Morticia Addams 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 television series, her mother (Uncle Fester's sister) was named Hester Frump (played by Margaret Hamilton). Her mother-in-law is Grandmama Addams. In the 1990s Addams Family films, Grandmama is actually Morticia's mother, not Gomez's. Morticia is described as a witch; she is slim, with extremely pale skin and
The Addams Family (1991 film) into the Addams household on Halloween. With the family whole again, Morticia informs Gomez that she is pregnant. Scott Rudin, a development executive at 20th Century Fox, pitched to the studio an adaptation of Charles Addams' "The Addams Family" comic strips, and the studio enthusiastically agreed that the comics would make a good film, and set out to purchase the rights. However, Fox would ultimately not make the film, as Orion Pictures, who owned the film rights to "The Addams Family", would not sell the property, as they were planning on producing a rebooted TV series. Further crucial property rights