American comedian Paul Reubens died on Sunday at the age of 70. He had studied alongside Tim Burton. At 27, the director offered him the role of Pee-wee Herman in his first feature film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 1985. It was up to this eccentric man-child character, somewhere between Oui-Oui and Mister Bean, that he owes a resounding celebrity. The comedian had been battling cancer for six years, according to a statement posted on the actor’s official social media accounts.
“Paul battled cancer courageously and privately for years with the tenacity and spirit that characterized him,” the statement said, noting that his character, “Pee-wee Herman, has enchanted generations of children and adults with her positivity, her whimsy and her belief in the importance of kindness.” The actor had never publicly mentioned his illness. On Instagram, Tim Burton paid tribute to his favorite actor. “I am shocked and saddened,” wrote the eccentric director. “I will never forget how Paul helped me at the start of my career. This would not have happened without his support. He was a great artist. I’ll miss him.”
Born in 1952 in New York State, Paul Reubens began his career as a comedian in Los Angeles in the 1970s. red bow tie propelled him to stardom. Pee-wee notably had his own television show in the United States, from 1986 to 1990, and a film directed by Tim Burton in 1985.
At the height of his career, Paul Reubens experienced a resounding and highly publicized fall. In 1991, he was arrested in a pornographic cinema in Florida. The actor, accused of masturbating in front of the screen and charged with exhibitionism, which he denies, pleads nolo contendere. He is sentenced to 75 hours of community service. But in the meantime, the case has taken such a turn that the chains and studios are turning away from him and the character of Pee-wee Herman. Years of crossing the desert follow, during which the actor has largely disappeared from the screens. After minor movie roles, Paul Reubens finally took on the character of Pee-wee Herman in the 2010s, first on Broadway and then on a Netflix-produced show. Without regaining the magnitude that the Pee-wee phenomenon had taken in the 1980s.
