Lynne Marie Stewart, finest recognized for her position as Miss Yvonne on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, has handed away on the age of 78. Her pals and colleagues, together with Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) and Saturday Evening Dwell alum Laraine Newman, confirmed the information on social media, remembering her as a form and gifted performer.
Peterson paid tribute to Stewart on Instagram, calling her “one of many kindest, sweetest, funniest girls who ever lived.” She added, “The enduring Miss Yvonne of Pee-wee’s Playhouse: She’ll all the time be ‘essentially the most lovely lady in Puppetland’”.
Newman echoed related sentiments, writing, “Lynne Stewart was actually an angel and brilliantly humorous and an vital a part of our Groundlings household.”
Stewart, a Los Angeles native, was a longtime member of the Groundlings, the improv and sketch comedy troupe the place she first met Paul Reubens, the creator of Pee-wee Herman. She was a part of The Pee-wee Herman Present stage manufacturing in 1981, taking part in Miss Yvonne, a personality she later reprised in Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which ran from 1986 to 1990.
She additionally appeared in a number of Pee-wee-related movies, together with Pee-wee’s Huge Journey (1985), Huge Prime Pee-wee (1988), and Pee-wee’s Huge Vacation (2016). Though she didn’t painting Miss Yvonne within the movies, she took on memorable roles comparable to Mom Superior and Zelda, a bearded woman, as per Extratv.com.
Following Reubens’ dying in 2023 at age 70, followers of Pee-wee’s Playhouse mourned the lack of the duo whose on-screen chemistry had entertained generations of viewers.
Past Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Stewart constructed a formidable profession in tv and movie. She had recurring roles on It’s All the time Sunny in Philadelphia as Bonnie Kelly, the well-meaning however negligent mom of Charlie Kelly, a job she performed from 2005 to 2023.
She additionally made visitor appearances in basic TV sequence comparable to M*A*S*H, Laverne & Shirley, Evening Courtroom, The Golden Ladies, and Elevating Hope. Her movie credit included American Graffiti (1973), The Operating Man (1987), and Bridesmaids (2011), based on NJ.com.
Stewart remained energetic within the leisure trade for many years, persevering with to seem at fan conventions and reunions whereas staying related to her beloved character, Miss Yvonne.
Her passing marks one other loss for followers of Pee-wee Herman’s whimsical world, simply months after Reubens’ dying. As Newman stated in her tribute, “Probably the most lovely woman in Puppetland has left us.”