Cindy Williams, who portrayed the titular character Shirley Feeney in iconic 1970s sitcom Laverne & Shirley, has died aged 75.

The talented actress – who starred alongside Penny Marshall on all eight seasons of the legendary ABC series – passed away after a brief illness, her family confirmed.

Her children Zak and Emily Hudson released a statement released through family spokeswoman Liza Cranis.

‘The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,’ the statement began.

‘Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved,’ the statement concluded.

Tributes quickly flooded in for Williams from fellow actors and celebrities.

Laverne and Shirley co-star Michael McKean recounted a touching tale on Twitter from their early years of working together.

‘Backstage, Season 1: I’m offstage waiting for a cue. The script’s been a tough one, so we’re giving it 110% and the audience is having a great time. Cindy scoots by me to make her entrance and with a glorious grin, says: ”Show’s cookin’!”,’ he wrote.

‘Amen. Thank you, Cindy.’

Acclaimed director Ron Howard said: ‘#CindyWilliams Her unpretentious intelligence, talent, wit & humanity impacted every character she created & person she worked with.

‘We were paired as actors on 6 different projects. #AmericanGraffiti a couple of dramas & then #HappyDays & #laverneandshirley Lucky me. RIP, Cindy.’

Henry Winkler, who met Williams while playing Fonzie on Happy Days, said in a statement: ‘Cindy has been my friend and professional colleague since I met her on the set of Happy Days in 1975. Not once have I ever been in her presence when she wasn’t gracious, thoughtful and kind. Cindy’s talent was limitless. There was not a genre she could not conquer. I am so glad I knew her.’

And actor Jon Donahue wrote: ‘Sad to learn that #CindyWilliams has died. I grew up watching her, alongside the late, great Penny Marshall, on their classic sitcom ”Laverne & Shirley”… & will always love her work in ”The Conversation” and ”American Graffiti”. May She Rest In Peace.’

Williams was born in Los Angeles in 1947 and spent her childhood writing and performing at Birmingham High School, where she was classmates with Sally Field and Michael Ovitz.

She got her start acting in the early 1970s with guest-starring spots in TV shows like Barefoot in the Park and Room 222 before he was cast by legendary director George Cukor in 1972’s Travels With My Aunt.

She then landed the role of Laurie, the girlfriend of Ron Howard’s Steve, in George Lucas’ American Graffiti, which earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Lucas had considered Williams for the role of Princess Leia Organa, though it ultimately went to Carrie Fisher.

Williams then stared in Best Picture nominee The Conversation for director Francis Ford Coppola in 1974.

She first met Penny Marshall on a double date before they were both hired by Coppola’s American Zoetrope to write a TV spoof for the American Bicentennial.

Marshall’s brother Garry Marshall brought Marshall and Williams on for an appearance on his hit TV series Happy Days, as Shirley Feeney and Laverne DeFazio, two dates for Fonzie (Henry Winkler).

Their appearance was so popular they created the spin-off series Laverne & Shirley – created by Lowell Ganz, Garry Marshall and Mark Rothman – followed the title characters’ misadventures as single ladies throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

‘They were beloved characters,’ Williams told The Associated Press in 2002.

DeFazio was quick-tempered and defensive; Feeney was naive and trusting. The actors drew upon their own lives for plot inspiration.

‘We’d make up a list at the start of each season of what talents we had,’ Marshall told the AP in 2002. ‘Cindy could touch her tongue to her nose and we used it in the show. I did tap dance.’

Williams in 2013 said that she and Marshall had ‘very different personalities’ but tales of the two clashing during the making of the show were ‘a bit overblown.’

The series was the rare network hit about working-class characters, with its self-empowering opening song: ‘Give us any chance, we’ll take it, read us any rule, we’ll break it.’

That opening would become as popular as the show itself. Williams’ and Marshall’s chant of ‘schlemiel, schlimazel’ as they skipped along together became a cultural phenomenon and oft-invoked piece of nostalgia.

As ratings dropped in the sixth season, the characters moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California, trading their brewery jobs for work at a department store.

In 1982, Williams became pregnant and wanted her working hours curtailed. When her demands weren’t met, she walked off the set, and filed a lawsuit against its production company.

The series ran for eight seasons, though Williams left the show after just the second episode of the final season after she became pregnant.

Williams would go on to star in a number of TV movies throughout the 1980s before returning to television in the 1990s with Normal Life and Getting By.

She continued to work regularly throughout the years, even reuniting with Marshall (who passed away in 2018) in a 2013 Laverne & Shirley tribute episode of Sam & Cat and she published her memoir Shirley, I Jest! (co-written with Dave Smitherman) in 2015.

In the past three decades Williams made guest appearances on dozens of TV series including 7th Heaven, 8 Simple Rules and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Last year, Williams appeared in a one-woman stage show full of stories from her career, Me, Myself and Shirley, at a theatre in Palm Springs, California, near her home in Desert Hot Springs.

Williams was married to singer Bill Hudson of musical group the Hudson Brothers from 1982 until 2000, and they shared two children, Zak and Emily Hudson.

He was previously married to Goldie Hawn and is also the father of actor Kate Hudson.