Cindy Williams

2023 - 1 - 30

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Image courtesy of "Hollywood Reporter"

Cindy Williams Dead: Laverne & Shirley Star Was 75 (Hollywood Reporter)

Cindy Williams, who appeared in two Oscar best picture nominees before starring as Shirley Feeney on Laverne & Shirley, has died. She was 75.

Ricco (1975), The First Nudie Musical (1976), Big Man on Campus (1989), Bingo (1991) and Stealing Roses (2012). The Blob (1972), directed by [Larry Hagman](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/larry-hagman/); her character was eaten by the monster in a Glendale drainpipe in that one. The groom, however, has a rash over 98 percent of his body, so he’s wrapped head to toe in bandages and can’t say a word during the ceremony (he blinks his “I do”). [“The Mummy’s Bride,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTSh4jPdiFY) Shirley reveals that she is marrying an Army medic named Walter Meeney. “I thought I was going to come back and they’d hide [her baby bump] behind benches, couches, pillows, and that wasn’t it,” she said in 2015 [on the Today show](https://www.today.com/popculture/cindy-williams-reveals-real-reason-she-left-laverne-shirley-t25226). [said in a 2013 interview](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/cindy-williams?clip=chapter1#interview-clips) for the TV Academy Foundation website The Interviews. [Fred Silverman](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/fred-silverman-dead-legendary-television-programmer-was-82-982205/). Williams credited Laverne & Shirley‘s success to the fact that “we made sure the joke was always on us, we never made fun of anyone else. After a settlement, she was written out of the series, and Laverne went at it alone, without her best friend, for the final 20 episodes. (On Oscar night, American Graffiti and The Conversation lost out to The Sting and The Godfather Part II, respectively.) on Tuesdays, went on to become the highest-rated series for the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

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Image courtesy of "NBC News"

Cindy Williams, best known for her role as Shirley in 'Laverne ... (NBC News)

LOS ANGELES — Actor Cindy Williams, best known for her role in the "Laverne & Shirley" TV sitcom, has died at 75, her family said Monday.

"May that laughter continue in everyone, because she would want that," they said in the statement. Penny Marshall landed her breakthrough role in the mid-'70s with his help. "Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege," the statement said.

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Image courtesy of "St. Albert Gazette"

'Laverne & Shirley' actor Cindy Williams dies at 75 (St. Albert Gazette)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cindy Williams, who played Shirley opposite Penny Marshall's Laverne on the popular sitcom "Laverne & Shirley," has died, her family said ...

He was previously married to Goldie Hawn and is also the father of actor Kate Hudson. Williams was married to singer Bill Hudson of musical group the Hudson Brothers from 1982 until 2000. Her part in Lucas' “American Graffiti” would become a defining role. “Happy Days," starring her “American Graffiti” co-star Ron Howard, would premiere the following year. “Cindy could touch her tongue to her nose and we used it in the show. Her family moved to Dallas soon after she was born, but returned to Los Angeles, where she would take up acting while attending Birmingham High School and major in theater arts at LA City College. Williams’ and Marshall’s chant of “schlemiel, schlimazel” as they skipped together became a cultural phenomenon and oft-invoked piece of nostalgia. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.” In 1982, Williams became pregnant and wanted her working hours curtailed. She appeared infrequently during the final season. “We’d make up a list at the start of each season of what talents we had,” Marshall told the AP in 2002. “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege.

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Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

Cindy Williams, half of TV's 'Laverne & Shirley,' dies at 75 (Los Angeles Times)

"Laverne & Shirley" star Cindy Williams, who starred in George Lucas' "American Graffitti" and slew of TV sitcoms, has died.

“I come from such a normal background,” she told The Times. She held odd jobs at a law firm, a bank, IHOP and the Whisky a Go Go to pay for her college books. In high school, she caught the eye of the drama teacher by performing Bob Newhart’s “The Driving Instructor” routine for the school talent show. In 2013, Williams and Marshall notably appeared on the Nickelodeon series “Sam and Cat,” a modern-day “Laverne & Shirley” that starred Jennette McCurdy and pop star Ariana Grande in the title roles. “As much as I wanted to socialize and be a leader, a part of me resisted. She was also a successful movie producer, serving as an associate producer of the 1991 hit comedy “Father of the Bride” with Steve Martin. While her parents and grandmother worked, at age 4, Williams became “an underage home health aide” to a woman who rented a bedroom from her grandmother. Appearing in a cast reunion on “ [Entertainment Tonight](https://www.etonline.com/tv/158963_laverne_and_shirley_cast_set_the_record_straight_about_discord_on_set)” in 2015, Williams spoke highly of her TV comrades. We would be assigned a certain aspect of the history of America and write a spoof on that particular aspect of American history.” It was a fateful meeting with producer Garry Marshall and Fred Roos that put her on the path to skipping down the street chanting “Schlemiel! Though she might have appeared an expert at pratfalls when the show debuted in 1976, Williams was a novice to the sitcom genre. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

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Image courtesy of "Forbes"

Cindy Williams, The Half Of 'Laverne & Shirley', Dies At 75 (Forbes)

Cindy Williams, who rose to great fame as the eternally optimistic Shirley Feeney on the Happy Days spin-off Laverne & Shirley, died Wednesday after a brief ...

In the final season of Laverne & Shirley, in 1982-83, Williams, then pregnant with her first child, left the show and filed a $20 million lawsuit against Paramount after they expected her to work on her scheduled due date. After the first two episodes in that final season, Williams unceremoniously exited. Once Happy Days took off, ABC developed the first of its three spin-off series, Laverne & Shirley, centered on the Shotz Brewery bottle cappers and best friends, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney. In 1973, Williams scored a huge theatrical hit care of American Graffiti and opposite her soon-to-be Happy Days co-star Ron Howard. In 1970, she began appearing as a guest star on numerous TV series, including My World and Welcome to It, Barefoot in the Park, Nanny and the Professor, and the high school drama Room 222. Born Cynthia Williams on August 22, 1947 in Van Nuys, California, Williams started her professional career in a string of TV commercials, including TWA and Foster Grant sunglasses.

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