In the pantheon of cult faves, The Addams Family ranks pretty high. The 1991 big-screen version of the '60s TV series holds a special place in the hearts of a whole generation for its downright kookiness. There's an odd sort of sweetness to the Addams clan and their adventures, though. After all, they're pretty secure in who they are, they've got sass to spare, and even though they may look different, they have the same family dynamics as anyone else. Those are definitely themes that still feel relevant today!
The movie wouldn't be anywhere near as beloved as it is without the talents of its star-studded cast. We can't forget the comedy gold brought to us by Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday, and more. If you're wondering what the cast has been up to in the years since, wonder no more! We've got all the details right here, save for Jimmy Workman (Pugsley Addams), who has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since the '90s.
Anjelica Huston was already an A-lister when she played the Addams matriarch Morticia, having won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1985 for Prizzi's Honour. As if that wasn't impressive enough, she also made history with her Oscar win as the first-ever third-generation Oscar winner: her grandfather Walter Huston and father John Huston both had previously won Academy Awards.
She had terrified children everywhere in 1990's The Witches, and The Addams Family certainly wasn't her last blockbuster. She followed it up as a version of Cinderella's evil stepmother in 1998's Ever After. In later years, she stepped onto the other side of the camera, directing Bastard Out of Carolina, Agnes Browne, and Riding the Bus With My Sister. She also happens to be one of Wes Anderson's muses, having appeared in several of his movies.
Her most recent role was in another cult favourite, playing sharp-tongued Broadway producer Eileen Rand in NBC's drama seriesSmash.
Puerto Rican actor Raúl Juliá was a star on the stage, earning four Tony Award nominations over the course of his career. He reprised his Addams Family role in 1993's sequel, Addams Family Values. When he made the jump to television, he played Brazilian activist Chico Mendes in The Burning Season for HBO. In 1994, he starred in Street Fighter, an adaptation of a popular video game franchise.
Sadly, this would be Juliá's last film role. In October 1994, he suffered a stroke and died a few days later. His The Burning Season performance earned him a posthumous Golden Globe and Emmy. His legacy lives on, however, in several awards and even a school named in his honour.
By the time he filmed his scenes as Uncle Fester, Christopher Lloyd was already a household name. His role on the TV series Taxi earned him a pair of Emmys for supporting actor in a comedy. But it was his role as Doc Brown in Back to the Future that made an indelible mark on pop culture.
After The Addams Family, Lloyd continued on a widely varied career, doing everything from film to television to theatre. Among his more notable credits are Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Clue, and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. In more recent years, he's reprised his role as Doc Brown for sketches and supplementary media and popped up in cameo appearances; his most recent such role was on Roseanne in early 2018.
Beloved character actress Elizabeth Wilson, who played conniving con woman Abigail Craven, had a long and steady career in multiple venues. Her background was on the stage, with several appearances in Broadway plays.
The Addams Family was probably was one of her best-known roles. After that film, she continued to do character work in films such as Quiz Show and Hyde Park on Hudson. She also appeared on television, with guest spots on a wide array of popular series. Wilson died in 2015 at the age of 94.
The role of wisecracking, villainous Tully fits right into Dan Hedaya's type. He is often cast in colourful supporting roles. On two popular TV shows, he played guest-star relatives of main characters: Carla's ex-husband on Cheers and Monk's estranged father on Monk.
After The Addams Family came the role that endeared Hedaya to a generation of teenagers: Mel Horowitz, the gruff but affectionate father to Alicia Silverstone's Cher in the classic teen comedy Clueless. He's been working steadily since then, releasing at least a movie per year between 1995 and 2007. Most recently, he had a small part in 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Long before Judith Malina donned Granny's braids, the German-born actress was a theatre performer and true believer in the political strength of the arts. She founded the radical theatre troupe The Living Theatre, the oldest experimental theatre company in America. Her film career began in 1975, but her focus remained in the theatre.
After The Addams Family, Malina returned to the stage. On occasion, she did venture back into film and television, notably in a guest spot on The Sopranos in 2006. Although she's not the highest-profile of the Addams actors, she's the only one who had a whole documentary made about her: 2012's Love and Politics. Malina died in 2015.
How does one escape from the shadow of such a famous franchise? If you're Carel Struycken, the answer is to participate in others! Around the same time as his role as the Addams family's taciturn butler, he joined the Star Trek franchise in a repeated guest role on The Next Generation. The 7-foot-tall actor continues to make appearances at sci-fi conventions to this day.
Struycken's other notable role on American TV was on Twin Peaks, where he played the mysterious "Giant." Aside from reprising this role in 2017 and a Netflix original movie, he's lived a quieter life with his family and his photography hobby.
Dana Ivey's filmography reads like a greatest hits of the past few decades in Hollywood. Although she's typically played supporting characters, she can boast on her résumé everything like Legally Blonde 2, Postcards From the Edge, Rush Hour 3, and The Help. Her television résumé is similarly lengthy, with guest spots on fan favourites such as Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, and Monk. Ivey has been less active in recent years, but she did show up in a small role as Diane in Ocean's 8.
Out of all the Addams Family cast members, Ricci has had one of the most spectacular post-Addams careers. Although she followed up her role as Wednesday Addams with more family-friendly fare such as Casper, she easily transitioned into one of the most popular indie film actresses of her generation. Some of her credits include Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, Monster, and the rom-com/fairy tale Penelope.
On television, Ricci received a guest-actress Emmy nomination as a paramedic on the famous bomb-in-the-gut episode of Grey's Anatomy and costarred in the short-lived ABC drama Pan Am. More recently, she earned acclaim for The Lizzie Borden Chronicles and as Zelda Fitzgerald in Z: The Beginning of Everything. Ricci married James Heerdegen, a dolly grip whom she met working on Pan Am, in 2013, and the couple have one son.
