Cindy Williams walked off Laverne & Shirley during the first season

"I went through hell," said Williams

CBS Television Distribution

Integrity is a tricky thing. While our principles might seem like the most important thing to us, is there a dollar amount for which we'd be willing to sacrifice them?

It turns out that Cindy Williams, who played Shirley in Laverne & Shirley, wasn't willing to sell out. She had a strong sense of what she wanted out of the show and wasn't willing to compromise to appease the producers. So, with the bases loaded in her favor, Williams left the ballpark.

The issue with the popular sitcom, as Williams saw it, was that Marshall was getting all the best character beats in every script. So, Cindy Williams put her money where her mouth was, less than two months into production in the fall of '76, and walked off Stage 20 on the Paramount Studios lot.

She spoke with TV Guide in an article published June 18, 1977, just a few months after the incident. 

"I had signed to do this terrific character," Williams explained, "but the show was thrown together so quickly that the terrific part got washed away. 'Come on, fellas,' I said, 'let's get back on the track.' But they never did. The thing was that Laverne, the cynic, was easier to write for than Shirley, the idealist. That's when I really started to get unhappy."

In August 1982, just before production on the show's last season, Williams again sat down with TV Guide and explained her perspective.

"What happened was that all the writers knew Penny," she said. "They knew she could do physical humor. They didn't know me. They thought I was the one who did the sweet stuff. I was disappointed, and I kept telling them I was... and they didn't hear me. So one day, with my knees knocking, and shaking all over, I slithered off the lot and came home. Honestly, I thought they might arrest me. When a woman stands up for herself, they call her a b****, and worse. And there's no getting around it: I went through hell and so did everyone else."

The walkout lasted two days. Williams requested, and got, a change in the writing staff. The show's head writers were let go, and production resumed as more Shirley-focused writers began penning episodes. 

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13 Comments

Runeshaper 3 months ago
Good for Williams standing her ground!
jaelinsmith40652 3 months ago
I just enjoyed watching this show again, Thank You METV! I Want more Sunday Sitcoms, I still wish you need to stop doing cartoons now from weekdays and weekends.
KawiVulc 3 months ago
Obviously improved the show, unbalanced towards Laverne wouldn't have worked. Classic great show. How 'bout replacing MASH with Laverne & Shirley?
Snickers KawiVulc 3 months ago
Good idea or at least cut MASH down to two episodes a night instead of four. Then you have an hour to work with for different programming. Boy am I going to hear from the MASH fans on this one.
jaelinsmith40652 Snickers 3 months ago
Definitely i like the idea, also i'm thinking about replacing The Andy Griffith Show at 11 o Clock with the Donna Reed Show, then at 12pm we want to do The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 1pm The Odd Couple, at 2pm The Monkees finally at 5 o clock Pm the WKRP In Cincinnati.
Snickers jaelinsmith40652 3 months ago
Sounds like a great lineup to me. But you do know MeTV will never do it.
Wiseguy70005 Snickers 2 months ago
MeTV can't show just any TV show. It has to be available and they have to have the rights to it.
Donna Reed is on Antenna TV and Mary Tyler Moore and The Odd Couple are on Catchy TV.
Snickers Wiseguy70005 2 months ago
Yes I know that but still sounds like it would be a great lineup
editorsnote 3 months ago
She should of stuck with her first instinct. Show was awful, but so is 90 percent of everything that's been done since the early to mid 70's when Hollywood decided to be socially preachy instead of being pure entertainment.
Wiseguy70005 editorsnote 2 months ago
Always should/would/could "have"; never should/would/could "of." In speaking, the contraction "should've" sounds like "should of" but it is never written that way.
Blcakandwhitetvfan 3 months ago
Wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that Penny Marshall's brother Garry Marshall created the show? hhummmm
Well, maybe because it was sorta a letdown after films like Travels With My Aunt & The Conversation where she worked with stars like Maggie Smith & Hamilton Ford and directors like George Cukor & Francis Ford Coppola! Then again, she did do The First Nudie Musical...LOL!
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