R.I.P. Penny Marshall, 1943-2018

[ClarkKent_DC]

I've been away from the keyboard, so I didn't note this eariler, but we lost Penny Marshall of Laverne & Shirley fame.

From CNN: "Penny Marshall, Co-star of 'Laverne & Shirley' and Director of 'A League of Their Own,' Dead at 75"

Earlier this year, I watched the final season of Laverne & Shirley and made notes (here and here).  But Penny Marshall also went on to a decent career as a feature film director. She didn't make a lot of movies, but several were commercial or critical hits: Big, Awakenings, A League of Their Own, The Preacher's Wife, Riding in Cars With Boys.

Here's a retrospective on her career from The Guardian:  "Penny Marshall: A Hollywood Power Player and Comedy Connoisseur"

[Richard Willis]

Before she was Laverne, she was noticed and enjoyed as Oscar Madison's secretary on the 1970-75 show The Odd Couple. I liked Laverne and Shirley a lot better when they were in Milwaukee capping bottles than when they moved to the publicly-perceived version of California. 

[ClarkKent_DC]

I'd heard that early on, Penny Marshall did a shampoo commercial where she was the "Before" picture and Farrah Fawcett was the "After" picture! I looked it up and found it on YouTube, and that wasn't quite the scenario:

[Richard Willis]

A clever commercial. Thanks for finding it.

ClarkKent_DC said:

I'd heard that early on, Penny Marshall did a shampoo commercial where she was the "Before" picture and Farrah Fawcett was the "After" picture! I looked it up and found it on YouTube, and that wasn't quite the scenario: