Lynne Marie Stewart, who was best known as Miss Yvonne on Pee-wee’s Playhouse and Charlie’s mom on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, has passed away at the age of 78.
News of Lynne Marie Stewart’s death was shared by longtime friend Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira), who wrote on Instagram, “My heart is breaking upon hearing the news of my dear friend @lynnestewart78 Lynne Stewart’s passing. One of the kindest, sweetest, funniest women who ever lived. The iconic Miss Yvonne of Pee-wee’s Playhouse: She’ll always be “the most beautiful woman in Puppetland”.
Lynne Marie Stewart got her start with the famed Los Angeles-based sketch troupe The Groundlings. It was here that she fell in with both Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, with the former casting both in his stage show The Pee-wee Herman Show. Stewart would play Miss Yvonne, The Most Beautiful Woman in Puppetland. She would go on to reprise her on Pee-wee’s Playhouse and his extremely weird Christmas special and later get cast by Reubens in both Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Big Top Pee-wee, although in much smaller roles. (Reubens sadly passed away in 2023. He was the subject of the documentary Pee-Wee as Himself, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year.)
Lynne Marie Stewart got an entirely different audience when she was cast on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, playing Bonnie, the sweet mother who might literally be keeping her son alive through her obsessive-compulsive disorder…Stewart appeared on 18 episodes, with the most recent appearance in season 13’s “The Gang Beats Boggs: Ladies’ Reboot.”
The acting credits for Lynne Marie Stewart got back to the ‘70s, with spots on shows like M*A*S*H, Hawaii Five-O, Quincy M.E., and Alice. Stewart would remain consistent throughout the decades, later turning up for multiple appearances on comedy shows like Night Stand, Son of the Beach and Comedy! Bang! Bang! Other memorable credits include The Running Man, Mork & Mindy and One Day at a Time.
What do you think was Lynne Marie Stewart’s most memorable performance? Share your pick and leave your condolences in the comments section below.
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