Sitcom Legend Garry Marshall (1934-2016)

[Zoneboy]

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Garry Marshall, who created some of the 1970s’ most iconic sitcoms including “Happy Days,” “The Odd Couple,” “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork and Mindy” and went on to direct hit movies including “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries,” died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia. He was 81. The news was first reported by Access Hollywood.


Marshall went from being TV writer to creating sitcoms that touched the funny bones of the 1970s generation and directing films that were watched over and over: “Happy Days” helped start a nostalgia craze that has arguably never abated, while “Mork and Mindy” had a psychedelically goofy quality that catapulted Robin Williams to fame and made rainbow suspenders an icon of their era. “Pretty Woman” likewise cemented Julia Roberts’ stardom, while “The Princess Diaries” made Anne Hathaway a teen favorite.

“Happy Days” star Henry Winkler credited him for launching his career, tweeting “Thank you for my professional life.”


Marshall had one of his first substantial hits when he developed and exec produced an adaptation of Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple” in 1970 for ABC. The show drew several Emmy nominations for outstanding comedy series and wins for stars Jack Klugman and Tony Randall over the course of its five-season run. (In 2015 Marshall served as a consultant on a CBS remake of the series that starred Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon.)

Marshall penned the 1971 pilot for “Happy Days,” which was recycled in 1972 as a segment of ABC’s comedy anthology series “Love, American Style” called “Love and the Happy Days.” George Lucas asked to view the pilot before deciding to cast Ron Howard, who starred in it, in “American Graffiti,” released in 1973. “Happy Days” debuted as a series on the network in 1974, riding high on the wave of 1950s nostalgia generated in part by the success of “American Graffiti.”

During its peak, “Happy Days” was the No. 1 show on television during the 1976-77 season, No. 2 in 1977-78 and No. 4 the following year, and Winkler’s the Fonz became a cultural touchstone, with his leather jacket eventually landing in the Smithsonian. Years later Marshall acknowledged being the one behind the idea, for a 1977 episode, of putting Fonzie on water skis — an idea so outlandish that it spawned the phrase “jumped the shark,” said in reference to a show that is clearly past its prime.

Nevertheless, “Happy Days” spawned “Laverne and Shirley,” which Marshall created with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman, and “Mork and Mindy,” which Marshall created with Dale McRaven and Joe Glauberg. Both were as successful in the ratings as “Happy Days,” with “Laverne and Shirley” No. 1 for two seasons and “Mork and Mindy” peaking at No. 3. “Laverne and Shirley” starred Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall, Garry’s sister, who would go on to her own successful career as a director of feature films, while “Mork and Mindy” began the career of star Williams. Garry Marshall shared an Emmy nomination, his fifth, in 1979 as “Mork and Mindy” drew a mention for comedy series.

His first bigscreen blockbuster was 1990’s “Pretty Woman,” starring Julia Roberts as an idealized prostitute and Richard Gere as her client-cum-Prince Charming. The romantic comedy grossed $463 million worldwide. Roberts was Oscar nominated for best actress, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe for best comedy/musical — and Marshall scored a Cesar nomination as “Pretty Woman” drew a mention in the French awards’ foreign-film category.

Marshall told the New York Times that he wanted to make Roberts’ character somewhat less experienced. “I knew if we lowered the age and made her a new girl in the business, then people would say, ‘Oh, please don’t do that, honey.'”

Marshall also created the ABC sitcom “Angie” and exec produced other shows including “Happy Days” spinoff “Joanie Loves Chachi,” “The New Odd Couple,” “Blansky’s Beauties” and “Who’s Watching the Kids.”

He made his directorial debut in 1967 on his series “Hey, Landlord” and also helmed some episodes of “The Odd Couple,” “Happy Days,” “Mork and Mindy” and “Laverne and Shirley.” The first feature Marshall directed was the 1982 comedy “Young Doctors in Love,” essentially a spoof of “General Hospital,” starring Sean Young and Michael McKean.

His second feature effort, “The Flamingo Kid,” which Marshall scripted from a story by Neal Marshall, drew critical raves. Matt Dillon starred in the social comedy as a working-class kid who learns life lessons during a summer spent as a cabana boy.

“Nothing in Common” (1986) offered good moments from stars Jackie Gleason and Tom Hanks, playing father and son. Another modest success for Marshall came in the form of screwball comedy “Overboard,” starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

Tear-jerking chick flick “Beaches” (1988), starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey, scored with audiences, if not with critics, racking up a domestic gross of $57 million and a healthy afterlife on video.

Marshall reunited with his “Pretty Woman” stars Roberts and Gere for the 1999 box office success “Runaway Bride,” about a woman who keeps leaving her fiances at the altar. The New York Times said, “Garry Marshall smoothly turns Maggie’s little kink into bigscreen sitcom fodder.” The worldwide gross was $309 million.

The “The Princess Diaries” and its sequel were also big hits for Marshall . The films, which made a star of Anne Hathaway, saw global grosses of $165 million and $135 million, respectively.

