News

Actress, director Penny Marshall dies at age 75, TMZ reports

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 15: Penny Marshall attends the SNL 40th Anniversary Celebration at Rockefeller Plaza on February 15, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/FilmMagic)

Director, actress and comedian Penny Marshall has passed away at the age of 75.

Marshall's publicist, Michelle Bega, said Tuesday that Marshall died in her Los Angeles home on Monday due to complications from diabetes. "Our family is heartbroken," the Marshall family said in a statement.

Marshall rose to fame from her 1976 hit sitcom "Laverne & Shirley".

In "Laverne & Shirley," among television's biggest hits for much of its seven-season 1976-1983 run, the nasal-voiced, Bronx-born Marshall starred as Laverne DeFazio alongside Cindy Williams as a pair of blue-collar roommates toiling on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery. A spinoff of "Happy Days," the series was the rare network hit about working-class characters, and its self-empowering opening song ("Give her any chance, she'll take it/ Give her any rule, she'll break it") foreshadowed Marshall's own path as a filmmaker in Hollywood.

"Almost everyone had a theory about why 'Laverne & Shirley' took off," Marshall wrote in her 2012 memoir "My Mother Was Nuts." ''I thought it was simply because Laverne and Shirley were poor and there were no poor people on TV, but there were plenty of them sitting at home and watching TV."

Marshall directed several episodes of "Laverne & Shirley," which her older brother, the late filmmaker-producer Garry Marshall, created. Those episodes helped launch Marshall as a filmmaker. When Whoopi Goldberg clashed with director Howard Zieff, she brought in Marshall to direct "Jumpin' Jack Flash," the 1986 comedy starring Goldberg.

Not only did Marshall shine on screen, she also directed blockbusters like "Big", starring Tom Hanks, "A League of Their Own" and "Awakenings", starring Robin Williams.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" did reasonable business, but Marshall's next film made her the first woman to direct a film that grossed more than $100 million. Her 1988 hit comedy "Big," starring Tom Hanks, was about a 12-year-old boy who wakes up in the body of a 30-year-old New York City man. The film, which earned Hanks an Oscar nomination, grossed $151 million worldwide, or about $320 million accounting for inflation.

Marshall reteamed with Hanks for "A League of Their Own," the 1992 comedy about the women's professional baseball league begun during World War II, starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell. That, too, crossed $100 million, making $107.5 million domestically.

More than any other films, "A League of Their Own" and "Big" ensured Marshall's stamp on the late '80s, early '90s. The piano dance scene in FAO Schwartz in "Big" became iconic. Hanks' reprimand "There's no crying in baseball," from "A League of Their Own," remains quoted on baseball diamonds everywhere.

"She had a heart of gold. Tough as nails," recalled Danny DeVito, who starred in Marshall's 1994 comedy "Renaissance Man." ''She could play round ball with the best of them."

The pair of hits also made Marshall a beacon to other aspiring female filmmakers. Ava DuVernay, whose "A Wrinkle in Time" was the first $100 million-budgeted film directed by a woman of color, said Tuesday: "Thank you, Penny Marshall. For the trails you blazed. The laughs you gave. The hearts you warmed."

In between "Big" and "A League of Their Own," Marshall made the Oliver Sacks adaptation "Awakenings," with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. The medical drama, while not as successful at the box office, became only the second film directed by a woman nominated for best picture.

She also became the first woman in history to direct a movie grossing more than $100 million.

Actor and Dorchester native Mark Wahlberg issued a statement on Marshall's death on his instagram page, saying "Rest in peace, Penny. Such a wonderful, funny and talented lady. Without her support and encouragement, I would not be where I am today. She will be missed."

Carole Penny Marshall was born Oct. 15, 1942, in the Bronx. Her mother, Marjorie Marshall, was a dance teacher, and her father, Anthony, made industrial films. Their marriage was strained. Her mother's caustic wit — a major source of inspiration for Marshall's memoir — was formative. (One remembered line: "You were a miscarriage, but you were stubborn and held on.")

"Those words are implanted in your soul, unfortunately. It's just the way it was," Marshall once recalled. "You had to learn at a certain age what sarcasm is, you know? When she says it about somebody else, you laughed, but when it was you, you didn't laugh so much."

During college at the University of New Mexico, Marshall met Michael Henry, whom she married briefly for two years and with whom she had a daughter, Tracy. Marshall would later wed the director Rob Reiner, a marriage that lasted from 1971 to 1981. Tracy, who took the name Reiner, became an actress; one of her first roles was a brief appearance in her mother's "Jumpin' Jack Flash." (Marshall is also survived by her older sister, Ronny, and three grandchildren.)

Marshall never again matched the run of "Big," ''Awakenings" and "A League of Their Own." Her next film, the Army recruit comedy "Renaissance Man," flopped. She directed "The Preacher's Wife" (1996) with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston. Her last film as director was 2001's "Riding in Cars With Boys," with Drew Barrymore. Marshall also helmed episodes of ABC's "According to Jim" in 2009 and Showtime's "United States of Tara" in 2010 and 2011, and directed the 2010 TV movie "Women Without Men."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.