Penny Marshall

Carole Penny Marshall was born in the Bronx, New York City, on October 15, 1943,[3] to Marjorie Irene (née Ward), a tap dance teacher who ran the Marjorie Marshall Dance School, and Anthony W. Marshall (né Masciarelli), a director of industrial films and later a producer.[4] She had a brother, actor/director/TV producer Garry Marshall; and a sister, television producer Ronny Hallin. Penny's birth name, Carole, was selected because her mother's favorite actress was Carole Lombard. Her middle name was selected because her older sister Ronny, wanting a horse, was saving pennies; their mother chose the middle name in an attempt to console Ronny.[5]

Penny's father was of Italian descent, his family having come from Abruzzo,[6] and her mother was of German, English, and Scottish descent;[7][8] Marshall's father changed his surname from Masciarelli to Marshall before she was born.[9][10] Religion played an odd role in the Marshall children's lives. Garry was christened Episcopalian, Ronny was Lutheran, and Penny was confirmed in a Congregational Church, because "[Mother] sent us anyplace that had a hall where she could put on a recital. If she hadn't needed performance space, we wouldn't have bothered."[11]

She grew up at 3235 Grand Concourse, the Bronx, in a building which was also the childhood home of Neil Simon, Paddy Chayefsky, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren.[12] She began her career as a tap dancer at age three, and later taught tap at her mother's dance school. She graduated from Walton High School, a public girls' high school in New York and then went to University of New Mexico for 21⁄2 years where she studied math and psychology. While at UNM, Marshall became pregnant with daughter Tracy Reiner (née Tracy Henry), and soon after married the father, Michael Henry, in 1963. The couple divorced three years later in 1966.[13] During this period, Marshall worked various jobs to support herself, including working as a choreographer for the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera Association.[14] In 1967,[15] she moved to Los Angeles to join her older brother Garry, a writer whose credits at the time included TV's The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966).

Marshall with Cindy Williams in a publicity photo for Laverne & Shirley, 1976

Marshall first appeared on a television commercial for Head and Shoulders beautifying shampoo. She was hired to play a girl with stringy, unattractive hair, and Farrah Fawcett was hired to play a girl with thick, bouncy hair. As the crew was lighting the set, Marshall's stand-in wore a placard that read "Homely Girl" and Fawcett's stand-in wore a placard that said "Pretty Girl". Fawcett, sensing Marshall's insecurity about her looks, crossed out "Homely" on the Marshall stand-in placard and wrote "Plain".[16]

Marshall and Billie Hayes were the only actresses to audition for the role of Witchiepoo for H.R. Pufnstuf, produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. Marshall thought that she was not right for the part, and Hayes got the role.[17]

In 1968 Marshall accepted an offer from her brother to appear in a movie he had written and was producing, a comedy called How Sweet It Is! (1968). She landed another small role in the biker film The Savage Seven (1968), as well as a guest appearance on the hit television series That Girl, starring Marlo Thomas.[18] Marshall was considered for the role of Gloria Bunker Stivic on All in the Family, but lost the part to Sally Struthers.[19]

In 1970, Garry Marshall became the executive producer of the television series The Odd Couple. The following year, Marshall was added to the permanent cast to play a secretary, Myrna, and held the role for four years. In Marshall's final appearance on The Odd Couple, her character married her boyfriend, Sheldn ("they left the "o" off the birth certificate", she explains), played by Rob Reiner, her real-life husband.[18] The episode included Marshall's real-life siblings, Garry and Ronny, as Myrna's brother and sister.[20]

While she was on The Odd Couple, Marshall played small roles in TV movies such as Evil Roy Slade (1972), starring John Astin and Mickey Rooney (and produced by brother Garry); The Crooked Hearts (1972) starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Rosalind Russell, in which she played a waitress; The Couple Takes a Wife, starring Bill Bixby; and Wacky Zoo of Morgan City (1972).

In 1974, James L. Brooks and Allan Burns cast Marshall as Janice Dreyfuss, sister-in-law to Paul Dreyfuss (played by actor Paul Sand) in the series Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers. It aired on CBS-TV Saturday nights beginning September 14, 1974. Despite good reviews and decent ratings, it was canceled mid-season. Brooks and Burns, along with studio head Grant Tinker, were so impressed with Marshall's comedic talent that the following season, they hired Marshall and actress Mary Kay Place to play Mary Richards' new neighbors (Paula and Sally Jo) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.[21]

Garry Marshall, creator and then part-time writer for Happy Days, cast Marshall and Cindy Williams to guest appear on an episode of the show. The installment, titled "A Date with Fonzie",[22] aired on November 11, 1975, and introduced the characters Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney (played by Marshall and Williams, respectively). In that episode, Laverne and Shirley were a pair of wisecracking brewery workers who were dates for Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and Richie (Ron Howard). The pair were such a hit with the studio audience that Garry Marshall decided to co-create and star them in a successful spinoff, Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983).[23]

The characters of Laverne and Shirley appeared in five more episodes of Happy Days. In 1982 at the beginning of Laverne & Shirley's eighth season, Williams left the show due to her pregnancy. Marshall continued with the show, but it was canceled after that season's final episode aired in May 1983.[24]

In 1983, while still filming Laverne & Shirley, Marshall resumed working with James L. Brooks when she guest starred on Taxi in a cameo appearance as herself. In the Taxi episode "Louie Moves Uptown," Marshall is turned down for residency in a new high-rise condominium in Manhattan. The Laverne & Shirley episode "Lost in Spacesuits" is referred to in the scene.

