Actors - Paul Reubens

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	Actors - Paul Reubens

Paul Reubens (born Paul Rubenfeld on August 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New York), is a Jewish-American actor, writer, and comedian, best known professionally for his character "Pee-wee Herman".

Early development

Born in Peekskill, New York, on August 27, 1952, Paul Reubenfeld grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents owned a lamp store. During winters, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus called Sarasota home, and young Paul counted such big-top families as the Wallendas and the Zacchinis among his neighbors. When he was 11-years-old, he joined the local Asolo Theater, and during the next six years, he appeared in a variety of plays. After graduating from Sarasota High School in 1970, he attended Boston University for one year before deciding to seek his fortune as Paul Reubens in Hollywood, where he enrolled as an acting major at the California Institute of the Arts and accepted a string of pay-the-rent jobs ranging from pizza chef to Fuller Brush salesman.

In the 1970s, Reubens performed at local comedy clubs and made four guest appearances on The Gong Show. He soon joined the L.A.-based improvisational comedy team The Groundlings and remained a member for six years, working with Bob McClurg, John Paragon, Susan Barnes, and Phil Hartman. Hartman and Reubens became friends, often writing and working on material together. Reubens wrote sketches and developed his improvisational skills. He also forged a significant friendship and working relationship with Hartman, with whom he developed the "Pee-wee Herman" character. Pee-wee was an eccentric man-child in a too-small grey suit, red bow tie, short buzz cut, and a perpetually giddy disposition. His distinctive "Ha Ha" laugh became the character's catch phrase.

The Pee-wee Herman Show

Reubens auditioned for Saturday Night Live
prior to Eddie Murphy's first season, but wasn't accepted into the cast. Instead, he started a stage show with the Herman character. Originally, Reubens imbued "Pee-wee" with a sexuality that was later toned down as the character made the transition from raucous night club to children's television (though sexual innuendo was still readily apparent, especially with the "Cowboy Curtis" and "Miss Yvonne" segments; Curtis was played by actor Laurence Fishburne and Miss Yvonne was played by Lynne Marie Stewart). His stage show was immortalized by HBO when The Pee-wee Herman Show was aired in 1981.

In 1980, Reubens landed a small role in the film The Blues Brothers
. He also appeared in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie in 1980 and Nice Dreams
in 1981, and Meatballs Part II in 1984 with Misty Rowe.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure

While on a Warner Bros. set, Reubens noticed that most of the people rode around on bicycles, and asked when he would get his. Warner Bros. presented him with a refurbished 1940s Schwinn; Reubens then abandoned the Pee-wee Herman script he was writing in favor of one about Herman's love for his bike and his efforts to locate it once it's stolen. Hartman, Reubens, and Michael Varhol co-wrote the script for Pee-wee's Big Adventure
and in 1985 the film, directed by Tim Burton, was released. Pee-wee was the originator of the Pee-wee dance in the movie.

Pee-wee's Playhouse era

The following year in 1986, Pee-wee (along with Hartman) found a home on the small screen with the Saturday morning children's program Pee-wee's Playhouse on the American CBS network for the next five years (Hartman, Shirley Stoler, Johann Carlo, Gilbert Lewis and Roland Rodriguez only appeared on the show for the first 13 episodes before the four characters were dropped from the show). In the case of Lewis, he was fired and a new actor, William Marshall, was hired to play the King of Cartoons. The show starred Pee-wee living in a wild and wacky house, known as the Playhouse, full of talking chairs, animals, robots, and other puppet and human characters. During the time Pee-wee's Playhouse aired it garnered 22 Emmy Awards.

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