LOS ANGELES (AP) – Cindy Williams, one of America’s most recognizable stars of the 1970s and 1980s, who played Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne on the hit sitcom “Laverne and Shirley,” has died, her family said Monday. .
Williams died of an illness in Los Angeles on Wednesday at the age of 75, her children, Zach and Emily Hudson, said in a statement through family spokeswoman Lisa Kranis.
“The passing of our kind and funny mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us an overwhelming sadness that is truly indescribable,” the statement said. “It has been our joy and privilege to know and love her. She was kind, beautiful, generous and had a wonderful sense of humor and sparkling spirit that everyone loved.
Williams worked with some of Hollywood’s top directors in her film career before moving full-time to television, appearing in George Cukor’s 1972 “Trip With My Aunt,” George Lucas’ 1973 “American Graffiti” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation.” ” from 1974.
But she is best known for the “Happy Days” spinoff “Laverne & Shirley,” which ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983, and was one of the most popular shows on mainstream TV.
Williams played Shirley Fine to Marshall More Freedom, Laverne DeFazio, in the show about a blue-collar couple who toil on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s and 1960s.
“They were beloved characters,” Williams told The Associated Press in 2002.
DeFazio was quick-tempered and defensive; Finney was gentle and trustworthy. The actors drew on their own lives for plot inspiration.
“At the beginning of every season, we make a list of what talent we have,” Marshall told the AP in 2002. Cindy sticks her tongue up her nose and we use it on the show. I tap dance.
Williams She told The Associated Press in 2013 that she and Marshall had “very different personalities,” but that the two’s clashing stories were “a little too much” when he made the show.
The series was a rare network show about working-class characters with its empowering opening song: “Give us any chance, we’ll take it; any rule we read, we’ll break it.”
That opening will be as popular as the show itself. Williams and Marshall’s chant of “Schlimiel, Schlimazel” as they jumped together became a cultural phenomenon and often missed.
His brother Garry Marshall, who created the series, died in 2018.
Actor Rosario Dawson He shared the opening theme video on Twitter on Tuesday.
Dawson tweeted: “Sing this song in praise of you both. “Absolute gems. United again… Rest in Heaven Cindy Williams.
The show starred Michael McCain and David Lander as Levern and Shirley Oddball as Lenny and Squiggy. Lander died in 2020.
McCain paid tribute to Williams on Twitter with a product memo.
“Backstage, Season 1: I’m Offstage Waiting for a Sign. The script was very difficult, so we are giving it 110% and the audience is having a great time,” McCann tweeted. “Cindy laughs with me as she makes her entrance and says, “Show me, Cookie,” with a wonderful smile. Amen. Thank you Cindy.”
In the sixth season, as ratings declined, the characters moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California, selling their brewery business to a department store.
In the year In 1982, Williams became pregnant and wanted her work hours reduced. When her demands went unanswered, she walked out of the set and filed a lawsuit against the production company. She appeared sporadically in the final season.
Williams was born in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, one of two sisters. Theater Arts at LA City College.
Her acting career began in 1969 with small roles on television, appearing in “Room 222”, “Nanny and the Professor” and “Love, American Style”.
Her role in Lucas’s “American Graffiti” will be a defining role. The film was a precursor to the nostalgia boom of the 1950s and early 1960s. “Happy Days” will premiere next year, starring her “American Graffiti” co-star Ron Howard. Before Laverne and Shirley’s characters got their own show, they made their TV debut as Henry Winkler’s Fonzi Day.
Lucas considered Carrie Fisher for the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars.
Over the past three decades, Williams has guest-starred on dozens of television series, including “7th Heaven,” “8 Simple Rules” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” In the year In 2013, she and Marshall appeared in a “Laverne & Shirley” tribute episode of the Nickelodeon series “Sam and Cat.”
Last year, Williams appeared in a one-woman stage show filled with anecdotes from her career, “Me, Myself and Shirley.””, in a theater near her home in Palm Springs, California, Desert Hot Springs.
Williams was married to singer Bill Hudson of the music group The Hudson Brothers from 1982 to 2000. Hudson was the father of her two children. He was previously married to Goldie Hawn and is also the father of actress Kate Hudson.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton