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Ted Cassidy

 

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Ted Cassidy



 
 
Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 - January 16, 1979), known as Ted Cassidy, was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 and voice actor who performed in television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 and film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
s. Extremely tall at 6 feet 9 inches, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as Star Trek
Star Trek

Star Trek is an American Science fiction on television entertainment series and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek: The Original Series, in addition to ten feature films with Star Trek to be released on May 8,...
 and I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American situation comedy with a fantasy premise. Produced by Screen Gems, it originally aired from September 1965 to May 1970 with new episodes, and September 1970 with season repeats, on NBC....
. He is best known for playing the part of Lurch, the butler on the 1960s television series The Addams Family
The Addams Family

The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by United States cartoonist Charles Addams. Earlier Addams had worked in collaboration with his friend Ray Bradbury....
.

ough born in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
, Cassidy was raised in Philippi, West Virginia
Philippi, West Virginia

Philippi is a city in and the county seat of Barbour County, West Virginia, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,870 at the 2000 census....
, 120 miles south of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
.






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Encyclopedia


Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 - January 16, 1979), known as Ted Cassidy, was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 and voice actor who performed in television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 and film
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
s. Extremely tall at 6 feet 9 inches, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as Star Trek
Star Trek

Star Trek is an American Science fiction on television entertainment series and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek: The Original Series, in addition to ten feature films with Star Trek to be released on May 8,...
 and I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American situation comedy with a fantasy premise. Produced by Screen Gems, it originally aired from September 1965 to May 1970 with new episodes, and September 1970 with season repeats, on NBC....
. He is best known for playing the part of Lurch, the butler on the 1960s television series The Addams Family
The Addams Family

The Addams Family is a group of fictional characters created by United States cartoonist Charles Addams. Earlier Addams had worked in collaboration with his friend Ray Bradbury....
.

Biography


Early life and career

Although born in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
, Cassidy was raised in Philippi, West Virginia
Philippi, West Virginia

Philippi is a city in and the county seat of Barbour County, West Virginia, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,870 at the 2000 census....
, 120 miles south of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania with a population of 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is 2,462,571....
. He played basketball (center position) and football (tackle) for Philippi High School. At that time, he was an imposing figure in both venues, being the tallest player in the conference. Early in his academic career, Cassidy attended West Virginia Wesleyan College
West Virginia Wesleyan College

West Virginia Wesleyan College is a regionally school accreditation private school, coeducational, liberal arts college in Buckhannon, West Virginia....
, in nearby Buckhannon, WV, where he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi
Alpha Sigma Phi

Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity is a social Fraternities and sororities with 68 active chapters, colonies, and interest groups. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 11th oldest fraternity in the United States....
 Fraternity. He later attended Stetson University
Stetson University

Stetson University is an independent, private, co-educational, liberal arts university in Florida, USA. In the 2008 U.S. News and World Report guide to America's Best Colleges, Stetson ranks second in the category of Southern Masters-granting institutions....
 in DeLand, Florida
DeLand, Florida

DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006....
, as a Speech major. Active in student government, he also played basketball
Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a basketball through a 10 feet  high hoop under organized rules....
 for the Hatters, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in his only season as a player. His acting business took off when he worked as a mid-day disc jockey
Disc jockey

A disc jockey is a person who selects and plays sound recording for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc refers to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling....
 on WFAA-AM in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third largest city in the state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population in the United States.The city, with a population of over 1.3 million, is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex which contains 6.1 million people, and is the fourth-largest United States metropolitan area...
. He also occasionally appeared on WFAA-TV
WFAA-TV

WFAA-TV is a Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award-winning and Peabody Award-winning American Broadcasting Company television affiliate serving the Dallas?Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets List of television stations in North America by media market....
 Channel 8, playing "Creech," an outer space creature on the "Dialing for Dollars" segments on Ed Hogan's afternoon movies. An accomplished musician, Cassidy moonlighted at Luby's Cafeteria
Luby's

