Penny Marshall

Carole Penny Marshall (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, film director, and producer. She starred as Laverne DeFazio on the television sitcom Laverne & Shirley from 1976 to 1983, and received three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her portrayal.

Marshall made her directorial debut with Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) before directing Big (1988), which became the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million at the U.S. box office. Her subsequent directing credits included Awakenings (1990) (which was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture), A League of Their Own (1992), Renaissance Man (1994), The Preacher's Wife (1996), and Riding in Cars with Boys (2001). She also produced Cinderella Man and Bewitched (both 2005), and directed episodes of the television series According to Jim and United States of Tara.

Carole "Penny" Marshall was born in Manhattan on October 15, 1943, 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. 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.

Penny's father was of Italian descent, his family having come from Abruzzo, and her mother was of German, English, Irish and Scottish descent; Marshall's father changed his surname from Masciarelli to Marshall before she was born. 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."

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. 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 two and a half years where she studied math and psychology. In 1963, while at UNM, Marshall married a football player named Michael Henry; they had a daughter, actress Tracy Reiner (née Tracy Henry). The couple divorced three years later, in 1966. During this period, Marshall worked various jobs to support herself, including as a choreographer for the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera Association. In 1967, she moved to Los Angeles to join her older brother, TV icon Garry Marshall, whose credits at the time already included TV's The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), The Joey Bishop Show (1962–1965), The Lucy Show (1964–1966) and The Tonight Show Starring Jack Parr (1960).

Marshall first appeared on a television commercial for Head and Shoulders shampoo. She was hired to play a young woman who loans her Head and Shoulders shampoo to her roommate, played by Farrah Fawcett. 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".

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.

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. Marshall was considered for the role of Gloria Bunker Stivic on All in the Family, but lost the part to Sally Struthers.

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. The episode included Marshall's real-life siblings, Garry and Ronny, as Myrna's brother and sister.

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).

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

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.

Marshall was soon given the directorial job of the crime comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986) starring Whoopi Goldberg after the original director, Howard Zieff, dropped out of the project. She brought in friends and family to help make sure it was funny: her daughter Tracy Reiner, her brother Garry Marshall, Jon Lovitz, Jim Belushi, Phil Hartman and Carol Kane. 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.

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

While at the University of New Mexico for two and a half years, Marshall met Michael Henry, a football player, got pregnant at 19, and left school at age twenty to marry him in 1963. They had one daughter named Tracy in 1964 (Tracy Reiner). The marriage lasted three years.

On April 10, 1971, Marshall married actor and director Rob Reiner, who later adopted Tracy. Her marriage to Reiner ended in 1981.

Marshall died at her home in Los Angeles on December 17, 2018, at age 75. According to her death certificate, her death was attributed to cardiopulmonary failure, cardiac arrest and type 1 diabetes.

Marshall was cremated and her ashes are interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles. An "L", similar to those that her Laverne character wore, is emblazoned at the bottom of her headstone.

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

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)

Marshall's films tend to address contemporary issues in society such as coming of age, women’s accomplishments, and oppression of the mentally disabled. For instance, the oppression of the mentally disabled is well elaborated in the film Awakenings. The film unites two big stars in a story about the plight of mentally disabled individuals and how a person who is not living with any life-threatening condition gets to learn a lesson about humanity after spending time with a mentally disabled person. Achievement of women has been elaborated well in the film A League of Their Own, a film that stars two blood sisters joining the women’s baseball league during World War II. In that time, many men in professional leagues joined the armed forces. The movie exposes exciting victories and personal conflicts on the field, while, at the same time, building sisterhood and strong bonds among teammates.

Calendar Girl (1993) (executive producer)