Charles Addams was born on January 7, 1912, in Westfield, New Jersey. He attended Colgate University in Hamilton, New York; the University of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Grand Central School of Art in New York City before working for True Detective magazine in the early 1930s. He then worked as a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine from 1935 until he enlisted in the U.S. Army on December 29, 1942. Pvt Addams went on active duty to begin basic training on January 4, 1943, and he completed basic training with Company D, 1st Signal Training Regiment, at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in February 1943. He served as a Motion Picture Animation Artist with Company D of the 846th Signal Service Photo Battalion with the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Astoria, Long Island, New York, from March to November 1943, and then as a Motion Picture Animation Artist with the Signal Corps Photographic Center at Long Island City, New York, from November 1943 until his honorable discharge from the Army on February 7, 1946. After leaving the Army, Addams returned to The New Yorker magazine, where he worked until his death on September 29, 1988. He was cremated and his ashes buried in the family pet cemetery on the Charles Addams Estate Grounds in Sagaponack, New York. Chas Addams created The Addams Family, first publishing the characters in cartoons in The New Yorker magazine in 1938, and these were turned into The Addams Family television show which ran from 1964 to 1966; a series of movies between 1991 and 2021, and several other television series, animated series, and television specials.