Anjelica Huston Says Late Addams Family Costar Raul Julia Was the ‘Perfect Gentleman’ on Set

Anjelica Huston is recalling fond memories of her late Addams Family costar, Raul Julia.

Huston, 73, reunited with members of the cast from the 1991 movie The Addams Family during the Los Angeles Comic Con on Saturday, Oct. 5. There, she called the late Julia, who died in 1994 at 54, “the perfect gentleman” during a panel conversation with Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Workman and Carel Struycken.

“He was always the first on set and the last to leave. He was a great dancer,” Huston, who portrayed family matriarch Morticia Addams opposite Julia as her on-screen husband, Gomez Addams, said, per Entertainment Weekly. “I’d get really grumpy around dancing rehearsals, which I felt were unnecessary since I was such an excellent dancer. But he would insist on being there and staying all the way through.”

The Addams Family starred Lloyd, now 85, as Uncle Fester, Ricci, 44, as daughter Wednesday Addams, Workman, 44, as Pugsley Addams and Struycken, 76, who portrayed the family’s butler, Lurch. The movie was the first to adapt the original Addams Family characters for the big screen, and was followed up by a sequel in 1993, Addams Family Values.

“He’d always sing, between scenes and between takes,” Huston added of Julia. “He always sang full opera! He kept us entertained.”

“He had a big, big heart, very warm person. He was very loving,” Lloyd added during the panel.

Addams Family Values made for one of Julia’s final on-screen performances before his death; he later made posthumous appearances in 1994’s Street Fighter and Down Came a Blackbird.

Lloyd also shared a photo of the group posing for their cast reunion to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Oct. 5, writing in a caption, “The family that haunts together, stays together…💀🖤.” The panel marked the first time the Addams Family cast has ever reunited for a fan event.

The Addams Family has continued to live on past Huston and Julia’s two ’90s movies; Struycken returned for a 1998 live-action movie titled Addams Family Reunion. The characters were later adapted into animated films beginning with 2019’s The Addams Family, featuring Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz and more in voice roles.

Most recently, Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton’s Netflix series, Wednesday, has popularized the characters for a new generation.

“I remember showing my son The Addams Family when he was 6 and he just kept looking at me and saying, ‘Oh mom, you’re so naughty,’ ” Ricci said during the Comic-Con event, per EW. “Like he was thrilled that all these people were so naughty, that he couldn’t believe it.”