Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer, and producer.
His notable credits include creating Happy Days and its various spinoffs,
developing Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple for television, and directing
Nothing In Common, Dear God, Pretty Woman, Frankie and Johnny, Runaway
Bride, Georgia Rule, Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, Beaches, The Princess
Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
Early life Marshall was born in the New York City
borough of The Bronx, the son of Marjorie Irene, a tap dance teacher who
ran a tap dance school, and Anthony Wallace Marshall, a director of
industrial films and later a producer. He is the brother of actress/director
Penny Marshall and Ronny Marshall Hallin, a TV producer. His father was of
Italian descent, his family having come from San Martino sulla Marrucina,
Chieti, Abruzzo, and his mother was of Welsh and Irish ancestry; His father
changed his last name from "Masciarelli" to "Marshall" before Garry was born.
Marshall was baptized Presbyterian and also raised Lutheran for a time. He
attended De Witt Clinton High School, where he was a classmate of Spider-Man
artist Steve Ditko, and Northwestern University, where he wrote a sports
column for The Daily Northwestern, and is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega
fraternity. Career
Marshall began his career as a joke writer for such comedians as Joey Bishop
and Phil Foster, and then became a writer for The Tonight Show with Jack
Paar. In 1961 he moved to Hollywood, where he teamed up with Jerry Belson as
a writer for television. The pair worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Joey
Bishop Show, The Danny Thomas Show, and The Lucy Show. Their first television
series as creator/producers was Hey, Landlord, which lasted one season. They
then adapted Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple for television. On his own,
Marshall created Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, starring his sister Penny, and
Mork & Mindy, which were produced by his associates Thomas L. Miller, Robert L.
Boyett, and Edward K. Milkis. He was also a co-creator of the short-lived
sitcom Makin' It, which the three men also produced.
In the early 1980s, Marshall met Hector Elizondo while playing basketball and
became great friends. Elizondo appears in every movie that Marshall directed,
beginning with Marshall's first feature film, Young Doctors in Love. Elizondo
once noted that he is written into all of Marshall's contracts whether he
wanted to do the movie or not. In the opening credits of Exit to Eden, their
eighth movie together, Elizondo is credited "As Usual ... Hector Elizondo".
In 1984 Marshall had a movie hit as the writer and director of The Flamingo Kid.
A consummate producer, Marshall wore many hats during this period of his
career: most of his hit TV shows were created and executive produced by him.
His first producing assignment came with Hey, Landlord in 1966. He stepped up the
very next year, producing The Lucy Show. Then came successes in producing The Odd
Couple, Laverne and Shirley, Blansky's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Angie, and Happy
Days. Marshall also launched independent
productions, via his theatre and in association with productions launched
with talent he was grooming and working with for years. One such project, titled
Four Stars, was directed by actress Lynda Goodfriend, and was based on a
play Goodfriend had read when she was studying at the Lee Strasberg Center,
which had been written by John Schulte and Kevin Mahoney. It starred Julie
Paris and film veteran Bert Kramer. Marshall went on to focus on directing
feature films, with a series of hits, such as Beaches, Pretty Woman, The
Princess Diaries, and most recently Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve.
Marshall is also an actor, making his TV acting debut starting as a child with a
recurring role in the long-running CBS series The George Burns and Gracie Allen
Show, appearing on the television series Murphy Brown and in such movies as
Soapdish, on FOX's filmmaking-competition reality TV series
On the Lot, which aired in 2007, and provided a guest-starring voice for The
Simpsons episodes Eight Misbehavin' and Homer the Father. He also appeared in
two episodes of Happy Days as a drummer. Marshall's theater credits include Wrong
Turn at Lungfish, which he wrote in collaboration with Lowell Ganz, The
Roast with Jerry Belson, Shelves and Happy Days: A New Musical with Paul
Williams, which had its premiere at The Falcon Theater in Burbank, California in
the summer of 2006. In 1996 he 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.
In 1997, Marshall was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame for his
contributions to the field of television.
Marshall also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. He played the
role of "director" on Burbank's "Lights...camera...action!" float in the
2014 Rose Parade. His son, Scott Marshall, is also a director. In 2014,
he appeared in a guest star role in a February episode in season 11 of Two and
a Half Men on CBS. In 2014, Marshall received the Laurel
Award for TV Writing Achievement from the Writers Guild of America.
Directing credits Television credits as writer or producer
Acting credits In popular culture
Comedian Paul F. Tompkins plays a parody of Garry Marshall on the Comedy Bang
Bang podcast and TV show. References
Further reading External links
Garry Marshall at the Internet Movie Database
Garry Marshall interview video at the Archive of American Television