Laverne & Shirley (credited as Laverne De Fazio & Shirley Feeney in the first season) is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983. It starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, roommates who worked in a fictitious Milwaukee brewery called "Shotz Brewery".

The show was a spin-off from Happy Days, as the two lead characters were originally introduced on that series as acquaintances of Fonzie. Set in roughly the same time period as Happy Days, the Laverne & Shirley timeline started in approximately 1959, when the series began, through 1967, when the series ended.

Both shows were made by Paramount Television and are currently distributed by CBS Television Distribution (along with the rest of the Paramount TV library). Laverne & Shirley filmed on stage 20 and Happy Days on stage 19.

At the start of each episode, Laverne and Shirley are seen skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated," which then leads into the series' theme song entitled "Making Our Dreams Come True," sung by Cyndi Grecco. In the sixth and seventh seasons (which were set in Hollywood), the intro featured Laverne and Shirley coming out of an apartment building, but still singing their original chant, and then a re-recorded version of the original theme song. During the final season after Cindy Williams left the show, the show opened with Laverne watching a group of school children perform the chant before the theme song began.

Cynthia Jane "Cindy" Williams (born August 22, 1947) is an American actress best known for starring in the television situation-comedy series Laverne & Shirley, in the role of "Shirley Feeney", and for her role as Laurie Henderson in the classic film American Graffiti.

Williams was born in Van Nuys, California, to Francesca (née Bellini) and Beachard Williams. She has one sibling, a sister, Carol Ann Williams. She graduated from Birmingham High School. She attended Los Angeles City College. She has appeared in 19 movies.

After college, Williams began her professional career by landing national commercials, which included Foster Grant sunglasses and TWA. Her first roles in television, among others, were on Room 222, Nanny and the Professor and Love, American Style.

Williams picked up important film roles early in her career: George Cukor's Travels with My Aunt (1972); as Ron Howard's high school sweetheart in George Lucas's American Graffiti (1973); and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974). She auditioned for Lucas's next project, Star Wars, but lost the role of Princess Leia to Carrie Fisher.^{[citation needed]}