Marshall took on a smaller film, “Georgia Rule,” and while the critics were generally unimpressed, the New York Times lauded the film, starring Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan and Felicity Huffman, for some surprising qualities: “Working against its maudlin impulses with lively humor, and at the same time undercutting its laughs with some hard, ugly themes, this movie is neither a standard weepie nor a comforting dramedy.”

The star-packed “Valentine’s Day” and sequel “New Year’s Day” were more commercially successful enterprises. Another sequel, “Mother’s Day,” following the same formula of lining up a large cast of top names for small parts, in this case Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis, was released in April 2016.

Marshall kept it in perspective: Speaking of the critical reception to “New Year’s Eve,” he told the New York Times, “I got killed on the last one, but it made $146 million worldwide.”

Garry Kent Maschiarelli was born in the Bronx, the son of a dance and a director of industrial films who would later become a producer on some of his son’s TV programs. He graduated from Northwestern U.’s Medill School of Journalism and began his career as a joke writer for comedians including Joey Bishop, then worked on the writing staff of “The Tonight Show With Jack Paar.”

Marshall also had a long acting career that began in the early 1960s. He played a hoodlum in the James Bond film “Goldfinger” and made appearances, most uncredited, in many of his film and TV projects. He had a recurring role on “Murphy Brown” as the head of the network and guested on shows ranging form “Monk” and “The Sarah Silverman Show” to “ER.” His many small film roles included a part in sister Penny’s “A League of Their Own” as a cheapskate baseball team owner, which he reprised in the brief TV series based on the movie. In his son Scott Marshall’s 2006 comedy “Keeping Up With the Steins,” Marshall had a small but notable role as the grandfather of the bar mitzvah boy who has adopted Native American customs.

Marshall also found the time for stage efforts. “Wrong Turn at Lungfish,” co-written with Lowell Ganz, played L.A., Chicago and Off Broadway, and “The Roast,” co-penned with Jerry Belson, played Broadway in a production helmed by Carl Reiner in 1980. Marshall also wrote the play “Shelves,” and in 1997, he and his daughter Kathleen founded the Falcon Theater in Burbank. Marshall also occasionally directed opera, including stagings of Jacques Offenbach’s “The Grand Duchess,” which opened the Los Angeles Opera’s 2005-06 season, and Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love” for the San Antonio Opera in January 2008.

Marshall received the American Comedy Awards’ Creative Achievement Award in 1990, the Writers Guild of America’s Valentine Davies Award in 1995, the PGA’s Honorary Lifetime Membership Award and Lifetime Achievement Award in Television in 1998 and the American Cinema Editors’ Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award in 2004. In 1997 he was inducted into the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame.

Marshall’s memoir “Wake Me When It’s Funny,” co-written with his daughter Lori and published in 1995, recounted his first 35 years in Hollywood. He wrote an additional memoir, “My Happy Days in Hollywood,” in 2012.

Marshall is survived by his wife, Barbara, to whom he was married since 1963; son Scott, a film director; and daughters Lori, an actress and casting director, and Kathleen, an actress; a number of grandchildren; and sisters Penny Marshall, an actress and film director, and Ronny Hallin, a TV producer.

[JSP]

R.I.P.

[Bonniegirl]

RIP Mr. Marshall!

[bmasters9]

Two of his E.P. credits from the title sequences of his comedies: Laverne & Shirley in 1976, and Mork & Mindy in 1978

[Crusinforabrusin]

Here's the Happy Days one

[HuntingtonM15]

So sad to hear. He truly was a legend. His brilliant work will not be forgotten.

[howilu]

It's a sad day in the sitcom world with the passing of Garry Marshall. He created some of TV's best known sitcoms, including The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy and Angie.

He also gave his sister Penny a big break when he cast her as Myrna on The Odd Couple and later in Laverne & Shirley. His biggest casting coup was Robin Williams as the alien Mork in a memorable Happy Days episode that led to the spinoff Mork and Mindy.

I also remember him on Murphy Brown when he played network head Stan Lansing. His nephew Andrew was played by the man who would also protray Pee Wee Herman, Paul Reubens.

But Marshall will also be remembered for his movies. He gave Julia Roberts her big break in Pretty Woman and later in Runaway Bride. He also directed The Princess Diaries movies that was the stepping stone for Anne Hathaway.

From his days as a writer of sitcom episodes for shows like Dick Van Dyke and The Lucy Show to his holiday themed movies such as Valentine's Day, Marshall was very prolific and successful. May he rest in peace.

[mets82]

Truly a legend has past away. Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and The Odd Couple, to me are iconic shows. What a true genius. RIP.

[AB]

May he rest in peace.

[Sal]

Garry Marshall was one of the greatest TV producers in history, right up there with Sheldon Leonard, Paul Henning, and Grant Tinker. He created some of the best shows of the 1970s, along with many of its more memorable characters, yet sadly he never got much critical acclaim or awards for his work, unlike Norman Lear, who I feel is a good man but fairly overrated and overvalued in the business. (Marshall even had to change the look and tone of Happy Days for good because Good Times was beating him in the ratings. Thankfully, that didn't last very long.) Thanks to his work, some of today's best-known and best-loved actors and directors got their start working for him: Ron Howard, Penny Marshall, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, to name a few. Even future TV legends like David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Ted Danson all appeared on his shows before becoming stars themselves.

