‘Pee-wee Herman’ Star Paul Reubens Dies at 70

Paul Reubens, who created and played the iconic character Pee-wee Herman, died at 70 of cancer on July 30. A statement announcing his death was released on his official Instagram account:

“Last night we said farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comedian, writer and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of children and adults with his positivity, whimsy and belief in the importance of kindness. Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit. A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit.”

The famously kindly comic, whose personal struggles upended his career in the early ’90s to eventually bounce back, released a statement on Instagram, stating: “Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”​

Reubens began his career in an acting class with Katey Sagal and David Hasselhoff at California Institute of the Arts, then joined the Los Angeles live comedy troupe the Groundlings, which launched 16 Saturday Night Live stars, including Laraine Newman and Reubens’ Groundlings pal Phil Hartman. After failing his 1980 SNL audition, Reubens created his own stage hit, The Pee-wee Herman Show, featuring  the helium-voiced, bow-tie-clad persona that made him famous. It sold out for months and got him an HBO special and a movie deal for 1985’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

Inspired by the example of self-made star Sylvester Stallone, he seized creative control of the movie, along with like-minded subversive director Tim Burton and cowriter Hartman, and it ignited all of their careers. The film’s plot, about Pee-wee’s quest to retrieve his beloved red bicycle, was inspired by Vittorio De Sica’s classic 1948 film, Bicycle Thieves.

Reubens got more famous yet by creating the 1986–90 CBS morning show Pee-wee’s Playhouse, a dazzling, hilarious phantasmagoria partly inspired by Captain Kangaroo and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and featuring oddball characters like Clocky the talking clock and Chairry the talking armchair. The show won 15 Emmys and earned 22 nominations.

His career was derailed after his 1991 arrest for indecent exposure at a Sarasota, Florida, theater, but he bounced back, giving dozens of brilliant performances on TV series and in movies, including The Conners, What We Do in the Shadows, 30 Rock, Mystery Men, Everybody Loves Raymond and Ally McBeal. He also had a non-comedic role in the cocaine-dealer biopic Blow.