The Addams Family of which were originally published in "The New Yorker" between their debut in 1938 and Charles Addams' death in 1988. They have since been adapted to other media. In 1964, a live-action television series, starring John Astin and Carolyn Jones, premiered on ABC and subsequently inspired a 1977 television film and cameos from the cast in other shows. An unrelated animated series aired in 1973. The franchise was revived in the 1990s with a feature film series consisting of "The Addams Family" (1991) and "Addams Family Values" (1993). Both received nominations for Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Hugo Awards. For
The Addams Family (1991 film) were owned by Charles Addams' widow. Another difficulty in getting the film produced was the obscurity of "The Addams Family" 1964 TV series, as the show had not achieved the syndicated popularity of the similarly-toned comedy "The Munsters". However, production finally moved forward when Addams' widow sold the remaining rights to Orion, who put the film in production with Rudin producing. Anjelica Huston said she based aspects of her performance on her friend Jerry Hall to give the character more warmth. Huston said she would have expected the role to go to Cher but was a longtime fan of Morticia.