She made all her dreams come true.
December 18, 2018 2:02 PM   Subscribe

In a league of her own. RIP Hollywood trail blazer Penny Marshall, 75, due to complications from diabetes. While hosting legendary joint birthday parties with best friend Carrie Fisher, she was the first woman to direct a movie that grossed $100 million. With Big, A League of Their Own, and Awakenings, Marshall blazed a trail for women directors: Penny Marshall’s groundbreaking directing career, explained in 3 movies. Also: she wrote a 2012 memoir My Mother Was Nuts. Her mother wanted her to be a dancer, which "didn't take," and yet what can I say about her dancing here, here, and here. And despite physical comedy being mostly male, she was brilliant at that too! The top 5 Laverne & Shirley physical comedy moments. Also: Penny on her famous brother Garry. The Hollywood tributes are pouring in.
posted by Melismata (84 comments total) 37 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by grumpybear69 at 2:03 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by gauche at 2:03 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by solotoro at 2:05 PM on December 18, 2018


As a little gay kid in the seventies, having Laverne & Shirley as a subtextual gay couple in the vacuum of media representation was incredibly important (see also: Skipper & Gilligan, Felix & Oscar, Ernie & Bert, Laurel & Hardy, Jack & Rochester). You could leave us out, but we were still there, hiding in plain sight, and I still revere Laverne & Shirley for leaving it just open enough to interpretation.
posted by sonascope at 2:06 PM on December 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


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posted by anoirmarie at 2:08 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by Philofacts at 2:14 PM on December 18, 2018


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(Confession: I always thought that Garry was Penny's father)
posted by NoMich at 2:15 PM on December 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


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posted by cooker girl at 2:16 PM on December 18, 2018


. I remember her first as Myrna Turner in the Odd Couple.

Big, Awakenings and A League of their Own is a pretty damn great triple play of movies. Funny how for a while there in the 80s a lot of the big directors were from the same sit-com world: Penny Marshall, her brother Garry, her ex Rob Reiner, Rob's Dad Carl and her Happy Days co-star Ron Howard.
posted by octothorpe at 2:19 PM on December 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Thank you for putting together such a good post. Penny Marshall set a great example of a woman being fun, funny and a smart business woman. She'll be missed.

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posted by theora55 at 2:21 PM on December 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


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posted by praemunire at 2:29 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by LobsterMitten at 2:34 PM on December 18, 2018


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2018. Dammit
posted by Faintdreams at 2:37 PM on December 18, 2018


A friend of mine was her assistant sometime in the late 1980s; he has gone on to work in the production end of show business, doing various technical jobs on any sort of stage production here in town. He always said she was a great person to work for and today on facebook gave her credit for helping him get started in his career. Definitely gone too soon

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posted by TedW at 2:38 PM on December 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Another little piece of childhood. She was so talented.

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posted by 4ster at 2:39 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by suelac at 2:41 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by Silverstone at 2:52 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by Hutch at 2:55 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by sleeping bear at 2:58 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by AzraelBrown at 2:59 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by pjmoy at 3:00 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by elizilla at 3:02 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by Pendragon at 3:03 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by webmutant at 3:17 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by MythMaker at 3:28 PM on December 18, 2018


Wonderful post Melismata, thank you.

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posted by Frayed Knot at 3:29 PM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


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posted by cazoo at 3:32 PM on December 18, 2018


(Confession: I always thought that Garry was Penny's father)

Well he was older and produced her shows, so it wasn’t a regular sibling relationship (I heard somewhere that he’d withhold her paychecks when he was mad at her)....
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:38 PM on December 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Penny was the shit. That's all I got.


posted by bondcliff at 3:41 PM on December 18, 2018 [26 favorites]


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posted by eckeric at 3:43 PM on December 18, 2018


Today there is crying in baseball.
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posted by dannyboybell at 3:43 PM on December 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


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One of the photoshop evil geniuses at b3ta.com made a montage of celebrities who died in 2018 two days after Stan Lee passed. It has been getting more and more incomplete almost everyday... and it was already tragically overcrowded.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:45 PM on December 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


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posted by Sphinx at 3:45 PM on December 18, 2018


due to complications from diabetes

I always knew those Milk & Pepsi's were a bad idea.

