Writer-director Garry Marshall, whose TV hits included “Happy Days” “Laverne & Shirley” and box-office successes included “Pretty Woman” and “Runaway Bride”, has died.
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Marshall passed away from complications of pneumonia following a stroke at a hospital, Bega said in a statement Tuesday.
Happy Days star Henry Winkler led tributes to the show’s creator, tweeting: “Garry Marshall Rest In Peace”.
That film was not only one of the biggest hits of the year, but also turned Roberts into a household name, winning her a Golden Globe best actress award as well as an Oscar nomination.
Richard Gere: Garry of course was one of those truly important people one is blessed to meet in one’s lifetime.
His credits also included 2010’s romantic comedy Valentine’s Day, which had an ensemble cast including Jessica Alba, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper and Taylor Swift, and Mother’s Day, starring Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson, which was released in April. Details of his death are yet to be made public but his sister Penny Marshall confirmed to CBS News that her brother died on Tuesday night (Los Angeles time). But he found he was better at writing punchlines.
Garry, who was born in NY in 1934, began his TV career as a writer in the 1960s, before creating his first major TV hit The Odd Couple – based on the Neil Simon play of the same name. He caught the eye of comic Joey Bishop, who brought him to Los Angeles to write for “The Joey Bishop Show”.
Marshall’s first foray into show business coincided with the dawn of color-broadcasted television, where he began working as a writer in 1961 for programs such as The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, and later and The Lucy Show.
In 1970 Marshall had a substantial hit when he developed and produced an adaptation of Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple” for ABC.
“Critics have knocked me for targeting society’s lowest common denominator”, he wrote.
He was also behind “Mork and Mindy”, the TV show which provided a breakthrough role for the late Robin Williams as oddball alien Mork.
After cranking out what Marshall once estimated to be 1,000 sitcom episodes, he switched his focus to the big screen with 1984’s “The Flamingo Kid”, a coming-of-age story starring Matt Dillon, which Marshall wrote and directed.
The director also helmed movies like “The Princess Diaries” and “Runaway Bride”, which continue to run on the small screen every now and then. Marshall would later work with both Roberts and Gere nearly a decade later on the endearing but less popular Runaway Bride in 1999.
A memorial is being planned for his birth anniversary on November 13.
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Marshall is survived by his wife of 53 years, Barbara, and three children, including Scott, a film director.
