Celebrity Death: Paul Reubens

[MMC]

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[kook10]

Paul Reubens, Pee-wee Herman Actor, Dies at 70 After Private Bout of Cancer

Paul Reubens, the actor best known for portraying Pee-wee Herman, died Sunday night after a private bout of cancer. He was 70.

variety.com

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Alot of people feeling this loss, losing childhood icons can hit harder

RIP Pee Wee

 

[PanthersPens62]

RIP Pee Wee

 

[Primary Assist]

Ah man, RIP. Still pretty amazing they turned a somewhat obscure children's show host into the star of an early Tim Burton vehicle. The last few seconds of this scene when he leaves the bar show one of my favorite bits of directing and comedic timing

Edit - my mistake, the movie actually predates the children's show. That's actually more surprising and impressive

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Aww man this sucks

 

[Ben Grimm]

Paul Reubens, Best Known as Pee-wee Herman, Dead at 70 After Years with Cancer: 'A Treasured Friend'

Paul Reubens' rep confirmed his death in a statement shared with PEOPLE on July 31

people.com

 

[spintheblackcircle]

 

[John Price]

RIP Pee Wee Herman

Wasn't he in some movie recently

 

[SnS]

Rip PeeWee

 

[beowulf]

Sad news, when you say his name there was a time everyone thought Pee-Wee but then it became "off the guy who jerked off in the porn theater"

 

[the squared circle]

I still watch Pee Wee's Big Adventure, probably at least once a year. I think I may even have it memorized at this point. Such a great movie from such a simpler time.
Who would have guessed there was no basement in the Alamo??

RIP.

 

[Jovavic]

Obligatory "f*** cancer"

 

[Jumptheshark]

He was a better actor than some realize. he was so much more than that one role

 

[Leonardo87]

RIP, was a big part of my childhood, grew up with the movies, show, and etc.

"I'm trying to use the phone"

Classic.

 

[Hasbro]

RIP

 

[tarheelhockey]

I had a business trip to San Antonio in February and made a point to go to the Alamo because of that movie.

I didn't really follow the porn theater case closely at the time; I was young enough to just go along with the word-of-mouth story that he was "perv". Years later I read an actual account of how that all went down, and how much of his life was destroyed for absolutely no good reason. There was a significant amount of time when he was absolutely radioactive in the mainstream, just a punch line with heavy and baseless overtones of homosexuality and pedeophilia. It really gave me pause to think harder about how many people got dragged into police stings for victimless sexual behavior during that era.

Ironically he was really conscious of his influence on children, to the point of being extremely careful not to portray things that might influence them into harmful behaviors. The fact that he got torn down the way he did, just disgusting. Good on him for bouncing back to have another chapter to his career/life. Based on his later filmography I assume he ran in a colorful comedy circle.

 

[kook10]

I had a business trip to San Antonio in February and made a point to go to the Alamo because of that movie.

I didn't really follow the porn theater case closely at the time; I was young enough to just go along with the word-of-mouth story that he was "perv". Years later I read an actual account of how that all went down, and how much of his life was destroyed for absolutely no good reason. There was a significant amount of time when he was absolutely radioactive in the mainstream, just a punch line with heavy and baseless overtones of homosexuality and pedeophilia. It really gave me pause to think harder about how many people got dragged into police stings for victimless sexual behavior during that era.

Ironically he was really conscious of his influence on children, to the point of being extremely careful not to portray things that might influence them into harmful behaviors. The fact that he got torn down the way he did, just disgusting. Good on him for bouncing back to have another chapter to his career/life. Based on his later filmography I assume he ran in a colorful comedy circle.

It is worth remembering that Fred Willard was caught doing the same thing and didn't pay nearly the price.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

I had a business trip to San Antonio in February and made a point to go to the Alamo because of that movie.

I didn't really follow the porn theater case closely at the time; I was young enough to just go along with the word-of-mouth story that he was "perv". Years later I read an actual account of how that all went down, and how much of his life was destroyed for absolutely no good reason. There was a significant amount of time when he was absolutely radioactive in the mainstream, just a punch line with heavy and baseless overtones of homosexuality and pedeophilia. It really gave me pause to think harder about how many people got dragged into police stings for victimless sexual behavior during that era.

Ironically he was really conscious of his influence on children, to the point of being extremely careful not to portray things that might influence them into harmful behaviors. The fact that he got torn down the way he did, just disgusting. Good on him for bouncing back to have another chapter to his career/life. Based on his later filmography I assume he ran in a colorful comedy circle.

