Lurch (The Addams Family) - Characterization

Characterization

Lurch is a 6 ft 9 in (206 cm) tall,shambling, gloomy butler who somewhat resembles Frankenstein's monster (as played by Boris Karloff). On the Addams Family television series, Lurch has a deep, resonant voice not unlike that of Herman Munster, a character on the show's main competitor, The Munsters. Although fully capable of normal speech, Lurch often communicates via simple inarticulate moans, which, much like the dialogue of Cousin Itt, his employers have no trouble understanding. The Addamses often comment that Lurch is eloquent and vivacious. According to creator Charles Addams:

This towering mute has been shambling around the house forever...He is not a very good butler but a faithful one...One eye is opaque, the scanty hair is damply clinging to his narrow flat head...generally the family regards him as something of a joke. —Charles Addams

Like any butler, Lurch tries to help around the house, but occasionally his great size and strength cause trouble. He clearly takes pride in his work and is willing to do even the most arduous task.

Lurch often seems exasperated by his employers, and yet he has a profound loyalty to them. In return, the family treats Lurch like one of their own.

The family summons him with an ever-present bell pull (in the form of a hangman's noose). When pulled, it produces a loud gong noise that shakes the house, to which Lurch instantly appears and responds, "You rang?", even if wide-angle shots reveal that he was clearly nowhere in the vicinity before; on a few occasions Lurch arrives even before the bell pull is tugged.

Lurch largely shares the family's macabre standards, although he occasionally looks askance at some of their activities. He has a similar attitude toward visitors — almost a sixth sense. When a plainclothes policeman (played by George N. Neise) visits, Lurch pats him down and removes something from inside his suit coat: his service revolver. Lurch groans at the affront of bringing a weapon into the house. Neise shows Lurch his badge, and Lurch hands the gun back to him.

Aside from a headless Marie Antoinette doll, Lurch is Wednesday's best friend. He has a paternal affection for both Wednesday and Pugsley. Although his job title is limited to "butler", he seems to be a "jack of all trades" when it comes to the children, doing everything from taking them to school to making them lunch to keeping an eye on them around the house. He is close friends with the disembodied hand Thing.

Lurch is often seen playing the harpsichord at a virtuoso level. (The actor played on a dead keyboard; Vic Mizzy, the show's musical director, played the actual tunes.)

As originally conceived, Lurch was to have no lines, but in the show's pilot episode, Ted Cassidy ad-libbed the line "You rang?" in his trademark deep voice, and it was so impressive that it led to Lurch getting more dialogue; he ultimately had three lines in the pilot. In the films, however, Lurch was totally mute except for the occasional expressive grunt.

In Spanish-speaking countries, he is known as Largo, because of his height. In Brazil, he is known as Tropeço ("stumbling block"; also "I stumble, trip over").