Ted Cassidy

Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor. 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 Cassidy graduated from Stetson University with a BA degree. Ted began his broadcast career at WCOA in Pensacola Summer of 1958 through fall of 1959. He then moved on to work as a DJ on WFAA in Dallas. He was an accomplished musician, and moonlighted playing an organ for patrons of a Luby's Cafeteria in Dallas' Lochwood Shopping Center. He "was right in the middle of the excitement" on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and was among the first to interview eyewitnesses W. E. Newman Jr. and Gayle Newman.