Pee-wee Herman Actor Paul Reubens Dies From Cancer At 70

(LOS ANGELES) – Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural icon through films and television shows, has died. He was 70.

Reubens died Sunday night following a six-year battle with cancer that he kept private, according to his publicist.

“Please accept my apologies for not going public with what I’ve been going through for the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement issued Monday along with his death announcement. “I’ve always received a lot of love and respect from my friends, fans, and supporters.” I adored you all and enjoyed creating art for you.”

The character, best recognized for his too-tight grey suit, white chunky loafers, and red bow tie, appeared in the films “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

The Pee-wee Herman character would become a cultural icon for most of the 1980s. However, an indecent exposure charge in 1991 would drive him into exile from the entertainment industry for years.

In the late 1970s, Paul Reubens was a member of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings, where he invented Pee-wee. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” premiered in a Los Angeles theatre in 1981 and was a hit with both youngsters and adults at matinees.

The format was similar to that of the Saturday morning TV show “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” years later, with Herman living in a wild and zany household with a series of stock-character visitors, including one, Captain Karl, performed by late “Saturday Night Live” star Phil Hartman. Pee-wee secretly wishes to fly in the narrative.

The show would be aired as a special on HBO.

Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural icon through films and television shows, has died. He was 70.

“Pee Wee got his wish to fly,” Steve Martin wrote on Twitter after his death. “Many thanks to Paul Reubens for the brilliant offbeat comedy.”

In 1985, Paul Reubens brought Pee-wee to the big screen with “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, which depicts the theft of Pee-wee’s prized bicycle, was believed to be partially inspired by Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist masterpiece “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” set Pee-wee on a cross-country adventure. The film was a commercial success, generating $40 million, and it acquired a cult following for its unusual fancy.

Three years later, in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” Pee-wee attempts to join a circus. Reubens’ character would not appear in another film until 2016’s “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced the film’s remake.

His television show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, won 22 Emmys, and drew children and adults to Saturday morning television.

The Pee-wee universe was hallucinogenic, populated by objects like a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. It was both amusing and provocative, celebrating nonconformity. The host, who enjoys secret words and once married fruit salad, is prone to statements like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” Even though Reubens claims that wasn’t the intention, the performance was a hit because it worked on numerous levels.

“It’s for kids,” Reubens explained to The Associated Press in 2010. “For years, people have attempted to convince me that ‘it wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was aimed at children. I was always censoring myself to make it kid-friendly.

“The whole thing has just been a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the Associated Press. “That’s all it’s ever been, and I believe it always will be.” I can’t deconstruct and explain it as much as others want. I don’t know; two, I don’t want to know; and three, I’m afraid I’ll curse myself if I find out.”

“Paul Reubens was like no one else — a brilliant and original comedian who made kids and their parents laugh simultaneously,” Jimmy Kimmel said on Instagram. He never missed a birthday and shared his genuine joy in fun with everyone he met.”

His career was stalled when Reubens was jailed for indecent exposure in an adult movie theatre in Sarasota, Florida, where he grew up. He was fined, but the harm to his character was immeasurable.

He became the target of late-night talk show jokes, and Paul Reubens’ image altered overnight.

“It was really intense when I realised my name was going to be mentioned in the same sentence as children and sex,” Reubens told NBC in 2004. “I knew from that moment on that whatever happens after that point, something really bad is out there in the air.”

Reubens said he received numerous job offers, but most wanted to take “advantage of the luridness of my situation,” and he refused.

“It just changed,” he explained. “Everything has changed.”

After authorities acquired photographs from his computer and camera collection in 2001, Paul Reubens was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography, but the charge was reduced to obscenity, and he was sentenced to three years probation.

Paul Reubens, the eldest of three children, was born Paul Rubenfield in Peekskill, New York, and grew up mostly in Sarasota before attending Boston University and the California Institute of the Arts.

Reubens would also appear in non-Pee-wee films such as Tim Burton’s 1992 film “Batman Returns,” the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” film, and a cameo appearance on the TV show “Murphy Brown.”

SOURCE – (AP)