Nobody but nobody played wide-eyed looney like John Astin on THE ADDAMS FAMILY. Although the role of Gomez was played very differently than its cartoon counterpart, Astin seemed made for the part. He managed an impressive career outside that role, though, including a decent stab as a big screen character star.
But no matter how entertaining and brilliant, in our hearts, he remains the definitive Gomez Addams!
John Astin is a wonderful actor and I appreciated your tribute. My favorite Astin role is in the underappreciated 1968 movie CANDY, in which Astin plays a dual role as brothers, one the stuffy schoolteacher father to Ewa Aulin in the title role and the other as the randy uncle to Candy. It's a standout performance in a movie boasting everyone from Ringo Starr (his first non-Beatles movie) to Richard Burton to Marlon Brando.
ReplyDeleteAstin also showed what a great actor he is playing a handicapped man on a 1975 episode of POLICE WOMAN (his then-wife patty Duke-Astin was also a guest star).
Great post and pix.
Astin was the only actor in CANDY who didn't seem drunk or stoned or just walking through their role. Thus, as you said, he is a standout even over the bigger name actors.
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