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Lynne Marie Stewart, the actor best known as Miss Yvonne on Pee-wee’s Playhouse, died on February 21, 2025, at age 78. Her manager, Bette Smith, told CBS News that Stewart had been ill; The New York Times reported cancer as the cause of death, also attributing the information to Smith.
What was reported about her death
CBS News reported that Stewart died Friday, February 21, 2025, after a quick illness. According to the outlet, spokesperson Bette Smith said Stewart sought medical care for exhaustion and doctors found a tumor near her liver and gallbladder. The New York Times identified cancer as the cause of death, citing manager Bette Smith. The medical details are attributed to Smith through those reports.
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PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE CS DVD | $44.89 | Buy on Amazon |
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Pee-wee's Playhouse #2 - Seasons 3-5 | $14.25 | Buy on Amazon |
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![Pee-wee's Playhouse: Seasons 1 & 2 - Special Edition [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51vfZB+oaVS._SL160_.jpg)
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Pee-wee's Playhouse: Seasons 1 & 2 - Special Edition [DVD] | $21.63 | Buy on Amazon |
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Pee-wee's Playhouse #1 - Seasons 1 and 2 | $27.07 | Buy on Amazon |
Miss Yvonne: the role that made her widely recognizable
Stewart first portrayed Miss Yvonne in the 1981 stage production The Pee-wee Herman Show, CBS News reported. She continued as the character on CBS’s Pee-wee’s Playhouse, which ran from 1986 to 1991. Miss Yvonne, the glamorous neighbor in the show’s surreal world, became the role most closely associated with Stewart.
Bonnie Kelly and other screen roles
For a different generation of television viewers, Stewart was familiar as Bonnie Kelly, Charlie’s mother on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. CBS News reports that she appeared on the series from 2005 through 2023. The contrast between Miss Yvonne in a children’s series and Bonnie in an adult sitcom reflects the range of settings in which audiences encountered her.
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Her screen credits also included American Graffiti, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and The Running Man, as well as television appearances in M*A*S*H and Laverne & Shirley. The Television Academy describes Stewart as having nearly 150 film and television credits; that is a rounded estimate, not an exact credit count.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Her life and career in brief
The Television Academy lists Stewart’s birth date as December 14, 1946, and her birthplace as Lynwood, California. She was 78 when she died. Across stage, film and television, her career connected a signature role in Pee-wee Herman’s imaginative comedy with later work on a long-running adult sitcom and numerous other productions.
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Rank #4
Rank #3
- Factory sealed DVD
Sources
- CBS News / CBS Philadelphia, February 23, 2025.
- Television Academy biography.
- The New York Times obituary, February 23, 2025.
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