The family of characters

The Munsters

• Lily Munster (Yvonne De Carlo), a homemaker. A white streak in her hair recalls the monster's bride from The Bride of Frankenstein, as portrayed by Elsa Lanchester in the James Whale film. Lily's housekeeping duties often involve spreading garbage around the mansion and "dusting" via a vacuum cleaner operating in reverse so that it blows dirt about. Her maiden name is Dracula. During the course of the series Lily has had jobs as a welder in a shipyard, a fashion model and a fortune teller in a tea room
• Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne); bears a distinct resemblance to Universal Studios' version of Frankenstein's monster, as originally portrayed by Boris Karloff. In one episode, Lily outright states to Eddie that "Dr. Frankenstein" made Herman. For a man of 150, he behaves rather childishly, often throwing temper tantrums. He is employed by the Gateman, Goodbury and Graves Funeral Parlor, having started out as a humble "nail boy." We never know exactly what he does, though one can infer he is a grave digger, from the jokes Herman makes. He also gets a promotion to hearse driver, in one episode where he has to get his driver's license renewed, only to find out he is starting out driving the "economy model" hearse which uses a horse. As of the second season, he and Lily had been married for one hundred years. Herman also has a twin "brother" that speaks with sort of an English accent and is a scam artist.
• Sam Dracula (Al Lewis), usually called "Grandpa" (often incorrectly "Grandpa Munster", even though he is Lily's father rather than Herman's); he is a mad scientist and keeps a laboratory in the cellar of the house. Various potions and magic spells that he devises there are central to many of the show's stories. He appears to be able to naturally transform into a wolf as well as a bat. He is at least 400 years old.
• Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick); a typical all-American boy werewolf of elementary school age, aside from his green skin and pointed ears. His full name is Edward Wolfgang Munster.
• Marilyn Munster (Beverley Owen/Pat Priest); the daughter of one of Lily's sisters living with the Munsters through the entire series. Niece Marilyn is young, blonde and pretty, and the only member of the family that does not look like a horror movie monster. The family is vaguely ashamed of their relationship to such an "ugly" person, and even Marilyn is aware of her "plain-ness". She bemoans that she keeps scaring off potential boyfriends, having no idea that the youths are in fact frightened away by her family. She attends Westbury College. Although, as the daughter of Lily's sister, Marilyn would presumably have a different surname than the rest of the family, she is always referred to as "Marilyn Munster." The reason why Marilyn lives with her aunt and uncle instead of with her parents is not explained by the series. In one of the movies, she was the daughter of Herman's sister instead.

Their pets

• Spot an immense fire-breathing dragon. He lives under the stairs; a section of the staircase is hinged and opens up when one of the griffins on the balusters at the bottom is tilted back,whereupon Spot would breath fire while roaring like Godzilla. Spot's eyes glowed in the dark. Spot was, for the most part, not shown on camera.
• Igor a bat (or perhaps a transformed vampire) who lives in Grandpa's lab and assists with his work.
• Kittycat an average-sized black cat who roars like a lion.
• Charlie A Talking raven who lives in the cuckoo clock in the living room (usually voiced by Mel Blanc).
• Goldfish which devour food like ravenous piranhas.

Other relatives

• Charlie Munster Herman's twin brother
• Ronald Munster Grandpa's younger cousin, a vampire
• Lester Dracula Lily's brother, a werewolf
• Uncle Gilbert otherwise known as the Creature from the Black Lagoon
• Uncle Boris and Aunt Mina never depicted, said to live in Death Valley
• Cousin Phantom otherwise known as the Phantom of the Opera. Has a bad habit of shattering fragile objects with his voice when hitting high notes.