Gomez and Morticia Addams

Why Gomez and Morticia Addams are so Damn Classy

Gomez and Morticia Addams are two of the most loveably dark and romantic characters in American pop culture. Their for and devotion to each other makes them a pleasure to watch.

Gomez and Morticia Addams

Many actors and actresses have played them over the years. After all, the characters have been on TV since the 1960s (and they existed decades before that!) Gomez and Morticia Addams make the perfect marriage that every couple should strive for!

Well, Gomez and Morticia Addams have such a lovely relationship that I couldn’t resist writing this piece about them.

I’ll tell you about their bizarre hobbies, where their families are from, and even where Gomez and Morticia Addams got their names.

Gomez Addams

Hobbies: Bow ties, cigars, juggling, knife throwing, romance

Ancestry: Castilian 

Lives in: Westfield, New Jersey 

As you can see, in the original cartoon that artist Charles Addams created for the New Yorker in the first half of the 20th century, Gomez and Morticia Addams looked a lot like they do today. That’s especially true of Gomez, with his large, ruddy face. 

Ever wondered how Gomez Addams got his Name?

Actually, at first, the dad in the Addams Family didn’t even have a name. A name wasn’t needed until the cartoon turned into a TV show in 1964. As the story goes, artist Charles Addams threw out two names – Repelli or Gomez – and left it up to the actor to decide. 

The actor, John Astin, went with Gomez.

Actually, John Astin had a lot of freedom with creating Gomez’s character. Not only was Astin the one who named Gomez, but he also decided to turn him into the romantic “latin lover type,” with his “eye rolling, pencil mustache, and ardent devotion to Morticia” (Source: Gomez Addams’ Wikipedia Page).

Gomez Addams Scooby Doo
Astin also voiced Gomez Addams
in his Scooby Doo appearance

Several actors played Gomez in the 1990s, including Tim Curry. I liked all of them – who doesn’t like their meal served with a little Tim Curry? – but none of them quite did it for me like John Astin. 

Now, in the Netflix series, Wednesday, Luis Guzman plays Gomez Addams; it is a matter of opinion, but I think Guzman looks more like the original than the previous actors. I like his ugly face and bumpy skin. 

Morticia Addams

Hobbies: Witchcraft, music, foreign languages, decapitating roses and keeping the stems, cooking eye of newt, feeding meat to her African Strangler, a fictitious plant (Source: Morticia Addams’ Wikipedia Page)

Ancestry: Salem, Massachusetts

Maiden Name: Frump

Morticia Addams
Morticia Addams feeding her African Strangler

Ever Wonder how Morticia Addams got her Name?

Gomez and Morticia Addams

Unlike Gomez Addams’ naming, Morticia got her name pretty straightforwardly. If you trace Gomez and Morticia Addams back to the New Yorker cartoons, neither of them had names. But In Morticia’s case, Charles Addams doesn’t seem to have consulted actress Carolyn Jones, instead using the word “mortician” as inspiration to land on Morticia.

And of course the word “mort” is a dark etymological prefix, covering such a range of death-related roots in words as mortality, mortal, mortuary, morbid, post-mortem, murder, and mare .

That last one, “mare,” is an interesting one, indicating “night goblin, incubus, oppressed sleep” — I’m not kidding! If you don’t believe me, click the link. The “mare” from “nightmare” also comes from the same root.

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