Let’s get right to the point: Ted Cassidy was a scary, almost unearthly-looking feller. And while everybody in The Addams Family was great, Cassidy was absolutely perfect as the family’s forever loyal butler, Lurch.
When the show debuted on ABC in 1964, Lurch became a much more prominent character than originally anticipated. Producers envisioned him as a mute character with no dialogue. But when Cassidy ad-libbed the now-infamous “You rang?”, the rest was television history. Lurch became such a popular character he even had his own theme song and accompanying dance. Between The Lurch and The Batusi, the ’60s were truly a wonderful time to “cut a rug” on the dance floor.
