Cindy Williams, R.I.P.

After a brief illness, Cindy Williams, the pretty brunette with a bob who enchanted audiences in American Graffiti, Happy Days, and, most of all, Laverne & Shirley, died late last month at the age of 75.

There was a purity to Williams’s celebrity. While she had roles in every decade of her life, it is difficult to separate the woman Cindy Williams from her iconic, and I do mean iconic, role as Shirley in the wildly popular Laverne & Shirley. Williams was just that — an icon — for the millions who adored the gal-pal comedy and its tittering reenactments of young adulthood’s pitfalls, victories, and pratfalls.

About the Author

Luther Ray Abel

Luther Ray Abel is an Associate Editor for National Review. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Luther is a proud native of Sheboygan, Wis.

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After a brief illness, Cindy Williams, the pretty brunette with a bob who enchanted audiences in American Graffiti, Happy Days, and, most of all, Laverne & Shirley, died late last month at the age of 75.

There was a purity to Williams’s celebrity. While she had roles in every decade of her life, it is difficult to separate the woman Cindy Williams from her iconic, and I do mean iconic, role as Shirley in the wildly popular Laverne & Shirley. Williams was just that — an icon — for the millions who adored the gal-pal comedy and its tittering reenactments of young adulthood’s pitfalls, victories, and pratfalls.