They’re creepy, kooky, and also eerily similar to their onscreen characters. As it turns out, Carolyn Jones, who played the Addams Family matriarch, Morticia Addams, had similarities with Wednesday Addams.
In “The Addams Family” episode “Morticia, the Breadwinner,” viewers see Jones channel her own energy into her character when she takes charge of a situation. As it plays out, Morticia believes that her husband, Gomez, has bankrupted the family, and Morticia must leave the house to make money for the family.
Off-camera, Jones was also fiercely independent. Despite being a newcomer to the industry, Jones maintained her unique, individualistic style.
“Every time I did a movie or a telefilm, makeup men wanted to fill in my hollow cheeks and hairdressers wanted to restyle my hair,” Jones said in 1957. “But I kept yelling ‘No, no, no.’ Finally, when I’d go on a casting interview, I made a brief announcement before anyone said anything. My announcement was, ‘How do you do. My hair stays as it is.’”
According to Jones, she hated how studios “insist on making interesting faces look dull,” she said. “They want all girls to look alike.” However, Jones’ obsession with her image likely began when she was young.
Before she passed away, she described herself as her onscreen daughter Wednesday Addams. Her character was known for being sullen yet sweet.
“I was not very happy as a child and was asthmatic,” Jones said three years before she passed away in 1980.
Her asthma became so bad that she couldn’t even go to see the movies that she loved. As a result, she spent a lot of time looking at celebrity magazines and daydreaming about films.
Carolyn Jones saw her younger self in Wednesday Addams
Despite her breathing condition, Jones was determined to work in Hollywood as a classic TV star. So, after years of carefully studying her magazines, Jones finally got a shot at becoming a star.
To help keep her asthma at bay, Jones began practicing yoga, which she once joked that she hoped it would also help with her “bad temper.”
“I took it up to cure my asthma and bad temper,” Jones said in 1961. “My asthma is better, but I guess I’m stuck with my bad temper. However, I have learned to count up to 10 before I fly off the handle.”
During her stint on “The Addams Family,” we can see some of Jones’ personality traits from when she was younger displayed in Wednesday.
After her run on “The Addams Family,” Jones continued to have success. According to the late Hollywood actress, leading an independent life is what cured her of asthma, and not her yoga practice.
“I am happy as an adult, and I haven’t had a touch of asthma for years,” Jones once said.
