Ted Cassidy
Cassidy as Tarzan withCheeta inStorybook Squares (1969)
Born	Theodore Crawford Cassidy (1932-07-31)July 31, 1932 Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	January 16, 1979(1979-01-16) (aged 46) Los Angeles,California, U.S.
Alma mater	Stetson University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1959–1979
Height	6 ft 9 in (206 cm)
Spouse	Margaret Helen Jesse ​ ​ (m. 1956; div. 1975)​
Children	2

Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction works, such asStar Trek andI Dream of Jeannie, and he playedLurch onThe Addams Family TV series of the mid-1960s.^[1][2] He also narrated the intro sequence for the 1977 live-actionThe Incredible Hulk TV series and provided the growls & roars for the Hulk for the series's first 2 seasons before his death, with actorCharles Napier providing the title character's vocals for the remainder of the series.^[1][3]

Cassidy was born inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Elwood Lewis Cassidy and Emily Cassidy (nee Crawford), of Irish ancestry, and raised inPhilippi, West Virginia. In his youth, he was academically gifted and attended third grade at age six.^[1] During his freshman year of high school, at age 11, he was on thefootball andbasketball teams.^[4]

After graduating from high school, Cassidy attendedWest Virginia Wesleyan College inBuckhannon, where he was a member of theAlpha Sigma Phifraternity. He transferred toStetson University inDeLand, Florida,^[5] where he playedcollege basketball for theHatters and was active in thestudent government.^[6]

Cassidy graduated from Stetson University with a BA degree. He began his broadcast career atWCOA in Pensacola during the summer of 1958 and through the fall of 1959.

He then moved on to work as a DJ on WFAA in Dallas.^[7] He was an accomplished musician and moonlighted playing an organ for patrons of aLuby's Cafeteria in Dallas' Lochwood Shopping Center.^[8] He "was right in the middle of the excitement" on the dayJohn F. Kennedy was assassinated^[9] and was among the first to interview eyewitnesses W. E. Newman Jr. and Gayle Newman.^[10]

Cassidy's height gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character roles.^[4] His best-known role is Lurch onThe Addams Family, in which he feigned playing theharpsichord (although he was in fact an accomplished organist).^[11] With a separate contract he also played the character namedThing,^[12] though associate producer Jack Voglin took on the role in scenes involving both characters. Though the character of Lurch was originally intended to be mute, Cassidy's ad-libbed "You rang?" in response to the butler call was an immediate hit. It became his signature line, and he was given more lines. Several episodes were written to feature Lurch.^[13]

Cassidy reprised the role of Lurch in later appearances. In theBatman episode "The Penguin's Nest" (1966), he appears during the heroes' familiar climbing scene up the side of a building, as a tenant who is playing theAddams Family theme on a harpsichord prior to sticking his head out of the window and speaking to Batman and Robin. He voiced Lurch in an episode ofThe New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972), and in the1973 animated series adaptation ofThe Addams Family. He again reprised Lurch in the TV filmHalloween with the New Addams Family (1977).

According to Thomas "Duke " Miller, a TV/movie/celebrity expert, Cassidy also had a small role oppositeGeorge Peppard in one episode of the TV movie seriesBanacek. Cassidy played a worker in an auto scrapyard who attempted to kill Banacek because the investigator traced him as part of the plot to steal a rare and valuable book.^{[citation needed]} In addition toThe Addams Family, Cassidy found steady work in a variety of other television shows.^[9] He had a prominent role onNBC'sThe New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Injun Joe, the enemy of Tom Sawyer and Huck. In the 1967The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Napoleon's Tomb Affair", Cassidy played a henchman, Edgar, who kidnaps, tortures, and repeatedly tries to kill Napoleon and Illya.

Cassidy also provided the voices of the more aggressive version of Balok in theStar Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver" and theGorn in the episode "Arena", and played the part of the android Ruk in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?". Cassidy did more work withStar Trek creatorGene Roddenberry in the early 1970s, playing Isaiah in thepostapocalyptic drama pilotsGenesis II andPlanet Earth. In theLost in Space episode "The Thief from Outer Space", he played the Slave to the alien Thief (Malachi Throne), who threatens the Robinsons.

InThe Beverly Hillbillies episode "The Dahlia Feud" from 1967, he played Mr. Ted, a large, muscular gardener who plantsdahlias for Mrs. Drysdale. In 1968, Cassidy appeared onMannix in the episode"To Kill a Writer" as Felipe Montoya, onDaniel Boone in "The Scrimshaw Ivory Chart" as a pirate named Gentle Sam, and in two episodes ofI Dream of Jeannie as the master of Jeannie's devious sister in the episode "Genie, Genie, Who's Got the Genie?", and Jeannie's cousin in the episode "Please Don't Feed the Astronauts".