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posted by radwolf76 at 3:47 PM on December 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


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posted by pearlybob at 4:06 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by lester at 4:07 PM on December 18, 2018


If I may ask ... if someone knows ... when someone is referred to as having died from "complications from diabetes," what exactly is that referring to? I have Type 2. I'm just wondering what such deaths actually are. Is it hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia to such a degree that it causes death? Is it some other disease (heart attack, etc.) caused by same?

Generally, whether you're talking about insulin-dependent diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes, acute complications of diabetes are going to be things like hypoglycemia or ketoacidosis, or sudden cardiac death secondary to arterosclerosis. Chronic complications tend to cover things like kidney failure, infection, and other slower-working problems.

As a diabetic and former paramedic, I tend to read "died from complications of diabetes" as being equally likely to be either an acute crisis, like uncontrolled hypo- or hyperglycemia or the end result of a chronic complication where the body just gave out. Without autopsy results it's hard to tell which it was: all the phrase "died of complications of diabetes" tells us is that the cause of death was unambiguously linked to diabetes in some way.
posted by scrump at 4:14 PM on December 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


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posted by cotton dress sock at 4:17 PM on December 18, 2018


In the span of four years, Penny Marshall directed Big, Awakenings, and A League of Their Own.

When it comes to critical assessment of movies, re-watchability is a metric that is often overlooked. And I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a cinematic 1-2-3 punch more eminently re-watchable than those three films.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:24 PM on December 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


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posted by lapolla at 4:25 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by kyrademon at 4:36 PM on December 18, 2018


I always knew those Milk & Pepsi's were a bad idea.

I’m a huge fan of Milk & Diet Coke thanks to Laverne; it tastes like a melted coke float.

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posted by carmicha at 4:39 PM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ah, shit. Watched Big two nights ago. It was on some cable channel or other, and we had it on while doing other things. And kept getting sucked into it, despite having seen it many times before.

She was a real talent.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:39 PM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Unspeakably sad at the loss of a remarkable talent. One of the few remaining of the gritty entertainers from the post-war New York working class. A Bronx girl who made good.
posted by You Stay 'Ere An Make Sure 'E Doesn't Leave at 4:50 PM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Atom Eyes: "In the span of four years, Penny Marshall directed Big, Awakenings, and A League of Their Own.

When it comes to critical assessment of movies, re-watchability is a metric that is often overlooked. And I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a cinematic 1-2-3 punch more eminently re-watchable than those three films.
"

I can't rewatch Awakenings. Great movie but way too sad.
posted by octothorpe at 4:59 PM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


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Big is one of my favorite movies.
posted by Gelatin at 5:04 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by tommasz at 5:05 PM on December 18, 2018


My favorite scene with PM: Wandering off the set, red shoes, lighting up a smoke.
posted by hal9k at 5:11 PM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


ℒ.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:15 PM on December 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


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posted by jim in austin at 5:21 PM on December 18, 2018


⚾️
posted by nicebookrack at 5:32 PM on December 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


So much love for Big and A League if Their Own.

And I loved that (spoiler?) when they needed a top director as a throwaway gag at the end of Get Shorty, she was the perfect choice.

Schlemiel
Schlemazel
Hossenpfeffer Incorporated
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posted by Mchelly at 5:41 PM on December 18, 2018 [5 favorites]



posted by MovableBookLady at 5:43 PM on December 18, 2018


My first name starts with an L and at age 3 I watched her, fascinated, and practiced making cursive letter Ls in crayon thousands of times until they looked just like Laverne’s.

Golly, there’s no one like her.
posted by mochapickle at 5:48 PM on December 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


In lieu of crying I shall stick to picturing Penny and Carrie cackling about it all whilst looking fondly down upon us
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:01 PM on December 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a cinematic 1-2-3 punch more eminently re-watchable than those three films.

Taking nothing away from Ms. Marshall, there are many directors who've strung three eminently rewatchable films together. Just off the top of my head, Mark Sandrich directed Astaire/Rogers in The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Shall We Dance and Carefree. Or Robert Zemeckis with Romancing the Stone, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Back to the Future.