Luby's, Inc. is a cafeteria-style restaurant chain originally founded in 1947 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. As of November 3, 2006, Houston, Texas-based Luby's operated 128 locations, of which 126 are traditional cafeterias and two primarily serve seafood....
 in the Lochwood
Lochwood, Dallas, Texas

Lochwood is a neighborhood in east Dallas Dallas, Texas, Texas adjacent to Eastwood, Dallas, Texas and Old Lake Highlands, Dallas, Texas. It is located east of White Rock Lake and sometimes referred to as 'Dixon Branch' because of the creek by that name running through the neighborhood....
 Shopping Center in Dallas, playing the organ to entertain patrons. On November 22, 1963, shortly after the John F. Kennedy assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m....
, Cassidy interviewed several of the witnesses, including two very close witnesses, William
William Newman

William Newman may refer to:* William S. Newman , American musicologist* William Newman , politician from Ontario, Canada* William Gould Newman, politician from Ontario, Canada; MPP, 1967-1981...
 and Gayle Newman, after the Newmans had appeared on WFAA-TV, but before they left to go to the Dallas Sheriff’s office (No tape exists of that interview for the radio station did not start recording their broadcasts until about 1:45 PM). He also interviewed the manager of his radio station who was in the Book Depository and saw a man run out of the building shortly after the shooting. The manager offered several times to talk to Dallas police who repeatedly refused to interview him.

The move to television


The Addams Family
Cassidy's unusual height (6 feet 9 inches tall, or 206 cm) gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character roles. He is probably best known for playing the tall butler
Butler

A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In the great houses of the past, the household was sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries....
, Lurch (in which role he feigned playing the harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
), and the "helpful hand in a box" character named Thing
Thing (Addams Family)

Thing T. Thing, referred to as just Thing, is a fictional character in the The Addams Family. Thing takes the form of a disembodied hand who performs various useful functions for the family....
, on the 1960s American television series, The Addams Family
The Addams Family (TV series)

The Addams Family is an United States television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' The Addams Family. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1964 to April 8, 1966....
 (A crew member would take over the "Thing" role in those scenes which had both characters)

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a half-hour live-action/animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions on NBC primetime in 1968, based on the famous Mark Twain characters....
Cassidy had a regular role on NBC's The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as the blood-foe of Tom Sawyer and Huck, Injun Joe.

Star Trek
Cassidy portrayed the voice of the more aggressive version of Balok in the Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 to September 2, 1969. Though the original series was titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish it from the spinoffs that followed, and from the Star Trek fi...
 episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", and he played the role of the android Ruk in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?." He also voiced the Gorn
Gorn

In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Gorn are intelligent reptilian humanoids from the Gorn Hegemony....
 in the Star Trek episode "Arena".

Cassidy did more work with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an United States screenwriter and Television producer. He is arguably best known as the creator of Star Trek, an American sci-fi series known for its immense influence on popular culture....
 in the early 1970s, playing Isiah in the pilots of the post-apocalyptic dramas "Genesis II and Planet Earth
Planet Earth (TV pilot)

Planet Earth was a science fiction TV movie that was created by Gene Roddenberry, written by Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett . It first aired on April 23, 1974 on American Broadcasting Company, and starred John Saxon as Dylan Hunt....
.

I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American situation comedy with a fantasy premise. Produced by Screen Gems, it originally aired from September 1965 to May 1970 with new episodes, and September 1970 with season repeats, on NBC....
Ted appeared in several episodes of I Dream of Jeannie
I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie is a 1960s American situation comedy with a fantasy premise. Produced by Screen Gems, it originally aired from September 1965 to May 1970 with new episodes, and September 1970 with season repeats, on NBC....
 in 1968. Once appearing as the master to Jeannie's devious sister in part 3 of the 4-part episode "Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie?", and again in the episode "Please Don't Feed the Astronauts."

The Six-Million Dollar Man
In the two part episode entitled "The Return Of Bigfoot", Cassidy appeared as "Bigfoot
Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is an alleged ape-like creature purportedly inhabiting forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America....
" (played by André the Giant
André the Giant

Andr? Ren? Roussimoff , best known as Andr? the Giant, was a France professional wrestling and actor. His great size was a result of acromegaly, and led to him being dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World." In the World Wrestling Entertainment , Roussimoff briefly held the WWE Championship....
 in a previous two parter).

