Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor, noted for his tall stature at , and his unusual facial features and deep voice which were due to acromegaly. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction works such as Star Trek and I Dream of Jeannie, and he played Lurch on The Addams Family in the mid-1960s. He also narrated The Incredible Hulk TV series and voiced The Hulk in the show’s first 2 seasons. Early life Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of Irish ancestry, and raised in Philippi, West Virginia. In his youth, he was academically gifted and attended third grade at age six. During his freshman year of high school, at age 11, he was on the football and basketball teams. After graduating from high school, Cassidy attended West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He transferred to Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, where he played college basketball for the Hatters and was active in the student government. Career After graduating with a degree in speech and drama, he married Margaret Helen Jesse in 1956, and they moved to Dallas, Texas. His acting career launched when he worked as a midday DJ on WFAA in Dallas. He also occasionally appeared on WFAA-TV Channel 8, playing Creech, an outer-space creature on the "Dialing for Dollars" segments on Ed Hogan's afternoon movies. He gave an in-studio report from WFAA radio station on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and was among the first to interview eyewitnesses W. E. Newman Jr. and Gayle Newman. Television Cassidy's height gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character roles. His best-known role is Lurch on The Addams Family, in which he feigned playing the harpsichord (although he was in fact an accomplished organist). He also played the character named Thing, though associate producer Jack Voglin would take over the role in scenes involving both characters. Though the character of Lurch was originally intended to be mute, when Cassidy ad-libbed "You rang?" in response to the butler call, it was an immediate hit. It became his signature line, and he was given more lines. Several episodes were written to feature Lurch. Cassidy reprised the role of Lurch in later appearances. In the Batman episode "The Penguin's Nest" (1966), he appears during the heroes' familiar