Ted Cassidy

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Theodore Crawford "Ted" Cassidy (born July 31, 1932 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † January 16, 1979 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film actor .

biography

Early life

Ted Cassidy grew up, although born in Pittsburgh, in Philippi , the administrative seat of Barbour County in the US state West Virginia . At West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon ( Upshur County ) enjoyed Cassidy his schooling. He played on the school's basketball team and was a member of a fraternity . Cassidy's rapid body growth was evident early on; as an adult, he was 205 centimeters tall.

Career

After graduating from college, Cassidy moved to Stetson University in DeLand , Florida , where he studied language and acting . It was here that he met his future wife Margaret Helen Jesse, the older sister of the stage actor Dan Jesse , whom he married in 1956. The two moved to Dallas , Texas , where he first found work as a DJ at WFAA-AM , a Dallas radio station. Cassidy gained his first experience in front of the camera at WFAA , a local television company, where he was seen as an alien in afternoon programs for children. In the early 1960s, Cassidy also began working as a radio reporter and was one of the first journalists on site on November 22, 1963 to cover the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy .

Career

Cassidy's film and television career began in 1960 as the voice of a Martian in the B-movie The Angry Red Planet . However, his breakthrough only came four years later when he took on the role of Lurch the Butler in the television series The Addams Family ; a character with whom Cassidy is mostly associated even today. In 2004 he was posthumously nominated for this role for the TV Land Award in the category Best TV Butler. In the late 1960s, he also appeared in three episodes of Starship Enterprise , each time as an alien. Although Cassidy also embodied human characters, including in an episode of the series Bonanza , most of the film fans are familiar with his extraterrestrial or oriental roles, such as his appearance in the series Bewitching Jeannie . In total, Cassidy has appeared in over 60 films and TV series.

Late life and death

In 1972, Ted and Margaret Cassidy divorced after 16 years of marriage. The marriage had two children, son Sean (* 1957) and daughter Cameron (* 1960). Both now work as lawyers in the USA . Most recently, Cassidy had a relationship with the actress Sandra Martínez . As she got older, Cassidy had more health problems. In January 1979, he underwent open heart surgery, from which he died at the age of 46.

Trivia

Cassidy's career is similar to that of the Dutch actor Carel Struycken . Both suffer from acromegaly and were cast in Star Trek roles, and both played the butler Lurch in various adaptations of The Addams Family .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cassidy, Ted
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cassidy, Theodore Crawford (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1979
Place of death Los Angeles , California