Marshall, Garry
Dates
- Existence: 1924 - 2016
Biography
Garry Kent Marshall was an American screenwriter, film director, producer, and actor. Born in the Bronx, New York, on November 13, 1924, he was the oldest of three children. His father, Anthony Marshall (formerly Masciarelli), was an industrial film maker, and his mother, Marjorie Irene (formerly Ward), a tap dancing instructor. He had two sisters, Penny Marshall and Ronny Marshall Hallin. Marshall attended De Witt Clinton High School in the Bronx and went on to attend Northwestern University.
At Northwestern, Marshall wrote about sports for The Daily Northwestern, performed in the Waa-Mu show and was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He demonstrated a talent for playing the drums and telling jokes. He graduated from Northwestern in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree from Medill School of Journalism. He then served two years in the U.S. Army, stationed in Korea, writing for Seoul News and Stars and Stripes and serving as production chief for the Armed Forces Radio Network.
Following his military service, Marshall worked briefly for the New York Daily News while also moonlighting as a stand-up comic and writing jokes for comedians such as Joey Bishop and Phil Foster. In 1960, he was hired by Jack Paar to write jokes for The Tonight Show. He partnered with writer Fred Freeman (whom he met while at Northwestern), and, in 1961, he and Freeman moved to Hollywood to write for the newly launched The Joey Bishop Show. Freeman, however, decided to move back to New York. Marshall stayed in California and partnered with writer Jerry Belson. Throughout the 1960s, the pair wrote scripts for several notable television comedy favorites, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Danny Thomas Show, and The Lucy Show.
On March 9, 1963, Marshall married Barbara Sue Wells. Together they had three children, Scott, Lori, and Kathleen.
In the mid 1960s, Marshall and Belson moved beyond script writing into writing and producing original television content. In 1966, they created Hey, Landlord. In 1970, the pair adapted Neil Simon’s play, The Odd Couple, into a successful, multi-season television show starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.
After the triumph of The Odd Couple, Marshall began to create shows on his own and with partners other than Belson. The 1970s were a period of remarkable success for Marshall, including the launch of his most well-known situation comedy series, Happy Days (1974-1984). Roughly based on Marshall’s boyhood experiences growing up in the Bronx, Happy Days was an immediate success and generated several successful spinoff productions, including Laverne & Shirley (1976-1983), and Mork & Mindy (1978-1982). These shows were notable both for their popularity, as well as serving as career launchpads for notable actors, such as Robin Williams and Henry “Fonzie” Winkler.
During the 1980s, Marshall focused on directing, producing, and writing full length feature films. His directorial debut was Young Doctors in Love (1982), a comedy that parodied hospital soap operas. He went on to direct a number of well received comedy films in the 1980s. These included The Flamingo Kid (1984), starring Matthew Dillon in a lighthearted coming of age comedy, Nothing in Common (1986), starring Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason and Eva Marie Saint, and Overboard (1987), starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. In a departure from his usual comedic focus, Marshall directed Beaches (1988), a terminal illness drama starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey.
In 1990, Marshall directed the blockbuster film Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The film was immensely popular, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 1990 in the United States and Canada, and the third highest-grossing movie worldwide according to BoxOffice Mojo. Respected film critic Roger Ebert heralded Pretty Woman as a refreshing take on romantic comedy. The film is commonly credited with making Roberts a major Hollywood star. Roberts received a Best Actress Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe in the Best Actress category for her role as Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman. Marshall continued to direct throughout the 1990s, with films such as Frankie & Johnny (1991), starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, and Exit to Eden (1994), starring Dana Delany, Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell. Marshall then reunited his stars from Pretty Woman, Gere and Roberts, in another romantic comedy, Runaway Bride (1999). In 2001, Marshall directed the family comedy, The Princess Diaries, starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway. Like Pretty Woman did with Julia Roberts, The Princess Diaries is viewed as introducing the relatively unknown actress, Anne Hathaway, who subsequently went on to much Hollywood success. Marshall later directed a sequel to The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), as well as the comedic drama Raising Helen (2004), starring Kate Hudson. Marshall’s later films include Georgia Rule (2007), Valentine’s Day (2010), New Year’s Eve (2011), and Mother’s Day (2016).
