During a time in sitcom history when most husbands and wives slept in separate twin beds, the physical attraction between The Addams Family’s Gomez and Morticia was white hot. “I thought that the romance between Gomez and Morticia should be on the grand scale,” John Astin, who played Gomez, told the Television Academy Foundation. “They would have a relationship of great passion.”
Astin took it a step further when he spoke at a Monster Mania convention in 2009. “We were really the first couple on television — that I know of, anyway — who had a sexual relationship,” he said. “They could actually have had the kids that they were supposed to.”
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Psychiatrists agreed, writing at the time that while the couple presided over a bizarre family, the amorous connection was unusually healthy for TV spouses.
Casting Morticia wasn’t easy. Astin explained that they auditioned many “beautiful women” for the part, but none of them were right for the role. Finally, producers offered the part to Carolyn Jones, who accepted on one condition: She wanted top billing. Astin’s contract demanded the same, but he happily ceded the honor to his TV wife. “I’m glad I did,” he said. “We couldn’t have found anybody better.”
Off-screen, Astin and Jones became great friends. “Our senses of humor were different, but they meshed very nicely,” he said. “Carolyn had a great laugh. When she’d laugh, it was a wonderful thing. Both of us were very, shall I say, professional in the execution of what we had to do. And we became friends for life.”
The two remained so close that Astin delivered the eulogy at Jones’ funeral — she passed away from colon cancer in 1983 at the age of 53.
While the relationship was always friendly on the sitcom set, Astin later admitted that his feelings for Jones went beyond the professional. “One of the easiest things of all to do was to get hot for her,” he told the Monster Mania crowd.
“It’s interesting,” he admitted. “Both of us were attracted to one another, but I can tell you, we didn’t mess around. It was better because we were always attracted to one another. You know, there was sort of a magnet.”
Astin kept his feelings to himself while filming The Addams Family. “I never mentioned anything like that,” he said. “I never kidded around about her build — you know, on the set, other people did, but I never did. I just kept that to myself, and so the passion came out in the scenes.”
“I never asked her how she felt,” he confessed. “I just accepted that she loved me a lot and was as ready as I was.”
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