," "Fantasy Island" and "Barnaby Jones."
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 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.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.
After winning the part of Wednesday in ABC’s, MGM-produced live-action television adaptation of Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons, Loring began work on the half-hour comedy series at age 5 and a half, revealing in later interviews that she “learned to memorize before I could read” in order to say her lines.
Loring’s first marriage to Foumberg ended in 1974. She then married Search for Tomorrow actor Doug Stevenson in 1981, with that relationship ending in divorce two years later. In 1987, she married adult film star Jerry Butler, with her new husband committed to quitting pornography. However, Butler’s continued appearances in adult films, in secret without Loring’s knowledge, proved a great strain on the marriage, and they divorced in 1992. She married Graham Rich in 2003 and divorced him in 2014.
