“Laverne & Shirley” was an immediate hit, debuting as the No.
Marshall and Williams soon got their own spinoff as a slightly more wholesome version of that duo. The actress’ brother, director Garry Marshall, was a successful TV writer and producer when Jack Klugman convinced him to cast his sister as Oscar’s secretary, Myrna, in “The Odd Couple.” Later her brother ended up casting his sibling and her old pal Cindy Williams in a guest stint on another hit series, “Happy Days.” The two played Laverne and Shirley, “fast girls” Fonzie recruited for a double date with Richie Cunningham. On the ups and downs of ‘Laverne & Shirley’ At one point, both auditioned for a new sitcom, but while Reiner was cast as Mike Stivic, Sally Struthers ended up playing his wife, Gloria, on “All in the Family.”
“It was a very wide street,” Marshall explained. In an episode of “Love, American Style,” Marshall was cast as the “Homely Girl at Bar.”Īfter becoming a big TV star with her own series, she handled her fame with aplomb, though once at a party she and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’s” Louise Lasser cordially congratulated one another on their success, then slipped into a nearby bathroom, giddily jumping up and down and squealing, “We’re famous! We’re famous!”īefore either one of them was well-known, Marshall ended up dating and marrying Rob Reiner, who grew up across the street from Marshall in the Bronx, though the pair had never met.
Marshall’s on-set stand-in wore a placard that read “Homely Girl,” while the stand-in for Fawcett had one reading “Pretty Girl.” Fawcett kindly decided to cross out the word “Homely” and wrote “Plain” instead. In her pre-fame days, Marshall quickly learned she didn’t fit the Hollywood stereotype when she co-starred in a Head & Shoulders shampoo commercial with a then-unknown blonde named Farrah Fawcett. There are stories of Calvin Klein tearing up the dance floor at high school parties and of Marshall hanging out with John Belushi and smelling pillows for Steven Spielberg.ĬNN recently sat down with the actress-director as she opened up about her incredible life: Marshall’s book reads like a Who’s Who of pop culture’s major players in the last half of the 20th century. Penny Marshall, most famous as the Pepsi- and milk-swigging half of “Laverne & Shirley,” reveals in her new memoir, “My Mother Was Nuts,” that her life off-camera has been just as crazy as anything that viewers saw on the screen.
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