Cousin Itt
| Cousin Itt | |
|---|---|
| Addams Family character | |
| Created by |
Charles Addams David Levy |
| Portrayed by |
Felix Silla (1964–65, 1977) Roger Arroyo (substitute, 1965) John Franklin (1991–92) David Mylrea (1998–99) Phil Fondacaro (1998) |
| Voiced by |
John Stephenson (1973) Pat Fraley (1992–93) Paul Dobson (1998–99) |
| Information | |
| Aliases | It |
| Species | Unknown (supposedly human) |
| Gender | Unknown |
| Family | Addams Family |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Alford |
| Children | What Addams |
| Relatives | Gomez Addams (cousin) |
Cousin Itt is a fictional character in the Addams Family series. A short being whose entire body is shrouded by long hair, the unnamed character was mostly seen in the background of the original work of cartoonist Charles Addams, who debuted The Addams Family in 1938. The Cousin Itt name, along with a more interactive participation, was introduced by producer David Levy in the 1964 television series The Addams Family.
Itt Addams is the cousin of Gomez Addams. He is a short being whose entire body is shrouded by long hair. When Gomez asks Cousin Itt what is underneath all the hair, Cousin Itt replies, "Roots" ("The Winning of Morticia Addams"). His hair color changed throughout the years, but in the 1998 The New Addams Family TV series his hair color was blond. He usually wears sunglasses, a derby hat, and gloves. He speaks in a high-pitched (with a slight British accent) gibberish language which the other members of the family can understand though it is incomprehensible to anyone else. The Addams find nothing odd about Itt's appearance, and in one episode of the series, Gomez is surprised by the idea that other people could not understand Itt's speech ("My Fair Cousin Itt"). Itt is often celebrated by the family as being "full of talent" in areas such as acting, singing, and marriage counseling (though he once accidentally separated Gomez and Morticia while trying to practice). He is also known to have an extremely high IQ of over 300 (as explained by Gomez), shown when he guesses every Rorschach Test correctly, places all of the boxes in the correct slots, and in other ways ("Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor"). In one episode, Cousin Itt took elocution lessons and developed a (dubbed) voice with a mellifluous, mid-Atlantic accent; this voice did not survive into future episodes.
Cousin Itt did not live in the mansion with the main characters, although he made frequent guest appearances when he would visit them. He was therefore a recurring character, not a main character. Although known to spend time in the chimney, through which he enters and exits the house by sliding down and usually emerging in chimney soot, Itt has his own room in the mansion, furnished in proportion to his size and with a low ceiling. He is depicted as a carefree bachelor with an extravagant lifestyle and is renowned among the Addamses for his many female companions. He had an on-again/off-again relationship with Morticia's sister Ophelia.
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