Charles Addams celebrated with Google doodle

Today is Charles Addams' 100th birthday, and how better to celebrate than with a Google doodle? If you head over to the home page today, you'll see the doodle paying homage to Addams' most famous creation, the Addams Family.

Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Wednesday, Pugsley and Cousin Itt are all there in their macabre glory.

Addams was born in Westfield, New Jersey, on 7 January 1912, and from a young age was fascinated by coffins, skeletons and tombstones. His first cartoon was published in a magazine in 1935, and they went on to feature in such august publications as the New Yorker. All the characters comprising the family originally appeared separately. When they started to become more successful in the late 1930s, they were adapted to television and film. Brooke Shields recently played Morticia in a Broadway musical, and Cristina Ricci memorably played Wednesday in the 1991 film (with this as the soundtrack, lest we forget).

Addams died of a heart attack in 1988. He married three times -- once in a pet cemetery, with the bride wearing a black dress and holding a black feather fan.

The doodle was created courtesy of the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation. In a Google blog post, the executive director of the foundation, Kevin Miserocchi, talks about meeting Charles and his wife Tee Addams, and their friendship.

It's just the latest Google doodle. The search giant recently improved the archive, so you can seek out your favourites and relive them. There's also a doodle online store, so you can buy products featuring notable doodles. (Though sadly still images don't really do the animated ones justice.)

Tomorrow is David Bowie's 65th birthday -- who knows what kind of craziness Google will pull out to celebrate it? Let us know your guesses in the comments below, or over on Facebook. Now, we're off to play the Pac-Man one.