Beloved sitcom and screen actressPenny Marshall, who gained fame in the late ’70s for her sitcomLaverne & Shirleybefore transitioning behind the camera to great success, has died. She was 75.
“Our family is heartbroken over the passing of Penny Marshall,” her family says in a statement. “Penny was a girl from the Bronx, who came out West, put a cursive ‘L’ on her sweater and transformed herself into a Hollywood success story. We hope her life continues to inspire others to spend time with family, work hard and make all of their dreams come true.”
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In 1988, withBig, she became the first woman in Hollywood history to direct a movie that grossed more than $100 million at the box office. Two years later, her dramaAwakeningsearned a Best Picture nomination. And in 1992, she topped $100 million again withA League of Their Own.
“For me it was just something to do,” Marshall said in 1996, reflecting on how she transitioned from acting to directing. “If I failed, I had my excuse: I was an actress, not a director.”
Penny Marshall on the set ofA League of Their Own.John Biever/Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Born into an Italian-American family in the Bronx, Carole Penny Marshall briefly attended the University of New Mexico (where she met her first husband, Michael Henry) before joining her older brother Garry in Los Angeles in 1967. She landed her first big-screen role in the 1968 Debbie Reynolds-James Garner comedyHow Sweet It Is, which the elder Marshall co-wrote.
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WATCH: Penny Marshall Pay Tribute To Brother Gary Marshall in Exclusive Clip of CBS’s ‘The Odd Couple’
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By the time Marshall made her feature directorial debut withJumpin’ Jack Flashin 1986, she had more or less retired as an actress. (She had also divorced her second husband, the filmmaker Rob Reiner, with whom she raised Marshall’s daughter, Tracy, from her marriage with Henry.)
Though the films she directed afterA League of Their Own–Renaissance Man,The Preacher’s Wife, andRiding in Cars With Boys– failed to match her earlier box office success, Marshall continued to collaborate with her filmmaker friends, producing Ron Howard’sCinderella Manand Nora Ephron’sBewitched, both in 2005.
Penny Marshall with Mark Wahlberg onRenaissance Man.Ron Batzdorff/Cinergi/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
A lifelong sports fan with an extensive collective of sports memorabilia, Marshall spent much of her later years cheering on her beloved L.A. Lakers and New York Yankees. Whether courtside or behind the dugout, she could be seen winning fellow fans over with that infectious Penny Marshall smile, her trademark tinted glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.
source: people.com