The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies

The Beverly Hillbillies is an United States television series about a hillbilly family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California after finding oil on their land....
 
In the episode "The Dahlia Feud" 12 April 1967 (Season 5, Episode 30) he played Mr. Ted, a large, muscular gardener who was planting Dahlias for Mrs. Drysdale.

Voice acting and film work

Concurrently with his appearances on The Addams Family
The Addams Family (TV series)

The Addams Family is an United States television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' The Addams Family. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1964 to April 8, 1966....
, Cassidy began doing character voices on a recurring basis for the Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera

Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. , was an American List of animation studios that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century....
 Studios, culminating in the role of Frankenstein Jr. in Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles
Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles

Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles was an United States Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1966. It premiered on September 10, 1966, and ran for two seasons....
 series. Cassidy also voiced Ben Grimm aka The Thing in the 1978 animated Fantastic Four.

After The Addams Family
The Addams Family (TV series)

The Addams Family is an United States television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' The Addams Family. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1964 to April 8, 1966....
, Cassidy began to add more voice-over work
Voice acting

Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animation characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, doing voice-overs in radio and television Television advertisements, radio drama, dubbing foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides....
 to his résumé; in that acting field, most notably, he narrated the opening of the TV series The Incredible Hulk. Cassidy also provided the Hulk's growls and roars. He also provided the growls and roars for Godzilla
Godzilla

is a kaiju from the Godzilla series of science fiction films. He was first seen in the 1954 in film film Godzilla and has appeared in 28 films to date, all of which were produced by Toho As one of the most iconic characters in film history, Godzilla has also appeared in numerous Godzilla , Godzilla video games, novels and Godzilla in popula...
 in the 1979 cartoon series and the gurgling voice of Black Manta
Black Manta

Black Manta is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in DC Comics, primarily as the archenemy of Aquaman....
, as well as Brainiac
Brainiac (comics)

Brainiac is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #242 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
 and several others on Super Friends
Super Friends

Super Friends is an United States animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1986 on American Broadcasting Company as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup....
. He detested being compared or confused with acromegalic
Acromegaly

Acromegaly is a syndrome that results when the pituitary gland produces excess human growth hormone after epiphyseal plate closure. A number of disorders may affect the pituitary to create this circumstance, although most commonly it involves a GH producing tumor derived from a distinct type of cells and called pituitary adenoma....
 actor Richard Kiel
Richard Kiel

Richard Dawson Kiel is an United States actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, and Mr....
, who played "Jaws," the assassin with stainless steel teeth, in two James Bond
James Bond

James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections....
 films.

Other film work included his appearance in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a American Revisionist Western that tells the story of bank robbers Butch Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh , based loosely on historical fact....
, MacKenna's Gold, Goin' Coconuts, The Last Remake of Beau Geste, Poor Pretty Eddie, Harry and Walter Go To New York, The Slams, The Limit, Charcoal Black, . He also co-wrote the screenplay of 1973's The Harrad Experiment
The Harrad Experiment

The Harrad Experiment is a 1973 movie about a fictional Harrad College where the students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other....
, in which he made a brief appearance.

Death

Cassidy suffered from health issues as he grew older. Cassidy died in 1979 at age 46 from complications following open-heart surgery. Fellow actor Sandra Martinez assisted and took care of Ted during his final years. Cassidy's remains were cremated, and later buried in the backyard of his Woodland Hills home. It is believed by some that when the house was eventually sold, his ashes were left behind as they were paved over or no one could remember where they were buried. An Addams Family movie was dedicated
Dedicated

Dedicated may refer to:* Dedication* Dedicated arcade cabinet, one that is specifically designed for the game inside it, as opposed to a generic Japanese Amusement Machine Manufacturers' Association cabinet, or a cabinet converted from another game...
 to him.

External links

  • Hear The Ted Cassidy Song "The Lurch"