# Ted Cassidy
**Ted Cassidy** (Theodore Crawford Cassidy; July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor and voice actor, 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m) tall, best known for playing the butler Lurch on the ABC television series *The Addams Family* (1964–1966) and for voicing the opening narration of *The Incredible Hulk*.[1](https://cassidyclan.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cassidy-Clan-Newsletter-Christmas-2010.pdf) • [2](https://www.nndb.com/people/474/000049327/) • [3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | July 31, 1932, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; January 16, 1979, Los Angeles, age 46[1](https://cassidyclan.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cassidy-Clan-Newsletter-Christmas-2010.pdf) • [4](https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth1813704/m1/14/) |
| Signature role | Lurch, the butler on *The Addams Family* (ABC, 1964–1966); also played Thing, the disembodied hand[5](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/star/ted-cassidy/) • [6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/shows/addams-family-the) |
| Signature line | "You rang?", ad-libbed at his first appearance in the pilot when the character was written as mute[5](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/star/ted-cassidy/) |
| Height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), which shaped his casting in unusual and villainous roles[2](https://www.nndb.com/people/474/000049327/) |
| Other notable work | Ruk in *Star Trek* ("What Are Little Girls Made Of?"), the Gorn's voice in "Arena", Harvey Logan in *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* (1969)[7](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_Cassidy) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ted_cassidy) |
| Voice work | Narrator of *The Incredible Hulk* (CBS, from 1977); Hanna–Barbera cartoon voices including Godzilla[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) • [9](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php) |
| Death | Complications after open-heart surgery for a non-malignant tumor[4](https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth1813704/m1/14/) |
## Early life and radio career
Cassidy was born in [Pittsburgh](https://www.edgepedia.org/pittsburgh) and raised in Philippi, West Virginia, about 120 miles south of Pittsburgh.[1](https://cassidyclan.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cassidy-Clan-Newsletter-Christmas-2010.pdf) He first attended West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, where he was a member of the [Alpha Sigma Phi](https://www.edgepedia.org/alpha-sigma-phi) fraternity, and later transferred to [Stetson University](https://www.edgepedia.org/stetson-university) in DeLand, Florida, as a speech major, graduating with a degree in speech and drama.[1](https://cassidyclan.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cassidy-Clan-Newsletter-Christmas-2010.pdf) • [9](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php) His height made him a standout basketball player in school; a contemporary television profile described him as "naturally" a star basketball player as a schoolboy.[10](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Album/Who%27s-Who-in-Television-No-15.pdf)
In 1956 he married Margaret Helen, and the couple moved to Dallas, Texas, where their son Sean was born in 1957 and daughter Cameron in 1960.[1](https://cassidyclan.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cassidy-Clan-Newsletter-Christmas-2010.pdf) Cassidy worked as a midday disc jockey on WFAA Radio in Dallas, where his show was a hit, and he was cast as an outer-space creature named "Creech" on WFAA-TV's weekday movie program *Dialing for Dollars*.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) On November 22, 1963 he reported live on the [John F. Kennedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-f-kennedy) assassination for WFAA Radio and was among the first reporters to interview key eyewitnesses.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/)
## Lurch and The Addams Family
In early 1964 Cassidy told his Dallas radio and television audience he was leaving WFAA to co-star in a new ABC sitcom, *[The Addams Family](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-addams-family-1964-tv-series)*, based on [Charles Addams](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-addams)'s *New Yorker* cartoons.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) • [6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/shows/addams-family-the) His height and deep, resonant voice fit the part of Lurch, the family's towering, Frankenstein-like butler who responded to the family's summons with the question "You rang?"[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) • [11](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Encyclopedia-of-American-Television-Lackman-2003.pdf) The line was an improvisation: Lurch was written as mute, as in the cartoons, but during the shooting of the pilot Cassidy ad-libbed it at his first appearance, and it entered the character's dialogue and became his signature.[5](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/star/ted-cassidy/)
The show ran two seasons on ABC, Fridays at 7:30 p.m., for 64 thirty-minute episodes.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) • [6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/shows/addams-family-the) Cassidy also played [Thing](https://www.edgepedia.org/thing-the-addams-family), the disembodied hand kept in a box, although the program did not publicize this; when Lurch and Thing appeared in the same scene, another cast member doubled as Thing.[6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/shows/addams-family-the) • [9](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php) On screen Lurch rarely spoke, expressing himself through guttural moans and playing the harpsichord, an instrument Cassidy merely pretended to play; he was in fact an accomplished musician.[6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/shows/addams-family-the) • [9](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php)
