This ruined beauty has a romantic side, too, and is given to low-keyed rhapsodies about her garden of deadly nightshade, henbane and dwarf's hair.

When the characters were adapted to the 1964 television series, Charles Addams's selection of her name was inspired by "mortician".

Morticia is slim, with extremely pale skin and long flowing straight black hair.

She commonly wears black hobble dresses to match her hair, tightly form fitting, with a fringe of octopus-like cloth "tentacles" at the lower hem.

She frequently enjoys cutting the buds off of roses, which she discards (keeping only the stems), likes cutting out paper dolls with three heads and making sweaters with three arms, collecting the mail from the hand-in-the-box Thing, and cooking unusual concoctions for her husband, including eye of newt.

Her personal pet is Cleopatra, a fictitious breed of carnivorous plant called an African Strangler, to which she feeds hamburgers and various other meats.

Her family tree can be traced back to Salem, Massachusetts, and witchcraft is also implied at times in the television series.

According to the 60s TV series, Morticia is descended from Salem, Massachusetts ("The Addams Family Tree", episode 5, season 1).

Jones also voiced the character in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies that featured the family: "Wednesday Is Missing".

Huston's portrayal of Morticia was always illuminated by a ghostly glow around the eyes, which became most noticeable when she was standing or lying in dim light (just like Bela Lugosi in 1931's Dracula).

Canadian actress Ellie Harvie played Morticia in the 1998-1999 revival series, The New Addams Family.

Morticia was also one of the inspirations for the Disney character Magica De Spell, first designed and drawn by Carl Barks for the Donald Duck universe.

Morticia tells her daughter that the mood and tone of their visions are based on the recipient's attitude, so hers tend to be happier in nature than Wednesday's.