Happy Birthday, Garry Marshall! Born today in in 1934 as Garry Kent Maschiarelli, this American actor, screenwriter, film producer and film director's career was marked by many peaks, including creating such classic television sitcoms.
Born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, Marshall was the son of Anthony Wallace Marshall, a director of industrial films and later a producer. His mother, Marjorie Irene, was a tap dance teacher who ran a tap dance school.
Marshall was the older brother of American actress, director and producer Penny Marshall ('Big') and American television producer Ronelle "Ronny" Marshall Hallin.
Years later, Marshall attended DeWitt Clinton High School and Northwestern University, where he wrote a sports column for The Daily Northwestern.
Marshall began his career as a joke writer for such comedians as Joey Bishop and American actor and performer Phil Foster.
Marshall later became a writer for the American late-night talk show The Tonight Show (1954–present) with Jack Paar. Originally, Marshall had partnered with American writer and television producer Fred Freeman.
In 1961, both Marshall and Freeman moved to Hollywood, where they broke into writing situation comedies.
Most notably, this was for the NBC American black and white/color sitcom The Joey Bishop Show (1961–1965). Freeman, however, found that he didn't enjoy sitcom work, and moved back to New York.
During the show's airtime, Marshall had married American actress Barbara Sue Wells in March 1963. They would remain married together until Garry's death.
They would have three children together. They are American actress Lori Marshall, American actress Kathleen Marshall, and American director, actor, and musician Scott Marshall.
Afterwards, Marshall soon teamed up with a new writing partner. This was American writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films Jerry Belson. The two then worked as a team throughout the 1960s.
They worked on The Danny Thomas Show (titled Make Room for Daddy for its first three seasons) (1953–1964), The Joey Bishop Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966) and the The Lucy Show (1962–1968).
Marshall wore many hats during this period of his career: most of his hit television series were created and executive produced by him.
Marshall and Belson's first television series as creator-producers was the American sitcom Hey, Landlord for NBC, which lasted for one season (1966–1967).
They then adapted American playwright, screenwriter and author Neil Simon's 1965 play for the eponymous American television situation comedy The Odd Couple for ABC (formally titled onscreen as Neil Simon's The Odd Couple) (1970–1975).
Moving into the 1970s, Marshall worked on his own or with others, and created Happy Days (1974–1984) and Laverne & Shirley (a spin-off of "Happy Days" and co-starring his sister Penny) (1976–1983).
Marshall also appeared in two episodes of Happy Days, credited as Prom Drummer/Drum Player.
He also created the ostensible spin-off of Happy Days entitled Blansky's Beauties (February 12, 1977–June 27, 1977), Mork & Mindy (1978–1982), (a spin-off after a highly successful episode of Happy Days) and Angie (1979–1980).
Afterwards, Marshall launched independent productions through his theater (The Falcon in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles California) and in association with productions launched with talent he was grooming and working with for years.
In the early 1980s, Marshall met American character actor Héctor Elizondo while playing basketball and became great friends.
Afterwards, Elizondo appeared in every film that Marshall directed. Elizondo once noted that he is written into all of Marshall's contracts whether he wanted to do the film or not.
During the mid-1980s, Marshall had a film hit as the writer and director of the 1984 American coming-of-age romantic comedy/drama film 'The Flamingo Kid'. It starred Matt Dillon and Elizondo.
Marshall later went on to focus on directing feature films, with a series of hits.
Most notably, this included the film of which he is best known for directing. This was the 1990 American romantic comedy film 'Pretty Woman', a modern update on Cinderella.
The film's title Pretty Woman is based on "Oh, Pretty Woman", written and sung by Roy Orbison. It is the first film on-screen collaboration between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
The film also co-stars Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy (in his final performance), Laura San Giacomo and Jason Alexander in supporting roles.
Gere and Robert's second film together wouldn't be until Marshall's 1999 American romance comedy road film 'Runaway Bride'.
Originally intended to be a dark cautionary tale about class and prostitution in Los Angeles, California, 'Pretty Woman' was re-conceived as a romantic comedy with a large budget.
