It was Terry Pratchett who wrote, "It was nice to hear the voices of little children at play, provided you took care to be far enough away not to hear what they were actually saying." Anyone who's ever been one knows that children can be incredibly cruel, and when someone looks different, acts different, or stands out, then they can become a target for ridicule.

That's precisely what happened to Ted Cassidy. Although his height would help him secure the role of Lurch on "The Addams Family," he didn't always see it as a blessing. By the time he was 11 years old, he was already taller than both of his parents: His mother was 5'8", and his father 5'9". As an adult, Cassidy would later address just how hard it was growing up (via MeTV): "I even hated to go to school. I was actually ashamed of being so much bigger than the other kids. And I was awkward. At the age of 11, I was a six-footer and tripping over my own feet. I had a miserable, unhappy childhood, and wouldn't go through it again for anything in the world."

Cassidy would continue to grow, and by the time he was cast as Lurch, he had reached a height of 6'9" (via The Famous People). (For a comparison, John Astin — who played Gomez and is the real-life, adoptive father of actor Sean Astin — was 5'11".)

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