John Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family television series and similarly eccentric comedic characters.
He was born in Baltimore, Maryland and attended Johns Hopkins University, where he studied mathematics and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows.
He started in theatre, doing voice-over work for commercials. His first big break came in a small but memorable part in the Oscar-winning West Side Story in 1961. A few years later, he starred in The Addams Family (1964-1966) as Gomez Addams, the macabre head of the family.
He has continued to work, appearing in a string of "Killer Tomatoes" films as Professor Gangreen. He also tours the one-man play Edgar Allan Poe: Once Upon a Midnight, written by Paul Day Clemens and Ron Magid. Astin teaches method acting and directing in the Writing Seminars Department at his alma mater Johns Hopkins University.
He has three sons David, Allen and Tom with his first wife Suzanne Hahn and two sons Sean and Mackenzie, both successful actors, with his second wife Patty Duke. Sean is not his biological son, but John Astin legally adopted him. John Astin is currently married to Valerie Ann Sandobal.