# Ted Cassidy

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 as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie, and he played Lurch on The Addams Family TV series of the mid-1960s. He also narrated the intro sequence for the 1977 live-action The Incredible Hulk TV series and provided the growls & roars for the Hulk for the series's first 2 seasons before his untimely passing, with actor Charles Napier providing the title character's vocals for the remainder of the series.

## Early life

Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Elwood Lewis Cassidy and Emily Cassidy (nee Crawford), of Irish ancestry, and raised in Philippi, West Virginia. In his youth, he was academically gifted and attended third grade at age six. During his freshman year of high school, at age 11, he was on the football and basketball teams.
After graduating from high school, Cassidy attended West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He transferred to Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, where he played college basketball for the Hatters and was active in the student government.

## Career

Cassidy graduated from Stetson University with a BA degree. He began his broadcast career at WCOA 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. He was an accomplished musician and moonlighted playing an organ for patrons of a Luby's Cafeteria in Dallas' Lochwood Shopping Center. He "was right in the middle of the excitement" on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated and was among the first to interview eyewitnesses W. E. Newman Jr. and Gayle Newman.

### Television

Cassidy's height gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character roles. His best-known role is Lurch on The Addams Family, in which he feigned playing the harpsichord (although he was in fact an accomplished organist). With a separate contract he also played the character named Thing, 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.
Cassidy reprised the role of Lurch in later appearances. In the Batman 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 the Addams 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 of The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972), and in the 1973 animated series adaptation of The Addams Family. He again reprised Lurch in the TV film Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977).
According to Thomas "Duke " Miller, a TV/movie/celebrity expert, Cassidy also had a small role opposite George Peppard in one episode of the TV movie series Banacek. 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. In addition to The Addams Family, Cassidy found steady work in a variety of other television shows. He had a prominent role on NBC's The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Injun Joe, the enemy of Tom Sawyer and Huck. In the 1967 The 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 the Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver" and the Gorn 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 with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the early 1970s, playing Isaiah in the postapocalyptic drama pilots Genesis II and Planet Earth. In the Lost in Space episode "The Thief from Outer Space", he played the Slave to the alien Thief (Malachi Throne), who threatens the Robinsons.
In The Beverly Hillbillies episode "The Dahlia Feud" from 1967, he played Mr. Ted, a large, muscular gardener who plants dahlias for Mrs. Drysdale. In 1968, Cassidy appeared on Mannix in the episode "To Kill a Writer" as Felipe Montoya, on Daniel Boone in "The Scrimshaw Ivory Chart" as a pirate named Gentle Sam, and in two episodes of I 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-part The Six Million Dollar Man episode "The Return of Bigfoot" (1976), Cassidy provided the body and vocal effects of Bigfoot (the role was originally played by professional wrestler André the Giant in a previous two-parter). Cassidy reprised the role in the 1977 episode "Bigfoot V".
Cassidy also starred in Bonanza's "Decision in Los Robles" in 1970.

### Other film and TV work

Concurrent with his appearances on The Addams Family, Cassidy began doing character voices on a recurring basis for the Hanna-Barbera Studios, culminating in the role of Frankenstein Jr., in Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles series, and even reprising Lurch on several occasions for Hanna-Barbera productions (most notably for the Addams Family animated series in 1973–74). He was the voice of Meteor Man in Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, as well as the hero in the Chuck Menville pixillated short film Blaze 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") in The New Fantastic Four. Cassidy went on to perform the roars and growls for Godzilla in the 1979 cartoon series that Hanna-Barbera co-produced with Toho, and was also the voice of Montaro in the Jana of the Jungle segments that accompanied Godzilla during its first network run. His voice was the basis for the sinister voice of Black Manta, as well as Brainiac and several others on Super Friends. Cassidy was the original voice of Moltar and Metallus on Space Ghost from 1966 to 1968. Cassidy's final role was as King Thun of the Lion Men in the television animated feature film Flash 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 with Allan 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 series The Incredible Hulk, he provided narration of the title sequence, and the Hulk's growls and roars. In deleted scenes from the original Battlestar Galactica TV pilot movie, "Saga of a Star World", Cassidy can be heard providing temporary voice tracks of the Cylon Imperious Leader, before actor Patrick Macnee was contracted to voice the character.
Other film work includes Butch 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) and Goin' Coconuts (1978). Alongside Michael Werner, he co-wrote the screenplay of 1973's The Harrad Experiment, in which he made a brief appearance. During that time, he also worked with Noel Marshall, the executive producer of Harrad Experiment, on the adventure-comedy film Roar (released two years after his death).
In 1965, he released a single on Capitol Records with "The Lurch", written by Gary S. Paxton, and "Wesley", written by Cliffie Stone and Scott Turner. He introduced the dance and performed the song "The Lurch" on September 11, 1965, on Shivaree! and performed it again on Halloween of the same year on Shindig!

## Height

Contrary to urban legend, Ted Cassidy did not suffer from acromegaly, an endocrine disorder in which there is an overproduction of growth hormone from the pituitary gland that causes excessive bone growth in certain parts of the body. This has been debunked by his son, Sean Cassidy, on the "Son of Lurch" interview on Youtube. Ted Cassidy was just tall (he was 6 foot 8 inches tall), as is his son, Sean, who is 6 foot 7 inches tall.

