Paul Reubens, an actor and comedian best known for creating and playing the character Pee-wee Herman in a variety of media throughout the ’80s, died at age 70 from cancer. Reubens battled cancer for six years without going public, according to a statement shared on Instagram. “Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,†Reubens said in a posthumously released statement. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.â€
Born Paul Rubenfeld in Peekskill, New York, and raised in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents had a store that sold lamps, Reubens’s career began in the Los Angeles improvisational comedy troupe the Groundlings. It was there that Pee-wee was developed, debuting in 1978, before becoming a full live show in 1980 called The Pee-wee Herman Show. “I kind of viewed Pee-wee Herman as partially conceptual and partially performance because nobody knew it wasn’t a real character at that time,†Reubens told Vanity Fair in a 2014 Groundlings retrospective. In 1985, the feature film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure came out. Directed by a young Tim Burton, the movie was a hit, earning $40.9 million against a $7 million budget.
Following this, Reubens began Pee-wee’s Playhouse, a children’s show on CBS that ran from 1986 to 1991. When it began, Pee-wee was the sole live-action character on children’s morning TV. “Fortunately for the kids out there and for CBS and anyone else concerned, I take my job very seriously. I have an enormous responsibility being the only live person on Saturday morning,†Reubens told Rolling Stone in 1987, also commenting that “the most fun we had writing the show was when we would come up with stuff we knew was going to kill the five-year-olds.†In ’91, Reubens pleaded no contest to indecent exposure at a Sarasota adult movie theater and retreated from the public eye. Following Pee-wee’s Playhouse, he played a recurring role on Murphy Brown, scoring an Emmy nomination in 1995. In 2010, Reubens brought Pee-wee back for a live show on Broadway that was later broadcast on HBO. “My theme on my quote-unquote comeback is ‘feeling the love,’†Reubens told Vanity Fair about the show in 2010. “It’s so corny, but it’s real, it’s genuine, and it’s totally flooring me this time around.â€