Paul Reubens, who is probably best known to the world for his hilarious, man-child creation, Pee Wee Herman, passed away on July 31st. He had been privately dealing with cancer for the last six years. Reubens was seventy years old.
Born Paul Rubenfeld in Peekskill, NY and grew-up in Sarasota, FL, Reubens got interested in entertainment early as a child after being fascinated with the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus and watching television sitcoms, leaving him with a strong desire to make people laugh. After heading to California to attend college, Reubens honed his improv skills by performing at comedy clubs and joining The Groundlings. It was during his time with this improv comedy team that he first started to develop Pee Wee Herman around 1978. These elements, a grown man still filled with adolescent wonder with a cartoon-character voice, shrunken, gray suit, little red bowtie and the name "Pee Wee" which came from a brand of harmonica, would come from various ideas and experiences from Reubens' life.
After failing to land becoming a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" in 1980, Reubens decided to start his own stage show in Los Angeles with his Pee Wee Herman character, which was forming a cult following, landing him a bit part in the stoner-comedy film, "Cheech & Chong's Next Movie". This caught the attention of HBO who offered Reubens to bring "The Pee Wee Herman Show" as a television special, expanding his character to an even wider audience. And this led to the 1985 movie, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" which gave Tim Burton, who was gaining attention at the time with his animated shorts, his first feature film as a director. This box-office hit would lead to Pee Wee Herman to be featured in a live-action children's program, "Pee Wee's Playhouse" in 1986 which had a cast that featured Laurence Fishburne, Phil Hartman and S. Epatha Merkerson.
After a less than successful movie sequel, "Big Top Pee-wee" in 1988 and the end of the series two years later, Reubens was suffering from burn out playing this popular character, wanting to be seen as a versatile actor. Not surprisingly, Reubens had difficulty being viewed outside of Pee Wee but he did manage to get a few roles in television ("Murphy Brown", "Ally McBeal", "30 Rock") and movies ("Batman Returns", "Blow", "Mystery Men") with plenty of character-voice parts in between.
After failing to land becoming a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" in 1980, Reubens decided to start his own stage show in Los Angeles with his Pee Wee Herman character, which was forming a cult following, landing him a bit part in the stoner-comedy film, "Cheech & Chong's Next Movie". This caught the attention of HBO who offered Reubens to bring "The Pee Wee Herman Show" as a television special, expanding his character to an even wider audience. And this led to the 1985 movie, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" which gave Tim Burton, who was gaining attention at the time with his animated shorts, his first feature film as a director. This box-office hit would lead to Pee Wee Herman to be featured in a live-action children's program, "Pee Wee's Playhouse" in 1986 which had a cast that featured Laurence Fishburne, Phil Hartman and S. Epatha Merkerson.
After a less than successful movie sequel, "Big Top Pee-wee" in 1988 and the end of the series two years later, Reubens was suffering from burn out playing this popular character, wanting to be seen as a versatile actor. Not surprisingly, Reubens had difficulty being viewed outside of Pee Wee but he did manage to get a few roles in television ("Murphy Brown", "Ally McBeal", "30 Rock") and movies ("Batman Returns", "Blow", "Mystery Men") with plenty of character-voice parts in between.
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