Paul Reubens' Life in Photos: The Intriguing Story of the Actor, Beyond Pee-wee

The actor behind the iconic children's character died at age 70, weeks before his August 27 birthday

Few stars were as synonymous with a character as Paul Reubens was with his beloved Pee-wee Herman. The actor made a life out of the kid-friendly grown-up, who had a whimsical home and the wildest of adventures that young viewers of the 1980s and 1990s couldn't get enough of.

But Reubens — who died on July 30, 2023, at 70 years old — was much more than Herman, with a résumé that included big-screen dramas and small-screen sitcoms, plus a sometimes complicated personal life.

Here, look back on the actor's life in photos.

Paul Reubens' Early Life

Paul Reubens (center) was born on Aug. 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New York, though spent his teenage years living in Sarasota, Florida.

In an interview with NPR in 2021, Reubens recalled this time as the interviewer asked what is was like growing up in "the off-season home of the Ringling Brothers."

"There were circus people everywhere," Reubens said his first years in the city, sharing that even his high school had a circus program.

"It was an incredibly exciting place at the time and a cool place to grow up," he added.

Paul Reubens in The Groundlings

Reubens created his now-famous Pee-wee Herman character while performing with the Los Angeles-based improv-comedy troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s.

"I probably had eight or 10 pretty solid characters and maybe four or five of those were very popular and featured in the show," Reubens told Vanity Fair in 2014 of the inception of his character. "But when I [debuted Pee-wee Herman onstage], that got a completely different reaction. This was a reaction that made me think, Wow, this means something."

Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman

AfterThe Pee-wee Herman Show premiered at The Groundlings Theatre in 1981, it later moved to The Roxy on Sunset Strip before becoming an HBO broadcast that year.

Reubens went on to star in numerous projects as the iconic character, including The Pee-wee Herman Show, which lasted from 1981 to 1984 on the network. In 1985, Pee-wee's Big Adventure premiered, followed by the series Pee-wee's Playhouse, which ran from 1986 to 1990 on CBS. In 1988, he brought the role to the big screen once again in Big Top Pee-wee and in 2010, launched a Pee-Wee Herman Broadway show.

He reprised the role for the 2016 Netflix movie, Pee-wee's Big Holiday, which featured Joe Manganiello, David Arquette, Alia Shawkat, Stephanie Beatriz, Janina Gavankar, Nicole Sullivan, Paul Rust and Darryl Stephens.

Paul Reubens' 1991 Arrest for Indecent Exposure

In 1991, Reubens was arrested in Sarasota, Florida, for incident exposure at an adult movie theater. The actor entered a no contest plea, was fined and ordered to community service, The New York Times reported.

“Well, obviously I wasn't thinking. You Know?," Reubens told NBC News years later when asked what was going through his mind at the time of the incident. "I certainly wasn't thinking to myself, You're a children's show host. Your show is [still] on television. I wasn't making those lists. I felt like they were insinuating like, well, I was sitting in you know, a darkened movie theater, in my Pee-wee suit.”

He maintained that the "incident exposure" never happened.

Paul Reubens' Acting Outside of Pee-wee

In the later 1990s and 2000s, Reubens was able to reinvent himself on television, landing roles on (and earning accolades for) Reno: 911, 30 Rock, Pushing Daisies and The Blacklist. 

"I've had all kinds of incredible post-Pee-week work," Reubens said in a 2011 SXSW chat. He joked he did Buffy the Vampire Slayer, his first post-arrest role (pictured), "because it was offered to me. I didn't have to audition or anything. And really the very first thing I thought of was, 'Get back up on the horse.' "

Paul Reubens on 'Murphy Brown'

Reubens earned three Emmy nominations in his time, two for Pee-Wee (one in 1989, the other in 2011) and one for his memorable guest spot on a 1995 episode of Murphy Brown, on which he played an overzealous secretary.

Paul Reubens in 'Blow'

In 2001, the actor joined the star-studded cast of Blow, earning critical acclaim for his work as Derek Foreal, a hairdresser who works alongside Jonny Depp's George Jung.

"Paul created this amazing, unforgettable character," director Ted Demme told the Tampa Bay Times. "Derek became everybody's favorite because he's just so much fun to be around."

Depp lauded Reubens as "an amazing character actor," who played Derek "as very flamboyant and yet at the same time shows you his faults and quirks and deep insecurities."

Paul Reubens' 2002 Arrest

In 2002, Reubens was arrested again, this time charged with "one misdemeanor count of possessing material depicting children engaged in sexual conduct," according to CNN.

He ultimately took a plea deal, pleading guilty to possessing obscene images of minors. He had to register his address with the sheriff's office and was not allowed to be in the company of minors without their parents' permission for three years, NBC reported.

In an interview with NBC, the actor did admit he kept a collection of "vintage erotica," but considered it "art" and not pornography. "Magazines. photographs. films. Incredible, beautiful stuff that I stand behind," he said. "It's not titillating. It's not something that I use for any kind of sexual purpose."

"The public may think I'm weird. They may think I'm crazy or anything that anyone wants to think about me. That's all fine," Reubens continued to NBC. "As long as one of the things you're not thinking about me is that I'm a pedophile. Because that's not true.”

Paul Reubens Brings Pee-wee to Broadway

In 2010, Reubens brought his character to the Great White Way, putting on 62 performances of The Pee-wee Herman Show at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and taping one for an HBO special. Reviews all focused on the nostalgia reliving the Saturday morning show brought, with New York calling it "a candy land parade of familiar faces, memes of Christmas Past, and play-along-at-home sketches."

Paul Reubens' Final Years

One of Reubens' final public appearances was on a 2021 episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, on which he won $52,000 for Feeding America, per ET Canada.

On July 31, 2023, the official Pee-wee Herman Instagram account posted that the actor had died the night prior at 70 years old.

In the caption, it stated that he "bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit." A second slide included a posthumous statement from the actor, apologizing for keeping his diagnosis private and thanking fans for their lasting love and support.

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