Jenna Ortega ‘devastated’ by death of Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday Addams

Jenna Ortega paid tribute to Lisa Loring after she passed away at age 64.

Loring was the first actress to play the role of Wednesday Addams in the 1966 sitcom The Addams Family when she was just six. Whereas, Ortega, 20, plays the teenaged version of the morbid, pigtailed character in Netflix’s Wednesday.

After Loring’s passing, Ortega took to her Instagram Stories to post about the late actress. 

She shared a black and white photo of Lisa playing the role as a child and added a touching message to it. “Absolutely devastated. Thank you for everything,” she wrote.

The post comes after Loring’s death was announced. She died Saturday night, January 28, 2023, at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of complications from a stroke caused by high blood pressure, her daughter Vanessa Foumberg told The Hollywood Reporter.

“She went peacefully with both her daughters [Vanessa and Marianne] holding her hands,” she said.

Loring’s long-time agent Chris Carbaugh expressed in a statement to CNN that the late actress was “surrounded by her family.”

“She brought to life one of the most iconic characters in Hollywood history that is still celebrated today,” Carbaugh said. “Lisa loved sharing her memories and meeting all her fans across the world. She will be missed dearly.”

Before Lisa’s death, Jenna talked about the impact she made and how she paid homage to her in the new Netflix series, during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “I paid homage to Lisa Loring, the first Wednesday Addams. I did a little bit of her shuffle that she does,” Jenna said back in December, 2022, via HollywoodLife.