In the two-partThe Six Million Dollar Man episode "The Return of Bigfoot" (1976), Cassidy provided the body and vocal effects ofBigfoot (the role was originally played by professional wrestlerAndré the Giant in a previous two-parter). Cassidy reprised the role in the 1977 episode "Bigfoot V".

Cassidy also starred inBonanza's "Decision in Los Robles" in 1970.^[14]

Concurrent with his appearances onThe Addams Family, Cassidy began doing character voices on a recurring basis for theHanna-Barbera Studios, culminating in the role of Frankenstein Jr., inFrankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles series, and even reprising Lurch on several occasions for Hanna-Barbera productions (most notably for theAddams Family animated series in 1973–74). He was the voice ofMeteor Man inBirdman and the Galaxy Trio, as well as the hero in theChuck Menville pixillated short filmBlaze Glory, in which his already-deep voice was enhanced with reverb echo to give the character an exaggerated super-hero sound. Cassidy also voiced Ben Grimm ("The Thing") inThe New Fantastic Four. Cassidy went on to perform the roars and growls for Godzilla in the1979 cartoon series that Hanna-Barbera co-produced withToho, and was also the voice of Montaro in theJana of the Jungle segments that accompaniedGodzilla during its first network run. His voice was the basis for the sinister voice ofBlack Manta, as well asBrainiac and several others onSuper Friends. Cassidy was the original voice ofMoltar andMetallus onSpace Ghost from 1966 to 1968. Cassidy's final role was as King Thun of the Lion Men in the television animated feature filmFlash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All. That particular role was originally recorded shortly before Cassidy's death in 1979, until the decision was made to use the footage for a television series,The New Adventures of Flash Gordon. As such, Cassidy's death necessitated his role being recast for the series withAllan Melvin. After the series' conclusion, the original feature film and soundtrack were reassembled using Cassidy's performance and broadcast in prime time in 1982. In live-action productions for the TV seriesThe Incredible Hulk, he provided narration of the title sequence, and the Hulk's growls and roars. In deleted scenes from the originalBattlestar Galactica TV pilot movie, "Saga of a Star World", Cassidy can be heard providing temporary voice tracks of theCylonImperious Leader, before actorPatrick Macnee was contracted to voice the character.^[15]

Other film work includesButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969),Mackenna's Gold (1969),The Limit (1972),Banacek (1972),Charcoal Black (1972),The Slams (1973),Thunder County (1974),Poor Pretty Eddie (1975),Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976),The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977) andGoin' Coconuts (1978). Alongside Michael Werner, he co-wrote the screenplay of 1973'sThe Harrad Experiment, in which he made a brief appearance. During that time, he also worked withNoel Marshall, the executive producer ofHarrad Experiment, on the adventure-comedy filmRoar (released two years after his death).^[16]

In 1965, he released a single onCapitol Records with "The Lurch", written byGary S. Paxton, and "Wesley", written byCliffie Stone and Scott Turner.^[17] He introduced the dance and performed the song "The Lurch" on September 11, 1965, onShivaree! and performed it again on Halloween of the same year onShindig!^[18]

Contrary tourban legend, Ted Cassidy did not suffer fromacromegaly, anendocrine disorder in which there is an overproduction ofgrowth hormone from thepituitary gland that causes excessive bone growth in certain parts of the body. This was debunked by his son Sean Cassidy on the YouTube interview "Son of Lurch".^{[citation needed]} At 6 foot 9 inches, Ted Cassidy was an inch taller than his son Sean who is 6 foot 7 inches tall.^[19]

Cassidy underwent surgery atSt. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles to have a benign tumor removed from his heart. Complications arose several days later while he was recuperating at home. He was readmitted to the same hospital, where he died on January 16, 1979, at the age of 46. He was cremated and his ashes were buried in the backyard of his home inWoodland Hills.^[20][21][7]

• Ted Cassidy atIMDb
• Ted Cassidy atTurner Classic Movies
• Ted Cassidy atMemory Alpha
• Legacy.com – Ted Cassidy

• 1932 births
• 1979 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• American male voice actors
• American men's basketball players
• Basketball players from Pennsylvania
• Basketball players from West Virginia
• Centers (basketball)
• Hanna-Barbera people
• Male actors from Pittsburgh
• Male actors from West Virginia
• People from Philippi, West Virginia
• People with acromegaly
• Stetson Hatters men's basketball players
• West Virginia Wesleyan College alumni
• American people of Irish descent
• Deaths from complications of heart surgery
• 20th-century American sportsmen

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