Upon release, it was widely successful at the box office and was the third-highest-grossing film of 1990. On a budget of $14 million, the film grossed $463.4 million at the box office.
'Pretty Woman' saw the highest number of ticket sales in the United States ever for a romantic comedy.
Box Office Mojo listed it as the number-one romantic comedy by the highest estimated domestic tickets sold at 42,176,400, slightly ahead of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' (2002) at 41,419,500 tickets.
However, 'Pretty Woman' received mixed reviews, though Roberts received a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance. This occurred at the 63rd Academy Awards in late March 1991.
In addition, American screenwriter, producer and director J. F. Lawton was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a BAFTA Award.
Marshall also occasionally acted in television and film. This included appearing on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown (1988–1998 as the very excitable, aggressive, and micro- managing network president Stan Lansing.
This also included appearing in Albert Brooks' ('Real Life') 'Lost in America (1985), credited as Casino Manager and in 'Soapdish' (1991), credited as Edmund Edwards.
Marshall even appeared in his sister Penny’s film 'A League of Their Own' (1992) as the candy bar mogul and AAGPBL founder Walter Harvey. His character was based on American chewing gum manufacturer and executive in Major League Baseball Philip K. Wrigley.
Marshall had also provided a guest-starring voice for The Simpsons (1989–present) episodes "Eight Misbehavin'" (S11E07) (as Larry Kidkill) and "Homer the Father" (as Sheldon Leavitt) (S22E12).
One year after 'A League of Their own', Marshall made a cameo appearance in the 1993 American comedy/horror film 'Hocus Pocus'. This was along side his younger sister Penny Marshall ('Big').
Although uncredited, he is credited on IMDb as Devil (Himself). His costume fools the Sanderson sisters into mistaking him for The Master.
In 1995, Marshall received the Valentine Davies Award. This is a special award given to a member of the Writer's Guild of America West (WGAW) whose contributions to the entertainment industry and the community-at-large have brought dignity and honor to writers everywhere.
Later that same year, Marshall co-authored the autobiography Wake Me When It's Funny: How to Break Into Show Business and Stay There with his daughter Lori.
In 1996, Marshall was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of excellence and innovation in creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.
The following year, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame for his contributions to the field of television in 1997.
On June 28 of that same year, TV Guide® created a 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time list. A handful of episodes from shows he had created appeared on the list.
These included "Password" at #5 (S03E11) and "Fat Farm" at #58 (S02E08) (The Odd Couple), "Richie Fights Back" (S03E06) (Happy Days) at #88, and "Mork's Mixed Emotions" (S01E20) (Mork & Mindy) at #94.
In 2002, TV Guide® ranked Makin' It number 40 on its TV Guide's® 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list.
Starring David Naughton and Denise Miller, the program lasted for nine episodes, running from February 1 to March 23, 1979.
In 2005, Marshall provided the voice for Buck Cluck. This was for Disney's American computer-animated family/comedy film 'Chicken Little'.
On June 15, 2009, TV Guide® made a revised list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. "Password" was at #58, and "Fonzie Loves Pinkie" (S04E01) (Happy Days) was at #87.
In 2012, Marshall was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters' Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
In the 2014 Rose Parade on January 1, Marshall portrayed the role of "director" on Burbank's "Lights... camera... action!" float.
On January 30, Marshall appeared in a guest star role on the CBS American television sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003–2015). This was for the episode "Bite Me, Supreme Court" (S11E13).
Later that same year, Marshall received the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.
For his contribution to the film and television industry, Marshall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard.
Two years later, Marshall passed due to complications of pneumonia after suffering a stroke at a hospital in Burbank, California. This was on the morning of Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Marshall was 81.
Among his credits, Marshall is also known for directing 'Nothing in Common' (1986),'Overboard' (1987), 'Beaches' (1988), 'Frankie and Johnny' (1991),'The Princess Diaries' (2001), 'Raising Helen' (2004), 'The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement' (2004), 'Valentine's Day' (2010,) 'New Year's Eve' (2011), and 'Mother's Day' (2016).
Marshall had been active from 1959–2016.
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