Cindy Williams, who played Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne in the enduring sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” was one of the most well-known actors in America in the 1970s and 1980s. Her passing was announced by her family on Monday.
Following a brief illness, Williams passed away in Los Angeles on Wednesday at the age of 75, according to a statement from her children Zak and Emily Hudson and family representative Liza Cranis.
The statement read, “The departure of our kind, funny mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us incomparable pain that could never properly be described.” We have enjoyed and valued the opportunity to know and love her. She was exceptional, lovely, giving, and adored by many. She also had a wonderful sense of humour and a sparkling attitude.
Prior to switching to television full-time, Williams had a successful film career in which she collaborated with some of Hollywood’s top directors. She appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” from 1974 as well as George Cukor’s “Travels With My Aunt” from 1972 and George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” from 1973.
But “Laverne & Shirley,” the “Happy Days” spinoff that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1983 and was among the most watched television programmes during its heyday, was by far her most well-known role.
Williams portrayed the stiff Shirley Feeney in the comedy about two blue-collar roommates who worked on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s and 1960s to Marshall’s more loose-lipped Laverne DeFazio.
Williams told The Associated Press in 2002 that “They were cherished characters.”
Feeney was trusting and innocent, while DeFazio had a short fuse and was protective. The plot was inspired by the actors’ personal life.
At the beginning of each season, Marshall recalled to the AP, “We’d make a list of what abilities we had.” “We exploited Cindy’s ability to connect her tongue to her nose in the act. I danced the taps.
Williams admitted to having “quite different personalities” from Marshall to The Associated Press in 2013 but said reports of the two squabbling while filming the show were “a bit overdone.”
The opening song of the series, “Give us any chance, we’ll take it, read us any rule, we’ll break it,” was powerful and self-aware, making it a rare network hit about characters from the working class.
As well-known as the show itself would turn out to be that opening. Williams and Marshall’s “schlemiel, schlimazel” shout as they ran together became a cultural phenomenon and a frequently recalled memory.
Marshall passed away in 2018. His brother, Garry Marshall, co-created the series with him.
On Tuesday, the actor Rosario Dawson posted a video of the opening theme to Twitter.
Dawson wrote, “Singing this song with so much gratitude for both of you ladies.” Genuine jewels. Together once more Sleep well, Cindy Williams.
Lenny and Squiggy, the eccentric sidekicks of Laverne and Shirley, were also portrayed on the show by Michael McKean and David Lander. 2020 saw Lander’s passing.
McKean honoured Williams on Twitter by sharing a scene from the play.
Backstage, Season 1: I’m waiting for a cue offstage. We’re giving it our all despite the challenging writing, and the audience is enjoying themselves immensely,” McKean tweeted. “Cindy rushes past me to enter and announces with a dazzling grin, “Show’s cookin’!” Amen. I’m grateful, Cindy.
The protagonists relocated from Milwaukee to Burbank, California, surrendering their brewery jobs for jobs at a department shop, as ratings fell in the sixth season.
Williams requested a reduction in her work hours after becoming pregnant in 1982. She left the set after her demands weren’t met and sued the production company that owned it. In the last season, she only occasionally made an appearance.
In the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles, Williams was born in 1947 as one of two sisters. Soon after she was born, her family relocated to Dallas; however, they later moved back to Los Angeles, where she began performing while a student at Birmingham High School and went on to concentrate in theatre arts at LA City College.
Beginning in 1969, she appeared in modest television roles on “Room 222,” “Nanny and the Professor,” and “Love, American Style,” which marked the beginning of her acting career.
Her involvement in George Lucas’ “American Graffiti” would end up being defining. The movie served as a precursor to the ensuing nostalgia boom for the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s. The next year, her “American Graffiti” co-star Ron Howard will debut in “Happy Days.”
Before they had their own show, Laverne and Shirley appeared on television for the first time as Fonzie and Fonzie’s dates.
Additionally, she was a candidate for the role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars,” which was ultimately played by Carrie Fisher.
Williams has been in scores of TV shows over the past three decades, including “7th Heaven,” “8 Simple Rules,” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” She and Marshall made an appearance in an episode of “Sam and Cat” on Nickelodeon in 2013 that paid homage to “Laverne & Shirley.”
Williams performed in “Me, Myself and Shirley,” a one-woman stage production featuring tales from her career, last year in a theatre in Palm Springs, California, not far from her home in Desert Hot Springs.
From 1982 through 2000, Williams was wed to The Hudson Brothers’ Bill Hudson, a singer. Her two children’s father was Hudson. He had a previous union with Goldie Hawn, and he is the paternal grandfather of actress Kate Hudson.
