In 1988, when Charles Addams died of a heart attack inside his parked car, his wife made a remark that could have been a caption for one of his cartoons: "He's always been a car buff, so it was a nice way to go," she told The New York Times.

Addams was the creator of the Addams Family -- the warped and gruesome stars of magazine cartoons, a TV show and two movies. According to those who knew him, Addams was as strange as some of his characters. His sense of humor resembled that of Uncle Fester, the bald-headed ghoul that Addams once depicted in a movie theater, laughing at a movie that makes the rest of the audience cry.

Addams is the subject of a new biography by Linda Davis, called Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life. Davis discusses Addams and his work with Steve Inskeep.

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