Green-eyed, auburn-haired Laverne Marie DeFazio is a dry-eyed realist, her worldview shaped by the early death of her mother. A second-generation Catholic Itallian American who doesn't quite dare to hope she'll get anywhere in life than a third-shift bottlecapping job or the back seat of a guy like Arthur Fonzarelli.

While Shirley's foccused on her job and being a "good girl", being a "bad girl" more than intrigues Laverne, much to the dismay of her father, Frank, who just wants her to get married. Though she can be sour and prone to violence, Laverne is a romantic; she's also athletic and tomboyish.

Though she moves across the country, becomes a gift-wrapper and a space-suit tester throughout the course of the show, Laverne is, as Lenny says, "meant to be a mother" - she has five kids according to the reunion show and ends up a seccurity guard.

Petite and feminine, Shirley Wilhelmina Feeney is never five feet from a box of Kleenex or her stuffed cat, "Boo Boo Kitty". While Laverne has no particular goals, Shirley dreams of marrying a doctor or a white-colar businessman, a station wagon, a collie named Dave, a white picket fence and a number of babies.

Irish, Protestant, dark-haired and blue-eyed, Shirley is forever shaped by the seperation of her absentee sailor father and her dramatic mother - among the Feeney family, she is the sole girl and treated like a fragile flower.

A good girl who clings to her virtue despite the pressure of Carmine Ragusa, her boyfriend, Shirley is crafty, artistic and sentimental. She loves children and often indulges in childish flights of fancy - she's even more of a romantic than Laverne.

Ultimately, Shirley marries Doctor Walter Meeney, has three of his children and apparently spends a life abroad following his career. Walter is somehow disposed of and she eventually moves in with Laverne back in Milwaukee.

Lanky blue-eyed Catholic Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski is both an idiot savant and a wise old soul. He's rarely seen without his "Lone Wolf" coat- a red satin basebase jacket with his moniker sewed on the back.

Despite his forcefully cheerful manner, Lenny's got a dark past; his mother abandoned him on his fifth birthday, and he was raised near the poverty line by his father, who worked long shifts at a fish cannery.

This tragic childhood has made him greatful for anything he gets in life - a messy appartment shared with his best friend and a trucking job is heaven to him. He is fervently loyal to his "only" friend, Squiggy and is prone to emotional outbursts.

The Polish, blond-haired Lenny is musically gifted, loves monster movies and cries easily. He is often the muscle behind Squiggy's fever dreams of progress.

Apparently, Lenny is still the muscle to Squiggy's brains - they live in California, working props for the reality show "Island of Doom".

Dark-eyed Andrew Squiggman is the very picture of an "angry young man" - though like Brando in "The Wild Ones", he has no idea what he's rebelling against.

Dark haired and German Squiggy's childhood was just as tough as Lenny's - his father left the picture, leaving Squiggy and his similarly unbalanced sister Squendolyn in the care of their mother. Squiggy has a passive-agressive relationship with Eva Squiggman - while she apparently abused him physically and made him a servent to his stepfather, he refers to the woman as "Mommy". Somewhere along the line he also spent time in a foster family. He was brought up in the Lutheran church and was confirmed.

All of this has made Squiggy hard as nails and almost insanely delusional. He believes that every woman he meets finds him irrisistable, and every man he meets is another rube to be conned. He mothers Lenny to an extent, and abuses him to another - they are sealed together by the fact that they are each other's sole support.

Squiggy's main attribute is his determination to suceed. Squiggy's got a decent sense of business accuman and sees himself as something of an innovator - when he finds himself a talent agent in California, he seems to find just the right spot. But somehow Squiggy ends up working on the Reality show "Island of Doom".

Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Ragusa - he of the near-afro and Tony Bennet impression - is forever taking cold showers while he hopes and prays that Shirley Feeney will put out.

A former Golden-Gloves Champ of Milwaukee, Carmine was an occupational giggalo before he began giving dance lessons. This led to him getting his own studio, a Marjorie Wards franchise. Carmine still sings on the side, often at Laverne's father's resteraunt.

Carmine is notoriously lazy about his career objective, and unable to make a decision on what he wants out of Shirley. He has some knowledge of Milwaukee's underbelly, and has maffia conntections and general knowledge as to how one migh tbe able to obtain an abortion or a "hot" TV set. On the positive side, any motivation he has revolves around helping out Shirley or trying to impress her.

When the girls want to learn how to dance or sing, it's Carmine they turn to, and if someone's threatening them physically it's usually his job to help them out.

Eventually, Carmine becomes a singing telegram and a bit-player when the show moves to Hollywood. He tries out for acting roles, but never makes the big leagues. In the final episode of the series, he leaves LA for New York and gets a major role in a production of "Hair".

Fabricio "Frank" DeFazio is Laverne's father, the owner of "The Pizza Bowl" the gang's hang out and a bowling alley/pizza joint. Frank is a loud, strident man - sporting a walrus mustache from around season 2 on - who was forced to care for his mother after his father's early death.

Frank spent time in the Army, and sold brushes door-to-door until Laverne was about sixteen. He lost his wife, Josephine, at a young age and raised Laverne from around the age of five or six as a single father.

Frank eventually marries Edna Babbish and opens a chain resteraunt with her, then, after she leaves him, becomes a Burbank city councilman.

Frank has very traditional values, yet he's open-minded when it comes to hiring those of different races and giving others a leg up. He has a fatherly way with most of the gang and an outright hormonal relationship with Mrs. Babbish.

The oft-married and sophisticated landlady of Knapp Street, Mrs. Edna Babbish is the mother of several unseen children (other than her slow daughter, Amy) and the surrogate mother to Laverne and Shirley.

Smart and urbane, Edna is forever trying to keep up her aging building in early seasons - then she's forever worried about her not-quite perfect marriage to Frank and her tilting trailer. Eventually, she leaves Frank for a bullfighter.

Actress, model, singer: Rhonda is a sharp-tongued blonde who's been around quite a bit. Constantly scratching and scraping to get a new role, Rhonda often refers to her connections - though many of them don't pan out, she has a mirrored bedroom and apparent experience as a party girl.

While Rhonda actually has a soft heart - most of the time - she's also notoriously ruthless with other's feelings.

Dark haired, dark eyed Itallian Sonny is both handyman and stuntman to Laurel Vista. Sonny becomes Laverne's boyfriend during the first half of season 6, only to dissapear after the episode "To Tell The Truth."

Sonny is just as athletic as Laverne, and seems to worship the ground she walks on. He's a bit of a pushover when it comes to doing what she wants.