At any rate, Ms. Marshall was a favorite of mine as a young TV watcher, starting with her role as Myrna Turner on The Odd Couple. I always looked forward to her appearances, but she was never featured as much as I'd've like, though I still remember her delivery of the line about her siblings Werner and Verna Turner in a Noo Yawk accent you could cut with a two-by-four.

She directed, as noted, three good films, but I think her kudos should cluster around her acting, as she was a gifted comedian who could elevate so-so material.

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posted by the sobsister at 6:28 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by jzb at 6:32 PM on December 18, 2018


Her films after League didn't do as well and she didn't get to direct another movie after 2001s Riding in Cars with Boys. You wonder if a man with the same box office record would have gotten more chances.
posted by octothorpe at 6:52 PM on December 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


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posted by NoraCharles at 6:52 PM on December 18, 2018


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Your star shone so bright, Penny. I loved you, Laverne!
posted by augustinetill at 8:02 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:09 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by bryon at 8:19 PM on December 18, 2018


what the everloving fuck.

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posted by tzikeh at 8:34 PM on December 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


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posted by Jubey at 8:35 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by get off of my cloud at 9:03 PM on December 18, 2018


What wonderful memories of the Laverne and Shirley hijinks and loved her movies too.
posted by gryphonlover at 9:26 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by augustimagination at 9:31 PM on December 18, 2018


One of my earliest favorite movies was “More Than Friends”, which was loosely based on her relationship with Rob Reiner. I remember it as a ‘made for TV’ movie that I managed to see a handful of times.

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posted by mefireader at 10:09 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by joedan at 10:50 PM on December 18, 2018


Ida Lupino was an English-American actress and singer, who became a pioneering director and producer—the only woman working within the 1950s Hollywood studio system to do so. Wikipedia
posted by Cranberry at 11:08 PM on December 18, 2018


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posted by condour75 at 11:37 PM on December 18, 2018


I loved everything about her. RIP.
posted by h00py at 2:22 AM on December 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


I loved A League of Their Own. What a great woman focused movie, what a great cast, just everything. Loved it.

I remember being a little kid in the 1970s and 80s singing along with the Laverne and Shirley theme song. I was too young to understand the show, but I did like singing "Schlemiel, Schlemazl, Hasenpfeffer incorporated!" It was just so much fun to say those words.

RIP, Penny.

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posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:43 AM on December 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


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posted by heatvision at 2:46 AM on December 19, 2018


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posted by filtergik at 3:29 AM on December 19, 2018


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posted by dlugoczaj at 6:46 AM on December 19, 2018


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posted by pjsky at 7:14 AM on December 19, 2018


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posted by Splunge at 9:13 AM on December 19, 2018


Myrna Turner on The Odd Couple.

One scene that's stuck with me since its original broadcast:

The setup: Felix has been re-decorating their apartment, and Oscar doesn't like it. In his ranting he complains particularly about the incomprehensible wall clock, which was something like a white square with three black dots.

As Oscar's assistant, Myrna shows up at the apartment with a bit a business. At the end of the scene, she looks at the clock and says "Oh my, look at the time — I gotta run" (audience laughs).

Brain theater probably plays that clip at least once a month.
posted by rochrobbb at 5:38 PM on December 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


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posted by camyram at 7:15 PM on December 19, 2018


I loved Jumpin' Jack Flash, too. Heck I still quote it - at random, to the great confusion of others - today. "I should just pin a hundred dollar bill to my ass and scream "Victim here! Victim here!"

Penny Marshall has always been a woman I looked up to, and when I was a kid watching Laverne and Shirley, she was the one I identified with. I read her autobiography two or three years ago and it was solid. She kept stressing that as you rise up, you reach back and pull others with you. But she kept a distance to it as well. She shared the important parts of her life but in a the bluff, aloof, I'm making it my own way that she had. It wouldn't have felt like Penny Marshall if it was too intimate, to be honest.
posted by taterpie at 8:02 PM on December 19, 2018


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posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 12:15 AM on December 20, 2018


The thing that got me about "A League of Their Own" was just how much it elevated a long forgotten corner of the sports world to the recognition it deserved.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:20 AM on December 20, 2018


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