Sadly, he passed away today aged 81 from complications with pneumonia after having a stroke.
Advertisement
Wendell Pierce, who starred in the 2015 reboot of The Odd Couple, paid tribute to Marshall. He’s amusing. He’s so damn amusing and he’s just a handsome, lovable man, and it’s an honor to have been a part of his movies. Gary Marshall I love you. “Here’s CBS is behind [the “Odd Couple” revival]”.
Marshall is survived by his wife, Barbara – to whom he was married to for 53 years – son Scott, daughters Lori and Kathleen, and sisters Penny Marshall and Ronny Hallin.
It’s hard to overstate how huge and influential Marshall’s sitcoms were in the late 1970s.
The ’50s-set Happy Days would launch the multi-hyphenate career of Ron Howard and make Henry Winkler a teen icon, as well as spawn the offshoots Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and (the short-lived) Joanie Loves Chachi.
“They say that I don’t enlighten everybody”, Marshall told Larry King earlier this year. But Winkler scored the role after reading only six lines at his audition and became a breakout star.
Several other revivals of “The Odd Couple” were tried in later years.
“In the neighborhood where we grew up in, the Bronx, you only had a few choices”. Honoured I spent time with this kind man.
Along with creating numerous must-see TV shows of the 1960s and ’70s, Marshall also gave America’s Sweetheart Julia Roberts her breakout role in the 1990 blockbuster “Pretty Woman”. He’d later assume bit parts-usually as a variation of his larger-than-life self-in movies like A League of Their Own, Hocus Pocus, Never Been Kissed, and in a rollicking two-episode arc on the FX series Louie.
Marshall’s other recent work included lending his voice to the animated series “BoJack Horseman” and “Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero”.
Actor Albert Brooks wrote, “RIP Garry Marshall”.
As word of his death spread throughout Hollywood, celebrities took to social media to remember him.
The passing of directing giant Garry Marshall was quickly mourned throughout the entertainment world – from both the many stars he directed to those who loved his heartwarming films. He was a kind and generous man who gave everything to his family and his work. “I did not exaggerate”.
Advertisement
But I’d claim Marshall as foremost a great TV artist, bringing to the medium great generosity of heart that rarely veered into mere sentimentality.
