Penny Marshall
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Penny Marshall (born October 15, 1942) is an American actress, producer and director. She was the first woman to direct two films that grossed over $100 million each (Big and A League of their Own).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Penny Marshall was born in The Bronx, New York to Anthony Wallace Marsciarelli, an Italian American, and Marjorie Irene Ward, who had English and Scottish ancestry. She is the sister of writer, producer and director Garry Marshall, neither of whom were raised Catholic, but rather in their mother's Protestant faith. She is a graduate of Walton High School in New York City and attended the University of New Mexico.
[edit] Career
Marshall first gained prominence as a television actress with a recurring guest role on The Odd Couple from 1971 - 1975. She then played the role of the wise-cracking brewery worker Laverne DeFazio in the popular TV sitcom Laverne and Shirley from 1976 - 1983. While on Laverne and Shirley, she made two guest star appearances on Mary Tyler Moore as Mary's neighbor in her new apartment building, Paula Kovacks.
She has directed several successful feature motion pictures since the mid-1980s, including Big (first film directed by a woman to gross over USD $100 million), Awakenings starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro, and A League of Their Own, which starred Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell. She has also lent her voice the evil nanny in The Simpsons, Ms. Botz, and played a cameo role as herself in HBO's hit series Entourage.
[edit] Personal life
Marshall was married to actor and director Rob Reiner (1971 -1981). Before their marriage she and future husband Reiner lived on opposite sides of the Bronx's Grand Concourse without knowing each other. Marshall is an avid collector of sports memorabilia and a season ticket holder for the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers.
[edit] Filmography
As actress:
- The Savage Seven (1968)
- How Sweet It Is! (1968)
- The Grasshopper (1970)
- The Christian Licorice Store (1971) (scenes deleted)
- How Come Nobody's on Our Side? (1975)
- 1941 (1979)
- Movers & Shakers (1985)
- She's Having a Baby (1988) (Cameo)
- Hocus Pocus (1993)
- Get Shorty (1995) (Cameo)
- One Vision (1998) (documentary)
- Special Delivery (1999)
- Stateside (2004)
- Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005) (Cameo)
As director:
- Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)
- Big (1988)
- Awakenings (1990)
- A League of Their Own (1992)
- Renaissance Man (1994)
- The Preacher's Wife (1996)
- Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