I agree about the '91 charges but the '02 charges were always more concerning for me (made less news because his career was on a downturn). At best he was an odd dude.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It is worth remembering that Fred Willard was caught doing the same thing and didn't pay nearly the price.

I had never heard of that... just read the wiki page, it looks like it did cost him his job and he had to attend a program and talk about it on national TV. Not nearly as bad as Rubens, but still. I'm not saying adult theaters should necessarily exist (I could be swayed either way on that one) but if they're going to be legal, people shouldn't be having their lives ruined for using them for the explicitly intended purpose of the establishment.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I had never heard of that... just read the wiki page, it looks like it did cost him his job and he had to attend a program and talk about it on national TV. Not nearly as bad as Rubens, but still. I'm not saying adult theaters should necessarily exist (I could be swayed either way on that one) but if they're going to be legal, people shouldn't be having their lives ruined for using them for the explicitly intended purpose of the establishment.

I remember seeing his movie(s?) as a kid… think there were two.

My bro and I liked him as kids, then I heard about the porn theater scandal as a teen and thought it was sad it ruined his career or made him a punch line at least.

However, I didn’t know about the possession of child porn charge until reading about his death today:

But Reubens' rise to fame was halted in 1991 after he pleaded no contest to indecent exposure at an adult movie theater in Sarasota Florida.

Then in 2004, Reubens was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor obscenity charge involving photographs of minors engaged in sexual conduct that were seized from him.

Paul Reubens, actor best known as Pee-wee Herman, dies at 70

He rose to fame in the 1980s playing the whimsical, child-like character on TV and in movies.

www.nbcnews.com

Looked this up and Reubens claimed it was art work or something like that that resembled kids…?

Paul 'Pee-Wee' Reubens charged in kid-porn probe

Paul 'Pee-wee' Reubens has been charged in kid-porn probe, the same investigation under which pal Jeffrey Jones was cited for allegedly enticing a minor to pose for pornographic photos.

ew.com

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I always really loved Pee-Wee's playhouse as a kid. Very well done series, and the movie was hilarious.

I still vividly remember the "Fruit Salad Wedding" bit and regularly quote it. Unfortunately most people have no clue what I'm talking about, but it still brings me some joy lol.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I remember seeing his movie(s?) as a kid… think there were two.

My bro and I liked him as kids, then I heard about the porn theater scandal as a teen and thought it was sad it ruined his career or made him a punch line at least.

However, I didn’t know about the possession of child porn charge until reading about his death today:

Paul Reubens, actor best known as Pee-wee Herman, dies at 70

He rose to fame in the 1980s playing the whimsical, child-like character on TV and in movies.

www.nbcnews.com

Looked this up and Reubens claimed it was art work or something like that that resembled kids…?

Paul 'Pee-Wee' Reubens charged in kid-porn probe

Paul 'Pee-wee' Reubens has been charged in kid-porn probe, the same investigation under which pal Jeffrey Jones was cited for allegedly enticing a minor to pose for pornographic photos.

ew.com

Yeah I hadn't heard of the 2002 thing until just now either.

He's referring to kitsch muscle magazines like this:

The USA used to have much stricter laws about what could be portrayed in print, so magazines like this were an easily accessible form of gay erotica. Much like reading Playboy "for the articles", you could ostensibly claim to be interested in bodybuilding tips to explain the pile of these mags under your bed.

Some of these featured nude imagery. Ironically, that era played fast and loose with the ages of people featured in adult content (that crackdown didn't happen until the 80s, I believe) so it's easy to believe that some featured underage teens. It sounds like there's some dispute about what exactly was in the magazines that Rubens had, but there's a clear difference between this type of mag and explicit smut which would have been illegal in that era.

All that said, it's completely plausible that someone who really loves kitsch culture may have had some of them for innocent purposes... they scream "goofy side product of a sex-repressive culture", and I have seen them sold openly in used bookstores and vintage/kitsch shops before. Given that the charges against Rubens were eventually reduced, my guess is that he had something that snuck under the radar to be sold commercially, but featured images which qualify as illegal. As opposed to the sort of thing that would surely have landed him in prison if it had been found in his possession.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

It is worth remembering that Fred Willard was caught doing the same thing and didn't pay nearly the price.

I think part of it was probably that the whole Pee Wee look just makes sense for a perv, even if he wasn't. It probably hurt Woody Allen and MJ as well that they just look the part for their accusations.

 

[mrmovies779]

"Tell em Large Marge sent ya" rip Pee Wee