"The real head of the family and the critical and moving force behind it. Low-voiced, incisive and subtle; smiles are rare. This ruined beauty has a romantic side, too, and is given to low-keyed rhapsodies about her garden of deadly nightshade, henbane and dwarf's hair. Generally indulgent [of] the often sinister activities of the children, but feels that Uncle Fester has to be held in check. Her costume is always the same—the form-fitting black gown, tattered or cut to ribbons at the elbows and feet. Occasionally, she will wear a shawl. Her voice is never raised, but has great range. Contemptuous and original and with a fierce family loyalty. She never uses a cliché except to be funny. She is a thoughtful hostess in her way and, if a guest needs anything, he is advised to scream for it. The children are instructed to observe the amenities and always kick Daddy good night."
Morticia first appeared in Charles Addams' newspaper cartoons[2] as the stern, aloof matriarch of the family. She often appeared with the rest of the family, and was, along with Gomez and Grandmama, one of the few members to actually speak in the cartoons.
Background
Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday, Pugsley and Pubert Addams. The character originated in the Charles Addams cartoons for The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s. In the cartoons, none of the family members had names. When the characters were adapted to the 1964 television series, Charles Addams' selection of her name was inspired by "mortician". Morticia's maiden name is "Frump" and she has an older sister named Ophelia (also played by Carolyn Jones in the original TV series). In the television series, her mother is Hester Frump (played by Margaret Hamilton). Her mother-in-law is Grandmama Addams. In the 1990s Addams Family films, familial relationships are changed for the characters of Grandmama and Fester. Grandmama is actually Morticia's mother, not Gomez's, while Fester is Gomez's brother, not Morticia's uncle.
Morticia is slim, with extremely pale skin and long flowing straight black hair. She commonly wears black hobble dresses to match her hair, tightly form fitting, with a fringe of octopus-like cloth "tentacles" at the lower hem. According to Wednesday, Morticia applies baking powder to her face instead of actual makeup. In each episode, she easily allures her husband Gomez by speaking French (or any other foreign language for that matter). Morticia is musically inclined, and is often seen freely strumming a Japanese shamisen. She frequently enjoys cutting the buds off of roses, which she discards (keeping only the stems), likes cutting out paper dolls with three heads and making sweaters with three arms, collecting the mail from the hand-in-the-box Thing, and cooking unusual concoctions for her husband, including eye of newt. Her personal pet is Cleopatra, a fictitious breed of carnivorous plant called an African Strangler, to which she feeds hamburgers and various other meats.
She is described as a witch. In one episode, she wears a black pointed hat. Her family tree can be traced back to Salem, Massachusetts, and witchcraft is also implied at times in the television series.[3] For example, Morticia likes to "smoke," an activity that does not involve cigarettes or cigars (such as her husband frequently enjoys), but smoke instead emanates directly from her.[4]
In 2009, she was included in Yahoo!'s Top 10 TV Moms from Six Decades of Television for the time period 1964–1966.[5]AOL named her one of the 100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters.[6]
Morticia was portrayed by Carolyn Jones in the TV series, and Halloween with the New Addams Family TV movie. According to the 60s TV series, Morticia is descended from Salem, Massachusetts ("The Addams Family Tree", episode 5, season 1). In the season II 2-parter episodes, Morticia's Romance (Parts I & II), Morticia first met Gomez when she (then 22 years old) and her elder sister, Ophelia, were brought to the Addams' Mansion by their mother, Mrs. Esther Frump, a long-time close friend of Gomez's mother, from their time together at "Swamp Town High", both of whom wished for the then around 22 year old Gomez and Ophelia to marry. Before this episode, however, different allusions as to how Morticia and Gomez first met and fell in love are made; in Green-Eyed Gomez, it's mentioned that Gomez first fell in love with Morticia when he first saw her riding "sidesaddle on a buffalo" and she, likewise, when he carved her initials on his leg; in Morticia the Matchmaker, Grandmama mentions that her "Love Dust" (which she uses multiple doses on Morticia's cousin, Melancholia) was used to initially bring Morticia and Gomez together.
Jones also voiced the character in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies that featured the family: "Wednesday Is Missing".
Anjelica Huston portrays Morticia in The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values. Huston's portrayal of Morticia was always illuminated by a ghostly glow around the eyes, which became most noticeable when she was standing or lying in dim light (just like Bela Lugosi in 1931's Dracula). According to the 1991 movie, Morticia first met Gomez when she was attending his cousin Balthazar's funeral (and Gomez was the main suspect); Morticia and Gomez could not keep their eyes off each other and, according to Gomez, everyone hardly paid Balthazar any attention as he was buried, and Gomez proposed to Morticia later that very night.
Catherine Zeta-Jones portrays Morticia in the Netflix series Wednesday.[9] According to the 2022 series, both she and Gomez first met at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for supernatural people (also known as "Outcasts"). Her maiden name from the 60s TV series, Frump, was kept. It is revealed in flashbacks that she and Gomez were involved in the death of "normie" Garrett Gates, who tried to kill Gomez in a blind rage, desiring Morticia for himself. The future Principal, Larissa Weems, was her roommate and very jealous of Morticia, due to her many achievements. Morticia's supernatural ability is receiving psychic visions of the past or future, just like Wednesday, and is hereditary on both sides of the family, since both Gomez and Morticia share a mutual ancestor in Goody Addams, from the 1600s. Morticia tells her daughter that the mood and tone of their visions are based on the recipient's attitude, so hers tend to be happier in nature than Wednesday's. Morticia also warns Wednesday to be careful of their distant ancestor, Goody Addams, whom Morticia describes as a "witch of great strength", as she let her thirst for vengeance consume her.
^In the BroadwaymusicalThe Addams Family, Morticia refers to Grandmama as Gomez and Uncle Fester's mother, to which Gomez reacts with surprise and says that he had thought she was Morticia's mother. Morticia later says that Grandmama "may not even be part of this family", referencing Grandmama's ever-changing relation to the family.
