Carel Struycken makes a largely silent part worth watching through stature and expression. We like his Lurch, and wish more of his roles gave him something beyond an unusual appearance to work with.
Fi1m perspective
Lurch has little need to compete with the people doing the talking in The Addams Family (1991). Carel Struycken relies on stature and expression, holding his place alongside Anjelica Huston and Raúl Juliá without demanding equal time. We warmed to his Lurch because he seems entirely at home in that affectionate, macabre household. Barry Sonnenfeld's film has thin plotting, but the cast makes spending time with the family a pleasure. Struycken's largely silent butler is part of that welcome.
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) and Mr Homn in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) had already established his place in science fiction and fantasy. The Giant and the Fireman in Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017) gave him a recurring place in stranger company. Much of his work has involved giants, aliens or monsters with little dialogue. That can be restrictive: a production gets the figure it wants, while the actor has to find something to do within a narrow brief.
Sonnenfeld used him again as an Arquillian in Men in Black (1997), a small part that continued the extraterrestrial casting. Its thin story is worth forgiving for the brisk partnership between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Struycken fits the alien comedy, but it offers less to consider as a performance than Lurch does. Sonnenfeld gets more from him when there is a household to belong to and a comedy he can contribute to without much speech.
The Moonlight Man in Gerald's Game (2017) and Grampa Flick in Doctor Sleep (2019) continued the pattern through horror. We would welcome a role that used his restraint without asking him to look otherworldly again. Start with The Addams Family, provided warmth and comic company matter more to the evening than a well-built plot.
Biography
Carel Struycken is a Dutch actor. He was born on 30 July 1948 in The Hague and moved with his family to Curaçao at the age of four. He later returned to the Netherlands, studied directing at the film school in Amsterdam and attended the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.
Struycken is known for his roles as Lurch in The Addams Family (1991), Addams Family Values (1993) and Addams Family Reunion (1998), the Giant (also credited as the Fireman) in Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017), Mr Homn in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1992), and the Arquillian in Men in Black (1997). He has also appeared in The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Gerald's Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019). His height of 2.13 m (7 ft) is due to acromegaly. In addition to acting, he works as a photographer.
