Penny Marshall dead at 75

[AB]

Rest in peace Penny. Loved her in Laverne & Shirley.

[Svenfan1234]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-tDCWZu6OI

Carole King wrote "Now and Forever" for the movie A League of their Own which Penny Marshall directed. Beautiful song. Highly suggest giving it a listen as tribute. R.I.P. Penny Marshall! We will never forget you!

[HuntingtonM15]

I just saw this on Twitter and I couldn't agree more. It sums it up perfectly.

[Rawr]

Very sorry to hear this. May she RIP.

[80sTrivia]

So sad to hear the news of Penny's passing. Loved her in Laverne & Shirley and as a director of Big and A League of Their Own...

[king of comedy]

I'm speechless! R.I.P. Laverne

[D-Dey]

This truly is a big surprise. There were plenty of other obituaries for celebrities that I expected to see before Penny Marshall.


I was going to post a shot of her from an episode of "That Girl," but I don't have a video prepared. I also tried to get her from an episode of "Sam & Cat," but I can't get any screenshots from iTunes anymore, nor can I find any YouTube videos showing her from there.

[MA]

Ron Howard has this to say on Twitter:

She was funny & so smart. She made the transition from sitcom star to A List movie director with ease & had a major impact on both mediums. All that & always relaxed, funny & totally unpretentious. I was lucky to have known & worked with her.

[HuntingtonM15]

We're not the only ones in shock today.

[MA]

My mom said that she cannot watch the movie Awakenings without crying.

[TMC]

As Laverne DeFazio on Laverne & Shirley, Penny Marshall picked up where Lucille Ball left off

It's pretty clear why Marshall, who died Monday at age 75, found success as a movie director following eight seasons on the classic sitcom Laverne & Shirley. "In directing movies, Marshall brought along what she learned from 178 episodes of sitcom predictability, which can, from another angle, be seen as a form of reliability," says Hank Stuever, in his tribute to Marshall. "The characters are easily understood, relatable and vulnerable. A funny person hides a little pain. A tough person is really a softy." He adds that Marshall's Laverne DeFazio was a natural heir to Lucille Ball's groundbreaking I Love Lucy character. "Outwardly Laverne was a proud broad: pencil skirts, tight sweaters (always monogrammed over the left breast with her trademark, a stylishly cursive 'L') and color-coordinated kerchiefs," says Stuever. "A competitive force to be reckoned with in the bowling alley, Laverne could put a dime in a jukebox and tear up the dance floor. Yet it was the character’s insecurities and tenderness that endeared Laverne (and Marshall) to viewers. For all her bravado, Laverne was easily deflated by embarrassment or loss. On a condensed timeline of TV history, Marshall and her co-star, Cindy Williams (as Shirley Feeney), essentially picked up where I Love Lucy’s Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance left all those chocolates strewn at the end of the conveyor belt. Marshall excelled at Ball’s type of physical comedy, ensuring Laverne would endure eight seasons of ludicrous bouts of overconfidence leading to humorous humiliation. Wrestling rings. Debutante balls. Modeling agencies. Lucy may have been funnier, but Laverne was stronger."

ALSO:

• Laverne's voice was nasal, boisterous, wheedling, teasing, sarcastic or playful: "Marshall played a whole repertoire on that brass instrument"
  Laverne Marie DeFazio was a rare role model: "a tough, independent woman who didn’t need no man"
  Laverne & Shirley changed how women were portrayed on TV, paving the way for Broad City, Insecure and The Golden Girls
  We have Marshall to thank for the popularity of the monogram
  Rob Reiner on ex-wife Penny Marshall: "I loved Penny. I grew up with her. She was born with a great gift. She was born with a funnybone and the instinct of how to use it. I was very lucky to have lived with her and her funnybone. I will miss her."
  Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Anson Williams and more Happy Days stars pay tribute to Marshall
  Fred Armisen had the perfect Penny Marshall impression
  MeTV to pay tribute to Marshall by airing her favorite Laverne & Shirley episodes starting on Sunday

Penny Marshall dies: Laverne & Shirley star was 75

The Bronx-born actress and director died last night at her Hollywood Hills home from complications from diabetes, said her publicist Michelle Bega. Marshall was nominated for three Golden Globes for the role that made her famous: Laverne DeFazio on the ABC Happy Days spinoff Laverne & Shirley. For eight seasons, from 1976 to 1983, Marshall co-starred with Cindy Williams as best friends, roommates and co-workers at a brewery in 1950s Milwaukee on the sitcom co-created by older brother Garry Marshall. Marshall followed her sitcom career by directing hit films like Big and A League of Their Own. Marshall and Williams' reunited on screen in 2013 for the Nickelodeon sitcom Sam & Cat. Marshall was also The Simpsons' first guest-star, appearing as Ms. Botz, "The Babysitter Bandit," on the first season. Actors paid tribute to Marshall on Twitter. "I grew up wanting to be as funny as Penny Marshall, and had the pleasure of meeting her a few times," tweeted Mayim Bialik. "Watch some old Laverne and Shirley to see why her brother Garry insisted on casting her. Comedy gold, she was." Added Patton Oswalt: "I had the good fortune to be directed by her once and she was sharp and smart and hilarious." Rosie O'Donnell, whom Marshall directed in A League of Their Own, tweeted she was "simply heartbroken," linking to a video of a 1996 Kmart commercial they did together.

[Mr. Television]

Cindy Williams has responded.

https://www.today.com/popculture/lav...rshall-t145482


"What an extraordinary loss. My good friend, Penny Marshall is gone — one in a million," she told TODAY in the statement, which is one of many from Marshall's peers and friends. "Utterly unique, a truly great talent. And, oh what fun we had! Can't describe how I'll miss her."

[MA]

Anything from David Lander?

[lakesgirl]

Originally Posted by MikaelaArsenault

Anything from David Lander?

I know he has Multiple Sclerosis pretty bad. Maybe that's why we haven't heard anything.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by MikaelaArsenault

Anything from David Lander?

https://www.tmz.com/2018/12/19/penny...ggy-big-break/


Squiggy From 'Laverne & Shirley' Penny Marshall Gave Me My Big Break


David Lander will forever be indebted to the late Penny Marshall, because the beloved actress and director gave him his first major role in Hollywood.

David, who played Squiggy on the 1970s hit show "Laverne & Shirley," tells TMZ ... Penny fought hard to get David and Michael McKean cast on the show, helping convince show producers he was perfect for the part.

David tells us Penny, who played the lead role, knew the producers would never let her put David and Michael on the show unless they saw them in character, so Penny arranged for them to perform as Lenny and Squiggy in front of 100 guests at a party she was throwing with then-husband Rob Reiner.

David says he and Michael did a comedy bit about Lenny and Squiggy going to vocational school to become butlers ... there was some dirty humor, and the crowd loved it. Penny's brother, famed director Garry Marshall, heard about the bit and called the following day, offering roles to David and Michael.

David played Squiggy for all of the show's 8 seasons, and he tells us Penny "had a tremendous impression on his life."

We broke the story ... Penny died Monday following complications from diabetes. She was 75.