Capturing Carel Struycken: The Second Best Lurch

Dutch Giant Carel Struycken (b. 1948) was born on July 30. Some might object to my describing him this way, and might prefer me to refer to him as “a very tall actor”, or “an actor of height,” or something. And Struycken actually attended film school in his youth, so he has directed some films, and he remains a prolific still photographer. (His brother is the prize-winning visual artist Peter Struycken). But for context, we have written about three dozen men and women of his stature, most of whom worked in the sideshow business, and described themselves in such terms, as the Texas Giant, the Norwegian Giant, the Irish Giant, etc etc etc. By using such language, the idea is merely efficient description. I don’t mean to belittle anybody. (Yes, I went there!)

Struycken was born in The Hague, Netherlands and later moved with his family to the Dutch Caribbean resort town of Curaçao. He was twenty when he began to experience the effects of acromegaly, and 30 when he was cast in his first screen role, in the 1978 movie Sergeant Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band. He is perhaps best known for playing the part of Lurch in the 1990s reboot of The Addams Family, and for playing recurring roles on David Lynch’sTwin Peaks (pictured above) and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as Star Trek: Voyager, and Babylon 5. Other stuff includes the MTV video of Wall of Voodoo’s “Mexican Radio”, the Star Wars made-for-tv movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993), Men in Black (1997), Ed Wood’sI Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), and the Stephen King screen adaptations Gerald’s Game (2017) and Doctor Sleep (2019), among dozens of other credits. His most role (at this writing) was in the 2022 film Class of ’85.

Struycken’s home destroyed in the 2025 L.A. wildfires.

Check out his official website here.