Penny Marshall

Early life

Carole Penelope "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, 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 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).

Career

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).

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.

Garry Marshall, creator and executive producer for Happy Days, cast Marshall and Cindy Williams to guest star on an episode of the show. The installment, titled "A Date with Fonzie", aired on November 11, 1975, and introduced the characters Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney (played by Marshall and Williams, respectively) to a viewing audience. In that episode, Laverne and Shirley were a pair of wisecracking, "fast" 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). He pitched it to Fred Silverman who ran ABC at the time and he greenlit it for a mid-season replacement. The show debuted at #1 on January 26, 1976, and soon became the highest rated TV series for the 1977–78 and 1978–79 seasons.

The characters of Laverne and Shirley appeared in five more episodes of Happy Days. In 1982, during Laverne & Shirleys eighth season, Williams left the show due to her pregnancy. Marshall soldiered on without her, calling in friends like Carrie Fisher, Laraine Newman and Angelica Huston to guest star. The show was canceled after the eighth season, the final episode aired in May 1983.

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, who later became 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, 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.

Directing career

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.

Marshall directed several blockbuster feature films in the 1980s and 90s. She broke glass ceilings and made history as the first female director to gross over US$100 million at the box office, with her body-swap rom com Big (1988), starring Tom Hanks. She also directed 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. A League of Their Own was her second film to gross over US$100 million at the box office. AFI included Jimmy Dugan's (Tom Hanks) line "There's no crying in baseball!" on their list of 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time.In 1991, Penny was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.

In 1990, Jake Eberts hired her to direct Super Mario Bros. (1993), but she was replaced by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel after Roland Joffé replaced Eberts as producer.

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. Marshall planned on developing a biopic on Effa Manley, but it never materialized.

Personal life

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.

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

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

After mostly retiring from directing, Marshall's closest friends included Beverly D'Angelo, Cynthia Hargrave, Chico Brown, and Mercedes Ganon.

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". Following her recovery she published a memoir, My Mother Was Nuts.

Death

Marshall died 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.

Awards

• 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)
• 1992: American Comedy Awards Winner—Lifetime Creative Achievement Award
• 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
• 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.
• 2013: Society of Camera Operators Winner—Governor's Award

Works

Central themes in Marshall's films

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.

Film

Producer

• Calendar Girl (1993) (executive producer)
• Getting Away with Murder (1996)
• With Friends Like These... (1998)
• Risk (2003)
• Cinderella Man (2005)
• Bewitched (2005)

Acting roles

Television

Director

Acting roles

References

References

1. Born Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; {{ISBN. 978-0-547-89262-7. Copyright 2012
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3. [https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61457/images/47769_b353834-00586 Penny Marshall birth registration] in the New York City birth index at [[Ancestry.com]]
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11. "...Anthony "Tony" Masciarelli", a handsome, athletic young man majoring in advertising at New York University ... To better his chances, he changed his last name from Masciarelli to Marshall and forevermore denied that he was both Italian and Catholic". ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 4; {{ISBN. 978-0-547-89262-7. 2012.
12. ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 18.
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