Cindy Williams passed away Wednesday, Jan. 25 at the age of 75. Her children released the news on Monday, Jan. 30. She had been scheduled, twice, to appear in Las Cruces with her comeback-show, “Me, Myself & Shirley,” at the Rio Grande Theatre in December 2021 and then in July 2022. Both events were postponed. I had the opportunity to speak with Cindy prior to the second scheduled event and would like to share that interview here. I feel our conversation, especially about working around dyslexia, was relevant to our lives and not just another celebrity chat.
Cindy Williams was one of the stars of the television series “Laverne & Shirley.” Although best known for her role as Shirley Feeney, she appeared in several films including two nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: “American Graffiti” and “The Conversation.”
During the one woman show, “Me, Myself & Shirley,” Williams chronicled stories, secrets, embarrassing moments and the highs and lows of her life in Hollywood. She was able to present the show as several venues before postponement due to Covid.
“Right when we started the second pandemic broke out,” she said. “Audiences love it and I love the audience. It’s just so much fun for everyone, I can hear them laughing even with their masks on.”
It was during the first lock-down the show was created. Partially based on her book, “Shirley, I Jest!: A Storied Life” the show was just intended as a lot of fun she said.
“I just wanted to do something fast paced and fun, and I think we have accomplished that,” she said.
Williams first movie was “Gas-s-s-s” (1970) and shot in New Mexico, in Socorro, with Rodger Corman and Ben Vereen.
She was willing to talk about a childhood of dyslexia, incorrectly diagnosed, and what that meant to her through her life.
“I wasn’t diagnosed as a kid and I always thought everybody read word for word and couldn’t remember it like me,” she said. “The teacher would say close the book and I would be on the second page. I would be on the second page when kids were closing the book. It was mortifying.”
She still had trouble with foreign movies and subtitles throughout her life. A high school drama teacher taught the students how to learn lines by writing them three times in red, she remembered.
For “Me, Myself & Shirley,” she said she used a prompter, just to get the structure of the show so the order and pacing of the show would flow.
“It’s a struggle, it always has been and always will be,” she said. “There’s little tricks, Penny was a quick learner, knowing her lines while I would still have the script in my hand. She was someone that I dearly loved and that made it easier. Endorphins, enthusiasm, helped move me along.”
But Williams kept working at the words. Still doing crossword puzzles and word exercises.
“Part of the problem is not recognizing the word – I wasn’t reading the whole word,” she said. “It’s always glorious once you have got it all down.”
About preparing for a part Williams said if the writer is good, “you will feel the character off the page and know what they intended. You will see it in your mind.”
So as Williams show never made it to Las Cruces, her enthusiasm and light never dimmed and she was ready for the curtain to open.
“It is going to be a fun night,” she said. “It just dances along, we hit the ground running.”
