Paul Reubens, greatest identified for his beloved kids’s TV character Pee-wee Herman, has died. He was 70. Reubens’ group broke the information on his official Facebook and Instagram pages Monday, revealing that the actor had been privately combating most cancers for six years.
The put up reads:
Last night time we stated farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comic, author and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of youngsters and adults together with his positivity, whimsy and perception within the significance of kindness. Paul bravely and privately fought most cancers for years together with his trademark tenacity and wit. A gifted and prolific expertise, he’ll ceaselessly stay within the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured pal and man of exceptional character and generosity of spirit.
A rep for Reubens confirmed the information Monday afternoon, saying “Paul was beloved and he will likely be terribly missed.”
The announcement additionally included a posthumous word from Reubens himself: “Please settle for my apology for not going public with what I’ve been going through the final six years. I’ve at all times felt an enormous quantity of affection and respect from my mates, followers and supporters. I’ve cherished you all a lot and loved making artwork for you.”
After graduating from Boston University and California Institute of the Arts, Reubens joined the Los Angeles improv troupe The Groundlings within the Nineteen Seventies. It was right here that he first conjured Pee-wee Herman, the long-lasting, gray-suited, childlike character that might change into his signature.
After dropping out on a spot on Saturday Night Live’s 1980-1981 season to Gilbert Gottfried, Reubens took Pee-wee to the stage at L.A.’s Roxy Theatre for a landmark, five-month run. The character unfold nation-wide when HBO broadcast Reubens’ particular in 1981 main the comic to additional lean into Pee-wee’s id, making a number of cameos and late-night discuss present appearances totally in-character.
Pee-wee Herman made his theatrical debut in 1985 with the Tim Burton directed Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (which grew to become one thing of a cult traditional), and later within the 1988 follow-up Big-Top Pee-wee. He is probably best-known for his trippy Saturday-morning kids’s present, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which ran on CBS from 1986-1990. The present, which Reubens co-wrote and co-directed, gained 22 Emmy Awards throughout its run and made Pee-wee a family identify.
Unfortunately, Reubens himself was changed into the punchline after a 1991 arrest in an grownup movie show and later 2002 scandal involving his private pornography assortment. Nevertheless, he continued to remain energetic with an Emmy-nominated flip in Murphy Brown, small components in movies resembling Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Batman Returns, and a slew of voice appearing roles, together with a personality in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Reubens introduced Pee-wee again onto the L.A. scene in 2010 with an up to date model of his authentic stage present, The Pee-wee Herman Show, that transferred to Broadway later that yr. He additionally made a 3rd Pee-wee characteristic movie—Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, co-produced by Judd Apatow and co-starring Joe Manganiello—which debuted on Netflix in 2016.
Before his dying, Reubens accomplished a primary draft of his memoir. Per his reps, he was additionally engaged on two extra Pee-wee film scripts, in addition to a number of initiatives for tv, together with a Western referred to as Fancypants.
Throughout his profession, Reubens at all times seemed for tactics to make folks smile. “I’m undecided there’s the rest on the market I’d actually be fitted to,” he informed The A.V. Club in 2006. “I believe my total profession path was decided for me once I was 6 years previous, watching reruns of I Love Lucy on TV and fascinated with making folks chuckle.”
