Gomez Addams

Gomez Addams is the patriarch of The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s, and subsequently portrayed in television, film and stage.

Cartoons

In Charles Addams's original cartoons, Gomez was the nameless patriarch of the Family. He had a somewhat grotesque appearance, with a tubby body, a snub-nose, a crooked tooth and a receding chin. He was often depicted reading in the den or lounging on the windowsill.

Name origin

In the Charles Addams cartoons, Gomez—as with all of the members of the family—had no given name.^[1] When The Addams Family 1964 television series was being developed, Charles Addams suggested naming the character either Repelli or Gomez. Addams left the final choice up to portrayer John Astin, who chose Gomez.^[2]

Because "Gómez" is usually recognized as a family name in Spanish-speaking countries, in Hispanic America the character's name was changed to "Homero" ("Homer").

Personality

Like the other members of the family, Gomez's personality became largely codified by the television series.^[1] Gomez is of Castilian extraction.^[3] Charles Addams' description for the series went like this:

Husband to Morticia (if indeed they are married at all) ... a crafty schemer, but also a jolly man in his own way ... though sometimes misguided ... sentimental and often puckish — optimistic, he is in full enthusiasm for his dreadful plots ... is sometimes seen in a rather formal dressing gown ... the only one who smokes.^[4]

— Charles Addams

John Astin had long sessions with Addams and series producer David Levy, who gave him free rein in developing the character. Enlarging on Addam's description of Gomez as a Latin lover type, Astin suggested the eye-rolling, pencil moustache, and ardent devotion to Morticia.^[5]

In the Addams cartoons and the television shows, Gomez wore a necktie to his chalk-stripe suit, though in the films, Gomez wears a bow-tie and also wears a wide variety of extravagant clothing. He spends $1000 per month on cigars,^[6] and is an accomplished juggler and knife-thrower, he loves crashing toy trains and diving for crabs on Halloween.

Gomez Addams is an athletic, acrobatic, and eccentric multi-billionaire.^[6] Though an extremely successful businessman, having acquired much of his wealth through inheritance and investments, he has little regard for money and will casually spend thousands of dollars on any whimsical endeavor. Gomez's investments are guided more by whimsy than strategy, yet luck rarely fails him. Gomez owns businesses around the world, including a swamp, bought for "scenic value", crocodile farm, a buzzard farm, a salt mine, a tombstone factory, a uranium mine, and many others. In Forbes 2007 "Fictional 15" list of the richest fictional characters, he was ranked #12 with a net worth of $2 billion.^[6]

As a young man, Gomez was, per flashback in "Morticia's Romance," a perennially sickly youth, gaining perfect health only after meeting Morticia. He nevertheless studied law (voted "Most Likely Never to Pass the Bar") and is quite proud his law class voted him "Least Likely to Succeed"; and although he rarely practices, he takes an absurd delight in losing cases, boasting of having put many criminals behind bars while acting as their defense attorney; this is somewhat contradicted in the episode "The Addams Family Goes to Court," where it is noted that while Gomez has never won a case, he has never lost one either ("Perfect record!" boasts Grandmama). In The New Addams Family, Gomez had also studied medicine.

Gomez has offered contradictory views on work; in one episode, he claims that, although his family was wealthy even in his childhood, he nonetheless performed odd jobs and "scrimped and saved [his] kopeks," which he considered character building. When his son Pugsley decided to find a job, however, Gomez was horrified, claiming that "No Addams has worked in 200 years!" Possibly Gomez, who dotes on his children, feels that behavior that was good enough for him is not good enough for Pugsley. In the 1991 animated series, Gomez deliberately tried to fail at something, anything, only to realize in the end of the episode that he is only a failure in failure. This is additionally contradicted in "New Neighbors Meet the Addams Family" Season 1 : Ep. 9(1960). He specifically states that Thing always beats him at bridge.^[7]

Portrayals

In the 1960s American television series recreation, Gomez was portrayed by John Astin. Astin also voiced this character in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies which featured the family. In the first animated series by Hanna-Barbera, Gomez was voiced by Lennie Weinrib. In the second animated series, also by Hanna-Barbera, Gomez's voice was again performed by John Astin.

Gomez was played by Raúl Juliá in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993). Tim Curry took up the role in the film Addams Family Reunion in 1998 and in 1999 Gomez was played by Glenn Taranto in the TV series The New Addams Family, where he returned to the madcap attitude of his original 1960s incarnation with Astin guest starring as Gomez's father. In the Broadway musical, Gomez was played by Nathan Lane and was replaced by Roger Rees on March 22.

Raúl Juliá (left) as Gomez in The Addams Family film (1991).

The films differ from the television series in several ways, most significantly that Fester is Gomez's brother (in the television show, he was Morticia's uncle). The Addams Family notes that Gomez's parents were murdered by an angry mob, though in one scene in the sequel, when Gomez catches Fester with a pornographic magazine, they both look at the centerfold (unseen by the viewer) and fondly say "Mom". In Addams Family Values, Gomez and Morticia have a third child named Pubert, a seemingly indestructible baby with a thin, black moustache like his father.

References