Williams was born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles on August 22, 1947. Her mother Cindy was a waitress and her father Beachard “Bill” Williams worked at an electronics manufacturing company.[1][2] The family moved to Dallas when she was a year old and returned to Los Angeles when she was ten years old.[3] She had a sister named Carol Ann.[citation needed]
Williams met Penny Marshall, first on a double date, and later at Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope company.[9] The company hired them as comedy writers, because "they wanted two women"[10][11] on a prospective TV spoof for the Bicentennial.[3] While the two were writing for Zoetrope, Penny Marshall's brother, Garry Marshall, called to ask if they would like to make an appearance on an episode of Happy Days, a television series he produced.[12]
In 1975, Williams was cast as a fun-loving brewery bottle capper,[3]Shirley Feeney, in an episode of Happy Days with Penny who played her best friend and roommate Laverne De Fazio. The girls were cast as "sure-thing"[3][10] dates of Richie and Fonzie (Henry Winkler). Their appearance proved so popular that Garry Marshall commissioned a spin-off series for the characters of Shirley and Laverne. Williams continued her role on the very successful Laverne & Shirley series from 1976 until 1982. At one point during its run, the series was the number one rated show on television. Williams was praised for her portrayal of Shirley Feeney. She left the show after the second episode of the show's eighth and what would become its final season, after she became pregnant with her first child. The show's various producers were not enthusiastic that Williams was pregnant. Williams and co-star Penny Marshall had also been feuding for quite some time on the set long before Williams became pregnant.[13] (They would reconcile many years later.[14][15]) The success of the TV series led to a short-lived Saturday morning animated series Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981–82), created by Hanna-Barbera.[16]
In 1979, she reprised her role of Laurie from American Graffiti in its sequel, More American Graffiti.
In 1985, Williams starred in the ABC sitcom pilot Joanna, which aired as a special on April 30 of that year.[17] The premise involved Williams's character, Joanna, following her boyfriend from Los Angeles to New York, though he leaves her for another woman. Joanna then decides to stay in New York, becoming the operations manager of a trucking company. The pilot was not picked up as a series. That same year, Williams starred in the sci-ficomedyUFOria alongside Fred Ward and Harry Dean Stanton, a movie which was already completed in 1981.
In 1990, Williams starred in an unsold pilot for CBS that was adapted from the 1989 film Steel Magnolias.[18] Williams was cast as M'Lynn Eatenton, the role that was played by Sally Field in the film. Also in 1990, Williams returned to series TV in the short-lived sitcom Normal Life[19] and, a couple of years later, reunited with former Laverne & Shirley producers Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett to star in their family sitcom Getting By (1993–94).[20] She guest-starred on several television shows, including two episodes of 8 Simple Rules.
Williams reunited with Penny Marshall on the TV series Sam & Cat in the episode "#SalmonCat" (2013).[23][24][25] In 2015, her memoir Shirley, I Jest! (co-written with Dave Smitherman) was published.[26] In the same year, Williams engaged in celebrity branding for the home care service Visiting Angels.[27]
Personal life
Williams married Bill Hudson of the musical trio The Hudson Brothers in 1982. They had two children, Emily and Zachary before divorcing in 2000.[28]