Marshall would again work with Brooks, now a co-producer for the animated series The Simpsons, when she lent her voice to Ms. Botz, a.k.a. Ms. Botzcowski, the "babysitter bandit," on the first produced episode of The Simpsons,[25] making her the first official guest star to appear on the show.

Marshall also played a cameo role as herself on the HBO series Entourage. She also made a cameo appearance alongside her brother Garry in the Disney Halloween-themed movie Hocus Pocus as husband and wife. She was reunited with her Laverne & Shirley co-star, Cindy Williams, on a November 2013 episode of Sam & Cat.[26][27][28]

Directing career

Marshall in 1988

With the encouragement of her brother, Marshall became interested in directing.[29] While starring on Laverne and Shirley, she began her directing career with four episodes of that show.[30]

In 1979, she directed several episodes of the short-lived sitcom Working Stiffs, starring Michael Keaton and James Belushi. She soon moved on to theatrical films; her first film was going to be Peggy Sue Got Married (which at that point was scheduled to star Debra Winger in the leading role). Marshall and the writers of the film, however, had creative differences, and Marshall left the project, with Winger also leaving out of loyalty to Marshall.[31]

Marshall was soon given the directorial job of the crime comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) starring Whoopi Goldberg after the original director dropped out of the project.[29] She also gave her daughter Tracy and her brother Garry roles in the film. Marshall described her leap into directing feature films as very hard to learn, likening it to "cramming four years of college into one semester."

While on set all day, she spent her nights planning out the rest of the film, trying to get it finished on time. Marshall also added that Whoopi Goldberg would take her aside and calm her down if she was looking exhausted that day.[32]

In 1999, Marshall's Parkaway Productions company was transferred from Universal to Sony. Jessica Cox was hired to run the company in 2000.[33]

Marshall directed several successful feature films from the mid-1980s onwards, including Big (1988) starring Tom Hanks (the first film directed by a woman to gross over US$100 million), Awakenings (1990) starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, A League of Their Own (1992) with Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell, and The Preacher's Wife (1996) starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston. In 1991, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.[34]

In 2010 and 2011, Marshall directed two episodes of the Showtime series United States of Tara. Women in Film and Video presented her with the Women of Vision Award in 2013.[35] Marshall planned on developing a biopic on Effa Manley, but it never materialized.[36]

While at college, Marshall met Michael Henry, a football player, and left school at age twenty to marry him in 1963.[37] They had one daughter named Tracy in 1964 (now Tracy Reiner). The marriage lasted three years.[15]

On April 10, 1971,[38] Marshall married actor and director Rob Reiner, who later adopted Tracy. Her marriage to Reiner ended in 1981. The couple had five grandchildren.[39]

Following her divorce from Reiner, Marshall dated actor Larry Breeding, who had made guest appearances on Laverne & Shirley. Marshall suffered a personal loss when Breeding was killed in a car accident in 1982. [40]

Marshall had a brief relationship with singer Art Garfunkel in the mid-1980s, and he credits her with helping him through his depression.[41]

In 2010, it was reported that Marshall had been diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain, but two years later she was "fine now".[42] Following her recovery she published a memoir, My Mother Was Nuts.[18]

Marshall died in Los Angeles on December 17, 2018, at the age of 75. According to her death certificate, the causes were cardiopulmonary failure, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus type 1.[43][44][45]

Marshall is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. The 'L' from her Laverne character is emblazoned at the bottom of her headstone.[46]

• 1978: Golden Globe Nominee—Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series—Musical or Comedy
• 1979: Golden Globe Nominee—Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series—Musical or Comedy
• 1980: Golden Globe Nominee—Best Actress in a Television Series—Comedy or Musical Laverne & Shirley[47]
• 1988: Venice Film Festival Winner—Children and Cinema Award—Special Mention for Big (1988)
• 1990: Saturn Award Nominee—Best Director for film Big (1988) (Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films USA)
• 1992: American Comedy Awards Winner—Lifetime Creative Achievement Award[48]
• 1992: Hochi Film Awards Winner—Best Foreign Film for A League of Their Own
• 1994: New York Women in Film and Television Winner of Muse Award
• 1995: Flaiano International Prizes Winner—Career Award in Cinema
• 1997: Elle Women in Hollywood Awards Winner—Icon Award (shared with Meryl Streep, Jane Campion, and Laura Ziskin)
• 1998: Munich Film Festival Winner of High Hopes Award for With Friends Like These...
• 2000: Online Film & Television Association Winner—OFTA TV Hall of Fame[49]
• 2002: Cabourg Romantic Film Festival—Golden Swann Winner for film Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
• 2004, Star on the Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.[50]
• 2013: Society of Camera Operators Winner—Governor's Award[51]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Penny Marshall.

• Penny Marshall at Find a Grave
• Penny Marshall at IMDb
• Turner Classic Movies
• Penny Marshall at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Penny Marshall at AllMovie
• Penny Marshall at Rotten Tomatoes
• Penny Marshall at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Penny Marshall at Aveleyman (older version)