In addition to his work behind the camera, Marshall worked in front of the camera, excelling in comedic minor character roles, guest voice appearances, and often uncredited cameo appearances in over eighty different film, television and animated productions, including many of his own films. He appeared in twenty-five episodes of the TV sitcom Murphy Brown between 1994 and 1997. He did guest voice appearances in two episodes of season 11 of The Simpsons (episodes 7 and 22). He had a comedic role as an indifferent casino operator in Albert Brooks’s Lost In America (1985), and he appeared in his sister Penny Marshall’s hit movie, A League of Their Own (1992). Both he and Penny had cameo roles as a married couple in Hocus Pocus (1993) where Marshall appeared costumed for Halloween as the Devil. Reflecting his own affinity for playing the drums, he appeared in the role of a drummer on multiple occasions, including in two episodes of Happy Days, and in his Overboard (1987) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) films.
Marshall made it a point to cast family and friends into his productions, and to insert objects that reflected his favorite pastimes and life experiences into his sets. His sister, Penny Marshall, had a recurring role in The Odd Couple and starred in Laverne & Shirley as Laverne DeFazio. Marshall’s sister Ronny was the casting director for Mork and Mindy, credited with bringing Robin Williams to that classic role. Marshall insisted that his good friend Hector Elizondo have a role in every film he directed. His strong sense of loyalty to his alma mater, Northwestern University, showed up in many of his shows and films, where a minor character would be donning a Northwestern tee shirt or sweatshirt in the background, or, as in Happy Days, where a Northwestern pennant was always featured on the set.
Throughout his career, Marshall maintained an interest in live theater. From 1976 to 2005, he wrote for his play, The Roast, with partner Jerry Belson. The Roast ran at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City in 1980. Marshall co-wrote Wrong Turn at Lungfish with Lowell Ganz, and he directed productions of the play in Chicago (Steppenwolf Theatre, 1990) and New York (Promenade Theatre, 1993). In 2005, Marshall made his comedic opera directing debut with his adaption of The Grand Duchess at the Los Angeles Opera. In 2007, he directed his adaption of Donizetti’s 1832 Elixir of Love at the San Antonio Opera.
Reflecting his commitment to the preservation of live theater, Marshall founded the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California, which opened in 1997. Named after his neighborhood “Falcon gang” group of friends while growing up in the Bronx, he sought to feature and promote emerging talent and live productions. After Marshall’s death in 2016, the Marshall family elected to keep the theatre open and, to honor his legacy, renamed it the Garry Marshall Theatre. Marshall co-wrote two memoirs. His first, Wake Me When It’s Funny (1995), recounted Marshall’s debut in Hollywood and his observations on getting a start in show business. The second, My Happy Days in Hollywood (2012), was a more traditional memoir in which Marshall reflected on his life and career, from his stick-ball playing days in the Bronx, to working on set with actors such as Julia Roberts and Robin Williams (among many others). Marshall’s take away message, as relayed in My Happy Days in Hollywood, was that life and family held greater significance than success in show business.
During his life, Marshall remained very loyal to Northwestern University. He returned often to the school as a speaker and served as a life trustee and was a member of the Northwestern University Leadership Circle. He was instrumental in creating and supporting several campus spaces as well — including the Barbara and Garry Marshall Studio Wing in John J. Louis Hall, and the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center (named for Marshall’s mother, a tap dance instructor). Marshall also made major contributions toward the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts.
Marshall died in Burbank, California on July 16, 2016.
Occupations
- Television producers and directors
- Motion picture producers and directors
- Television comedy writers
- Actors
Places
- Bronx (New York, N.Y.) (Place of Birth)
- Burbank (Los Angeles County, Calif.) (Place of Death)
- United States (Associated Country)
Languages Used
- English