Cindy Williams, star of Laverne & Shirley, dies at 75
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Cindy Williams, who played Shirley on the hit sitcom Laverne & Shirley, died after a brief illness.
PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES – American actress Cindy Williams, best known for her role on the slapstick sitcom Laverne & Shirley (1976 to 1983), died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 75.
Williams died after a brief illness, her assistant Liza Cranis said by phone on Monday, adding that she had passed away “peacefully”. No cause was given.
Williams starred in the sitcom, which was a spin-off of the television show Happy Days (1974 to 1984), alongside late actress Penny Marshall.
The show followed two young single women working at a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s. Williams played Shirley Feeney, an upbeat and demure complement to Marshall’s brash Laverne.
Laverne & Shirley ran for eight seasons and, for several years, was among the highest-rated shows in the United States. Williams appeared in more than 150 episodes but left in the final season of the show after on-set tension between herself and Marshall. Marshall died in 2018, also at the age of 75.
Williams is survived by her children Emily and Zak Hudson. In a statement on Monday, they described their mother as “one of a kind”, noting her sense of humour and “glittering spirit”.
They added, “We have always been, and will remain, so proud of her.”
Before Williams took on the role of Shirley, she was cast in the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti, for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the British Academy Film Awards.
The following year, she was cast in the Francis Ford Coppola film The Conversation (1974). Both American Graffiti and The Conversation garnered Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards.
Later in her career, Williams guest-starred on television shows such as Law & Order: SVU (1999 to present) and 7th Heaven (1996 to 2007). She earned several stage credits, including a stint on Broadway as Mrs Tottendale in The Drowsy Chaperone.
Born in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles, Williams became interested in acting during high school and attended Los Angeles City College, where she majored in theatre arts, according to biographies provided by Ms Cranis.
Williams worked at a pancake house, as well at Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go nightclub, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Her early television roles included parts on Room 222 (1969 to 1974), Nanny And The Professor (1970 to 1971) and Love, American Style (1969 to 1974).
A Television still from Laverne & Shirley starring Cindy Williams as Shirley (right) and Penny Marshall as Laverne.
She wrote a memoir in 2017 and completed a national theatre tour of a one-woman show titled Me, Myself And Shirley in 2022. In the show, she chronicled her life in Hollywood, as well as her relationship with Marshall.
“You couldn’t slip a playing card in between us, because we just were in rhythm,” Williams said in 2022 in an interview with NBC. “I couldn’t have done it with anyone else.”
“I think the best part of the show, to be honest, is the audience,” she said. “I get a big kick when the audience laughs at things.” NYTIMES