Even though he was known as a producer, Marshall also did a little acting and probably should have done more of it since he was a bright and funny man in whatever roles he played. One of them reminded me of why I still love the classic shows, and the actors in them, over the newer and duller models. In one of his last TV guest spots, he appeared on "Two And A Half Men" in an episode called "Bite Me, Supreme Court". In the episode, Alan's mother was about to get married and Alan and Walden throw the groom (Carl Reiner) a surprise bachelor party, which also included Marshall, Tim Conway and Steve Lawrence, filling in for Dick Van Dyke, who refused to do the scene mainly because of its R-rated material. Now picture all of these veteran comedy legends at one end of the table and the regular cast of the series with relatively younger actors at the other end and what you have is a classic mismatch. All of the veterans were throwing out jokes and insults with ease at a non-stop pace that had me laughing hard even at the bad ones. (Even Lawrence did well at this even though he had gained his fame in the 1960s and 1970s for his singing career.) The regulars sat there helpless as if in awe and found it almost impossible to keep pace.

This is why it's great that their work from the old days is still around to be seen by future generations to love and treasure it. In Marshall's case, his shows were beloved by audiences and always scored high in the ratings and I made sure never to miss any of them whenever new episodes came out. The only complaint I have about his shows is that, in an era when spinoffs were common, he made Joanie Loves Chachi instead of Lenny and Squiggy but otherwise I thought his shows were great (even The Odd Couple, which started it all for him) and I am going to miss him and his work a lot. They really don't make them like this anymore.

RIP Garry Marshall and God Bless Penny and their family.

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by Sal

Garry Marshall was one of the greatest TV producers in history, right up there with Sheldon Leonard, Paul Henning, and Grant Tinker. He created some of the best shows of the 1970s, along with many of its more memorable characters, yet sadly he never got much critical acclaim or awards for his work, unlike Norman Lear, who I feel is a good man but fairly overrated and overvalued in the business. (Marshall even had to change the look and tone of Happy Days for good because Good Times was beating him in the ratings. Thankfully, that didn't last very long.) Thanks to his work, some of today's best-known and best-loved actors and directors got their start working for him: Ron Howard, Penny Marshall, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, to name a few. Even future TV legends like David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Ted Danson all appeared on his shows before becoming stars themselves.

Even though he was known as a producer, Marshall also did a little acting and probably should have done more of it since he was a bright and funny man in whatever roles he played. One of them reminded me of why I still love the classic shows, and the actors in them, over the newer and duller models. In one of his last TV guest spots, he appeared on "Two And A Half Men" in an episode called "Bite Me, Supreme Court". In the episode, Alan's mother was about to get married and Alan and Walden throw the groom (Carl Reiner) a surprise bachelor party, which also included Marshall, Tim Conway and Steve Lawrence, filling in for Dick Van Dyke, who refused to do the scene mainly because of its R-rated material. Now picture all of these veteran comedy legends at one end of the table and the regular cast of the series with relatively younger actors at the other end and what you have is a classic mismatch. All of the veterans were throwing out jokes and insults with ease at a non-stop pace that had me laughing hard even at the bad ones. (Even Lawrence did well at this even though he had gained his fame in the 1960s and 1970s for his singing career.) The regulars sat there helpless as if in awe and found it almost impossible to keep pace.

This is why it's great that their work from the old days is still around to be seen by future generations to love and treasure it. In Marshall's case, his shows were beloved by audiences and always scored high in the ratings and I made sure never to miss any of them whenever new episodes came out. The only complaint I have about his shows is that, in an era when spinoffs were common, he made Joanie Loves Chachi instead of Lenny and Squiggy but otherwise I thought his shows were great (even The Odd Couple, which started it all for him) and I am going to miss him and his work a lot. They really don't make them like this anymore.

RIP Garry Marshall and God Bless Penny and their family.

How fitting that one of Garry's last onscreen appearances was alongside Carl Reiner since one of Garry's first jobs was as a writer on the Dick Van Dyke Show with producer Carl Reiner as his boss! Rest in peace Garry Marshall

[Babalu]

Tony Randall told a story that when the cast and crew were working on an episode of The Odd Couple during the week before filming, and things weren't going very well, everyone would say, "Wait until Garry comes and he'll fix it. And he always did." The man lived to be funny and we all benefited from it.

[TVFactFan]

RIP


surprised there wasn't a mention of a tribute by me-tv or antenna tv

[Sal]

How fitting is this? According to IMDB, his last acting credit is from an episode of the new "Odd Couple" with Matthew Perry called "Madison & Son" where he plays Oscar's father. I would hope that CBS would want to re-run that episode again this summer before the new season starts as a tribute to him and the show that he helped to create in 1970 which became one of my favorite TGIF shows ever.

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

RIP


surprised there wasn't a mention of a tribute by me-tv or antenna tv

Cloo did one. http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2016/0...all-on-tv.html