## Death

Cassidy underwent surgery at St. 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 in Woodland Hills.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1959 | The Angry Red Planet | Martian | Voice, uncredited |
| 1964–1966 | The Addams Family | Lurch | 64 episodes |
| 1966 | The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. | Tullio | Episode: "The Montori Device Affair" |
| 1966 | Lost in Space | Slave | Episode: "The Thief from Outer Space" |
| 1966 | Batman | Lurch | Episode: "The Penguin's Nest" |
| 1966 | Star Trek | Ruk | S1:E7, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" |
| 1966 | Star Trek | Voice of Balok Puppet | S1:E10, "The Corbomite Maneuver" |
| 1967 | Star Trek | Gorn | S1:E18, "Arena" |
| 1966–1967 | Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles | Frankenstein Jr. | Voice, 18 episodes |
| 1967 | The Phyllis Diller Show | Maxie | Episode: "Portrait of Krump" |
| 1967 | The Monroes | Teddy Larch | Episode: "Wild Bull" |
| 1967 | Jack and the Beanstalk | The Giant | Voice, TV movie |
| 1967 | Laredo | Monte | Episode: "The Small Chance Ghost" |
| 1967 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Mr. Ted | Episode: "The Dahlia Feud" |
| 1967 | Mr. Terrific | Bojo | Episode: "Stanley Joins the Circus" |
| 1967 | Super President | Spy Shadow | Voice, one episode |
| 1967 | Birdman and the Galaxy Trio | Meteor Man | Voice, twenty episodes |
| 1967 | Insight | The Jury | Episode: "Fat Hands and a Diamond Ring" |
| 1967 | Fantastic Four | Galactus | Voice, episode: "Galactus" |
| 1968 | Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) | Sam "Gentle Sam" | Episode: "The Scrimshaw Ivory Chart" |
| 1968 | I Dream of Jeannie | Hamid / Habib | Two episodes |
| 1968 | Tarzan | Sampson | Episode: "Jungle Ransom" |
| 1968 | Mannix | Felipe Montoya | Episode: "To Kill a Writer" |
| 1968–1969 | The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Injun Joe / Morpho / Monster | Voice, 20 episodes |
| 1969 | Mackenna's Gold | Hachita | |
| 1969 | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan | |
| 1970 | Bonanza | Garth | Episode: "Decision at Los Robles" |
| 1971–1976 | McDonaldland | Officer Big Mac | Voice, five episodes |
| 1972 | The New Scooby-Doo Movies | Lurch | Voice, Episode: "Wednesday Is Missing" |
| 1972 | The Limit | Donnie "Big Donnie" | |
| 1972 | Ironside | The Wrestler | Episode: "Who'll Cry for My Baby" |
| 1972 | Charcoal Black | Striker | |
| 1973 | Banacek | Jerry Crawford | Episode: "Ten Thousand Dollars a Page" |
| 1973 | Genesis II | Isiah | TV movie |
| 1973 | The Harrad Experiment | Diner Patron | Uncredited |
| 1973 | The Addams Family | Lurch | Voice, sixteen episodes |
| 1973 | The Slams | Glover | |
| 1974 | Planet Earth | Isiah | TV movie |
| 1974 | The Great Lester Boggs | | |
| 1974 | Thunder County | Cabrini | |
| 1975 | The Intruder | | |
| 1975 | Poor Pretty Eddie | Keno | |
| 1976 | Harry and Walter Go to New York | Leary | |
| 1976 | The Bionic Woman | Bigfoot | Episode: "The Return of Bigfoot: Part 2" |
| 1976–1977 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Bigfoot | Two episodes |
| 1976–1979 | Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle | Phobeg | Voice, 36 episodes |
| 1977 | The Great Balloon Race | | |
| 1977 | Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover | Jake Tuttle | TV movie |
| 1977 | The Last Remake of Beau Geste | Blindman | |
| 1977 | Space Sentinels | Agent Kronos | Episode: "The Time Traveler" |
| 1977 | The All-New Super Friends Hour | Crag | Two episodes |
| 1977 | Halloween with the New Addams Family | Lurch | TV movie |
| 1977–1979 | The Incredible Hulk | Voice of Incredible Hulk / The Narrator | 76 episodes |
| 1977–1980 | Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels | Creature / Bruno / Additional voices | Voice, 39 episodes |
| 1978 | The Flintstones: Little Big League | Police Officer | Voice, TV movie |
| 1978 | Sugar Time! | | Episode: "Sugar to the Rescue" |
| 1978 | Man from Atlantis | Canja | Episode: "Scavenger Hunt" |
| 1978 | Chico and the Man | Bruno | Episode: "Help Wanted" |
| 1978 | Dr. Strange | Demon Balzaroth | Voice, uncredited, TV movie |
| 1978 | Dinky Dog | Additional voices | Voice, 16 episodes |
| 1978 | Goin' Coconuts | Mickey | |
| 1978 | Fangface | Additional voices | Voice, Two episodes |
| 1978 | Yogi's Space Race | Additional voices | Voice, seven episodes |
| 1978 | Greatest Heroes of the Bible | Goliath | Episode: "David and Goliath" |
| 1978 | Jana of the Jungle | Montaro | Voice, 13 episodes |
| 1978 | The Fantastic Four | The Thing | Voice, 13 episodes |
| 1978 | Challenge of the Superfriends | Black Manta / Brainiac / Diamond Exchange Man / Barlock / Gorilla Guard #1 / British Soldier | Voice, 16 episodes |
| 1978 | Cowboysan | Baddie | Short film |
| 1978–1979 | Godzilla | Godzilla | Voice, 26 episodes |
| 1979 | The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone | Frankenstone | Voice, TV movie, posthumous release |
| 1979 | The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show | Additional voices | Voice, posthumous release |
| 1981 | Roar | | Additional script material, posthumous release |
| 1982 | Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All | King Thun | Voice, TV movie, final film role, posthumous release |