Ken Weatherwax

this post was contributed by Fred T. Beeman

Kenneth Patrick Weatherwax, who was born in Los Angeles CA on September 29,1955 (the day before actor James Dean died) succumbed to a heart attack on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at his CA home. He was perhaps best known for his portrayal of “Pugsley Addams” on TV’s “The Addams Family” (1964-66).

He was the nephew of Ruby Keeler and the younger brother of former child actor Donald Keeler (born Joey D. Vieira in 1944, now 70), who was the best friend of Tommy Retig’s “Jeff Miller”character (as Sylvester “Porky” Brockway) from 1954–57 in the original “Lassie” TV series.

He found it difficult to find acting roles after the series ended, because he may have been typecast as a kid who loved blowing up toy trains (along with other occasional acts of mayhem). So, at age 17 he enlisted in the US Army and after serving, pursued a career on the other side of the cameras as a studio grip and set builder. He was a regular guest at Addams Family nostalgia events, graciously signing autographs for all the fans, and in one of the movies, “Halloween with the New Addams Family” (1977), he played the father of a new character, “Pugsley Jr.”

There is never a “good” time for anyone to make what George Burns once called, “the final exit,” but it’s particularly painful when it occurs during the Christmas holiday season, because that time of the year is permanently altered for everyone who knew and loved him.

It is those folks to whom we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences.