Pee-wee Herman Actor Paul Reubens Dies After Secret Cancer Bout

Paul Reubens, the actor behind the iconic Pee-wee Herman character, died on Sunday after succumbing to cancer at the age of 70.

“Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit,” a post on his Instagram profile read. “A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit.”

In an attached statement from Reubens himself, he apologized to his fans for dealing with his health battle privately.

“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” he said. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”

Reubens began performing as a comedian in the 1970s while at the California Institute of the Arts. For six years, he was a key member of the L.A. improv troupe “The Groundlings,” where the Pee-wee Herman character was born.

His subsequent stage show, The Pee-wee Herman Show, sold out for five straight months and was featured on HBO’s On Location in 1981. Reubens even made several in-character appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, further propelling Pee-wee Herman to superstardom.

Warner Bros. took note of his success, leading to the 1985 Tim Burton-directed film, Pee-wee Herman’s Big Adventure. It was a box office hit, grossing more than $40 million domestically and becoming a cult classic. Reubens followed it up with Pee-wee’s Playhouse, an educational weekend morning show on CBS.

Reubens went to great lengths to portray his character as an ideal role model for kids. Despite being a heavy smoker, he ensured that he was never photographed with a cigarette and even turned down endorsement offers for candy and other junk food.

But it all came crashing down in 1991, when he was arrested for indecent exposure at an adult movie theatre in Florida. Reubens subsequently kept a low profile throughout the 90s, even giving up the Pee-wee Herman character for nearly two decades and instead focusing on writing and acting as different, more minor characters.

In 2002, Reubens turned himself in to the LAPD for misdemeanor possession of obscene material improperly depicting a child under the age of 18 in sexual conduct. Those child pornography charges were dropped in 2004 in exchange for Reubens pleading guilty to a misdemeanor obscenity charge, but Reubens later claimed to be a collector of “vintage erotica,” and disagreed with how the city classified pornography.

Despite the dropped charges, Reubens was ordered not to be in the company of minors without permission from their parents or guardians.

“You know is that a hard pill to swallow? Yeah. That’s pretty intense,” Reubens said in a 2004 interview with NBC. “I mean for someone who loves kids, that’s just sad. Ironic is probably too mild a word, you know?”

“The public may think I’m weird,” he added. “They may think I’m crazy or anything that anyone wants to think about me. That’s all fine. As long as one of the things you’re not thinking about me is that I’m a pedophile. Because that’s not true.”

In 2009, The Pee-wee Herman Show made a comeback, with Reubens resuming late-night interviews in the iconic character for the first time in years. He released another feature-length film, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, for Netflix in 2016.

Reubens was said to be working on two Pee-wee Herman projects prior to his death.