She was the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppetland. She had a pretty good run on TV, too. Lynne Marie Stewart, known for playing the ethereal Miss Yvonne on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” has died, her friends shared in memorial posts on social media Friday night.
Those friends, Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, and “Saturday Night Live” alum Laraine Newman, remembered the 78-year-old actor as a TV icon, kindhearted person and treasured member of the Groundlings improv and sketch comedy troupe in Los Angeles.
“My heart is breaking upon hearing the news of my dear friend Lynne Stewart’s passing,“ Peterson said in an Instagram post. ”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.’"
“The most beautiful girl in Puppetland has left us,” Newman said in another post. “Lynne Stewart was truly an angel and brilliantly funny and an important part of our Groundlings family. As my sister said ‘if you don’t love Lynne, you’re just wrong.‘"
Stewart, a Los Angeles native, met Paul Reubens, Pee-wee Herman himself, as a member of the Groundlings in the 1970s. At the Groundlings, Stewart also met Phil Hartman, who played Captain Carl on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
As the lovely, glowing Miss Yvonne, she joined Herman, who created and played the famous bowtied character, onstage in the original 1981 “Pee-wee Herman Show” (Captain Carl was her romantic interest.)
Stewart reprised the role of Miss Yvonne when Herman starred as Pee-wee Herman in the iconic Saturday morning children’s show “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” on CBS. The TV series, which aired from 1986 to 1990, had less adult humor than the stage show, but retained some tongue-in-cheek flirtations.
The actor followed Reubens to the big screen in Tim Burton’s feature debut “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) and a follow-up film, “Big Top Pee-wee” (1988). She didn’t play Yvonne in the films, but popped up as Mother Superior in the first and Zelda, a bearded lady, in the second.
Stewart was also there when Reubens revived Pee-wee for a stage show that made it to Broadway in 2010.
Reubens, her longtime co-star, died in 2023, at 70, after being diagnosed with leukemia and cancer years before. Legions of ‘80s and ‘90s kids mourned him as their hero and fondly recalled those freewheeling days of Pee-wee and Miss Yvonne in his zany playhouse inhabited by anthropomorphic furnishings.
In addition to Miss Yvonne, Stewart was also known for playing Bonnie Kelly, the well-meaning, sweet mother of lead character Charlie Kelly — played by Charlie Day — in the long-running FX/FXX comedy series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
She debuted as the character in 2005, during the first season of the show, and last appeared in a season 16 episode that aired in 2023.
Bonnie Kelly was often seen with Mrs. McDonald, aka Mac’s mom, a gruff character played by Sandy Martin (see clip below).
Early in her career, Stewart played nurses on “M*A*S*H.” Her other TV credits include “Night Court,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Golden Girls” and “Raising Hope.”
She also appeared in the acclaimed George Lucas movie “American Graffiti” (1973), with Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Running Man” (1987) and in the comedy “Bridesmaids” (2011).
Locally, Stewart starred in a reimagined production of “The Odd Couple” with her “M*A*S*H” co-star Cindy Williams and Jo Anne Worley at Beach Haven’s Surflight Theatre in 2011.
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter/X, @amykup.bsky.social on Bluesky and @kupamy on Instagram and Threads.
