Cindy Williams of Laverne & Shirley fame dies at age 75

The comedy star also appeared in movies including Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation and George Lucas' American Graffiti. On the well-known comedy Laverne & Shirley, Cindy Williams portrayed Shirley opposite Penny Marshall's Laverne. Her family announced her passinng on  Monday.Following a brief illness, Williams passed away in Los Angeles on Wednesday at the age of 75, according to a statement from her children Zak and Emily Hudson and family representative Liza Cranis. The statement said, "The departure of our wonderful, funny mother, Cindy Williams, has given us incomparable pain that could never properly be described." We have enjoyed and valued the opportunity to know and love her. Everyone admired her because she was special, lovely, and giving, and she had a dazzling energy and a great sense of humour.Williams also had roles in the 1973 film American Graffiti by George Lucas and the 1974 movie The Conversation by Francis Ford Coppola.But Laverne & Shirley, the Happy Days spinoff that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1983 and was, at its heyday, one of the most watched sitcoms on television, was by far her most well-known role.On the programme about a pair of roommates who worked at a Milwaukee bottling factory in the 1950s and 1960s, Williams portrayed the straight-laced Shirley opposite Marshall's more libertine Laverne.Marshall passed away in 2018. His brother, Garry Marshall, co-created the series with him.The opening tune of Laverne & Shirley was almost as well-known as the programme itself. The "schlemiel, schlimazel" chant that Williams and Marshall used when skipping together became well-known.is a common example of nostalgia.