The role had mixed meaning for the actor. Cassidy had played Falstaff onstage and was a respectable singer, and he told *TV Guide* in 1965 that the part required him to play up the clumsiness and the image of a "dumb, untalkative giant" he had spent his life fighting: "I can't believe my luck in being on a successful series. But right there, in the character, are things I've spent my life fighting."[12](https://www.tvguide.com/news/question-recently-caught-66895/)
He returned to the character several times: a gag appearance as Lurch in an episode of *Batman*, voice work for the 1970s animated *Addams Family* series on NBC (1973–1975), and the 1977 television movie *Halloween with the Addams Family*.[7](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_Cassidy) • [3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ted_cassidy)
## Screen and voice work after Lurch
Cassidy's size and voice kept him in physically imposing and sinister parts. On the short-lived series *The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* he played the villainous Injun Joe, and in the 1969 Western *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid* he played the gang member [Harvey Logan](https://www.edgepedia.org/harvey-logan), who fights Butch in the film.[7](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_Cassidy) • [12](https://www.tvguide.com/news/question-recently-caught-66895/) In *Star Trek* he played the towering android Ruk in the first-season episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", provided the voice of the Gorn in "Arena" (uncredited), and voiced Balok's puppet in "The Corbomite Maneuver".[7](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_Cassidy) • [13](https://trekcore.com/tos/episodes/season1/1x18/credits.html)
**Voice acting.** From the 1970s he worked extensively in animation, particularly for Hanna–Barbera, voicing characters including Meteor Man and Godzilla, and in series such as *Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle*.[9](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php) • [14](https://www.tm-africa.com/beta/public/uploads/cms_filescms_files/rumetu-vuwuwelizivego-womik.pdf) In 1977 he became the narrator of CBS's *The Incredible Hulk*; although the series ran for several years after his death, producers retained his off-screen narration throughout its network run.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) His final work, Filmation's *Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All*, aired three years after his death.[7](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_Cassidy)
**Music.** In 1965 he released two songs, "The Lurch" and "Wesley", on a seven-inch vinyl record with [Capitol Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/capitol-records), and helped launch the song-and-dance called "The Lurch" on the syndicated dance show *Shivaree*; in October 1965 he performed the song on ABC's *Shindig* on a bill with [Boris Karloff](https://www.edgepedia.org/boris-karloff) performing "The Monster Mash".[9](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php) • [3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/)
## Death
In 1979 Cassidy underwent open-heart surgery for a non-malignant tumor, developed complications while recuperating, and was readmitted to a Los Angeles hospital, where he died on January 16, 1979, at age 46.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/) • [4](https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth1813704/m1/14/) He was cremated and buried in the backyard of his Woodland Hills home in Los Angeles; the exact location has not been made public.[3](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/)
## References
1. [Theodore Crawford Cassidy (1932–1979), Cassidy Clan Newsletter, Christmas 2010](https://cassidyclan.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cassidy-Clan-Newsletter-Christmas-2010.pdf)
2. [Ted Cassidy, NNDB](https://www.nndb.com/people/474/000049327/)
3. [The Foote Files: Remembering Ted Cassidy, CBS Texas (2017)](https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/the-foote-files-remembering-ted-cassidy/)
4. [TV Mailbag, Plano Daily Star-Courier, March 22, 1979, The Portal to Texas History](https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark%3A/67531/metapth1813704/m1/14/)
5. [Facts about Ted Cassidy, Classic Movie Hub](https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/star/ted-cassidy/)
6. [Addams Family, The, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/shows/addams-family-the)
7. [Ted Cassidy, Memory Alpha](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_Cassidy)
8. [Ted Cassidy Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/ted_cassidy)
9. [Ted Cassidy Biography, The Famous People](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ted-cassidy-38003.php)
10. [Who's Who in Television No. 15, Radio Album](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Album/Who%27s-Who-in-Television-No-15.pdf)
11. [The Encyclopedia of American Television (Lackman, 2003)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Encyclopedia-of-American-Television-Lackman-2003.pdf)
12. [Question: I recently caught Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/news/question-recently-caught-66895/)
13. [Star Trek TOS "Arena" episode credits, TrekCore](https://trekcore.com/tos/episodes/season1/1x18/credits.html)
14. [The true story of The Addams Family franchise (documenting Cassidy's cartoon voice work)](https://www.tm-africa.com/beta/public/uploads/cms_filescms_files/rumetu-vuwuwelizivego-womik.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Character actors, B-movie and genre-circuit performers › American performers, mid era › Surnames A to J*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license