Ted Cassidy

Ted Cassidy
Ted Cassidy as Lurch on The Addams Family
Born	Theodore Crawford Cassidy July 31, 1932(1932-07-31) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	January 16, 1979(1979-01-16) (aged 46) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1952–79
Height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)

Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932-January 16, 1979), known as Ted Cassidy, was an American actor who performed in television and films. At 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) in height, he tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie. He is best known for playing the part of Lurch, the butler on the 1960s television series The Addams Family and performing the opening narration of the 1970s TV series The Incredible Hulk.

Early life and career

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cassidy was raised in Philippi, West Virginia, 120 miles south of Pittsburgh. He played basketball (center) and American 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, in nearby Buckhannon, West Virginia, where he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He later attended Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, as a Speech major. Active in student government, he also played basketball for the Hatters, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in his only season as a player.

After graduating with a degree in speech and drama, he married Margaret Helen in 1956, and they moved to Dallas, Texas. His acting business took off when he worked as a mid-day disc jockey on WFAA-AM in Dallas. He also occasionally appeared on WFAA-TV 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 in the Lochwood shopping center in Dallas, playing the organ to entertain patrons. In 1957, Margaret gave birth to their son, Sean; in 1960, daughter Cameron was born.

The move to television

The Addams Family

Cassidy's unusual height gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character roles. He is probably best known for playing the butler, Lurch (in which, despite being an accomplished organist, he feigned playing the harpsichord), and the "helpful hand in a box" character named Thing, on the 1960s American television series The Addams Family. (A crew member would take over the "Thing" role in scenes with both characters.) Cassidy originally ad-libbed the line, "You rang?". The subtle humor of it, uttered in response to the literally ground-shaking tolling of a bell rung to summon him, was immediately a hit. Thereafter, it was regularly written in to the script, and it became his signature line.

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Cassidy had a regular role on NBC's The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Injun Joe, the blood-foe of Tom Sawyer and Huck.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

In the 1967 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode, "The Napolean's Tomb Affair", Cassidy played a henchman, Edgar, who kidnaps, tortures, and repeatedly tries to kill Napolean and Illya.

Star Trek

Cassidy portrayed the voice of the more aggressive version of Balok in the Star Trek 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 in the Star Trek episode "Arena".

Cassidy did more work with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the early 1970s, playing Isiah in the pilots of the post-apocalyptic dramas Genesis II and Planet Earth.

Daniel Boone

He appeared on Daniel Boone in the 1968 episode "The Scrimshaw Ivory Chart" as a pirate named Gentle Sam.

I Dream of Jeannie

Ted appeared in several episodes of I Dream of Jeannie 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" in which he plays Jeannie's cousin.

The Six Million Dollar Man

In the two-part The Six Million Dollar Man episode entitled "The Return of Bigfoot", Cassidy appeared as "Bigfoot" (played by André the Giant in a previous two-parter). He even provided the vocal effects for Bigfoot. He reprised the role in the episode "Bigfoot V".

The Beverly Hillbillies

In The Beverly Hillbillies episode "The Dahlia Feud" (April 12, 1967; season 5, episode 30) he played Mr. Ted, a large, muscular gardener who was planting Dahlias for Mrs. Drysdale.

Lost In Space

In the Lost in Space episode, "The Thief from Outer Space", he plays the "Slave" to the alien "Thief" (Malachi Throne) who threatens the Robinsons.

Voice acting and film work

Concurrent with his appearances on The Addams Family, Cassidy began doing character voices on a recurring basis for the Hanna-Barbera Studios, culminating in the role of Frankenstein Jr. in Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles series. He was the voice of the hero in the Chuck Menville pixillated short film "Blaze Glory' (1969), in which his already-deep voice was enhanced with a deep reverb & echo to give the character an exaggerated super-hero sound. Cassidy also voiced Ben Grimm (aka "The Thing") in the 1978 animated Fantastic Four. Cassidy went on to perform the roars and growls for Godzilla in the 1979 cartoon series that Hanna Barbera co-produced with Toho. His was the basis for the sinister voice of Black Manta, as well as Brainiac and several others on Super Friends.

After The Addams Family, Cassidy began to add more voice-over work 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.

In deleted scenes from the original Battlestar Galactica TV pilot movie, "Saga of a Star World" (on the DVD collection Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series [1978]), Cassidy can be heard providing temporary voice tracks of the Cylon Imperious Leader, before actor Patrick Macnee was contracted to voice the character.

Other film work included his appearances in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 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 and Charcoal Black. He also co-wrote the screenplay of 1973's The Harrad Experiment, in which he made a brief appearance.

Death

Cassidy died on January 16, 1979 in Los Angeles, California from complications from open heart surgery.

External links

• Ted Cassidy at the Internet Movie Database
• Ted Cassidy at AllRovi
• Ted Cassidy at Find a Grave
• Ted Cassidy at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)