Paul Reubens, the actor best known as his alter ego Pee-wee Herman, died Sunday. The official Pee-wee Herman accounts announced the news on Instagram.
While a member of the Groundlings comedy troupe, Reubens created the character of Pee-wee. Pee-wee wore a suit and bow tie and spoke in a high pitched voice with catch phrases like "I know you are but what am I" and "That's so funny I forgot to laugh."
Pee-wee was popularized in a stage show Reubens performed that introduced many characters who would later appear in his Saturday morning show Pee-wee's Playhouse. HBO aired The Pee-wee Herman Show to mass audiences.
Reubens brought the character to the movies in the original film Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the first feature film directed by Tim Burton. The Pee-wee themes also began Danny Elfman's career as a prolific film composer.
A sequel, Big Top Pee-wee saw Herman as a farmer when a traveling circus came to town. Reubens performed an updated Pee-wee Herman Show during a Pee-Wee revival in 2010.A third Pee-wee film, Pee-wee's Big Holiday premiered on Netflix in 2016. Reubens also played Pee-wee in Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, Back to the Beach, episodes of 227 and Sesame Street and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker video. He hosted Saturday Night Live as Pee-Wee in 1985.
Outside of Pee-wee costume, Reubens appeared in the film Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Batman Returns, Matilda, Blow and recently on What We Do in the Shadows and The Conners.
