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 identified as a "cult film", while "Addams Family Values" was listed one of The 50 Best family films by "The Guardian" and nominated for the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Laughs at the turn of the century. Ricci's portrayal of Wednesday in the film series was ranked one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters by "Empire", and in 2011 AOL named Morticia one of The 100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters. Addams' original cartoons were one-panel gags. The characters were undeveloped and unnamed until the television series production. The family appears to be a single surviving branch of the Addams