I met Lynne Marie Stewart at a collector show in Gaithersburg, Maryland, along with her best friend, actress Cindy Williams. I have been going to collector shows and autograph conventions for many, many years, back when I used to collect autographed photos of some of my favorite celebrities who featured prominently in films and TV shows from my youth. I met a lot of celebrities over the years and had mostly positive encounters. (There were some less-than-great ones. Ron Palillo and Christopher Lloyd come to mind, as well as a cringe-worthy exchange I witnessed between a fan and actor Kier Dullea.) But Lynne and Cindy were absolute darlings! My brief conversation with them, before requesting an autographed photo, was like talking to old friends. After telling them that I was a fan of their screen work, the topic veered off to a discussion of the striking black, somewhat gothy, jacket that my (then teenage) son was wearing. The two ladies were just adorable as they gushed and fussed over my son, who at this point was a combination of proud and embarrassed.
Lynne, of course, was best known as the lovely “Miss Yvonne,” undeniably “Most Beautiful Woman in Puppetland” on the Saturday morning lampoon Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. She was a long-time associate of the late Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) and appeared in a number of his productions… in roles other than the celebrated “Miss Yvonne.” Lynne was featured in the film American Graffiti, several episodes of M*A*S*H, several episodes of Laverne & Shirley and a recurring role on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Charlie’s mother. Lynne even provided the voice of “Shirley” in the animated Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour in its single season in 1982. She reprised her most famous character in 2010 when the Pee-Wee Herman Show returned to the stage — this time on Broadway.
A long time participant in the Make-A-Wish Foundation with Paul Reubens, Lynne tended to her friend in the final days of his life. She passed away in February 2025 at the age of 78.
She was a sweet lady.