Penny Marshall, Star of Laverne & Shirley, Dead at Age 75

Actress and director Penny Marshall died “peacefully” last night at age 75 at her Hollywood Hills home, E! News has confirmed. Penny’s cause of death was complications from diabetes. A celebration of life ceremony will be held at a later date. “Our family is heartbroken over the passing of Penny Marshall,” a spokesperson for the Marshall family told E! News in a statement. Born Oct. 15, 1943, Penny is predeceased by her brother, actor/director Garry Marshall. She is survived by her sister Ronny Marshall; her daughter Tracy Reiner; and her three grandchildren.

A no-nonsense New Yorker, Penny’s breakthrough came through starring in the hit sitcom Laverne & Shirley, which ran for eight seasons on ABC from Jan. 27, 1976, until May 10, 1983. Penny found even more success behind the camera, directing hit films like Big (1988), Awakenings (1990), A League of Their Own (1992), The Preacher’s Wife (1996) and Riding in Cars With Boys (2001), among others. With Big, Penny made history as the first woman to direct a movie that grossed $100 million—something she did again with A League of Their Own.

“With directing I didn’t have to wear makeup or get my hair done. But I do not like getting up that early,” Penny admitted to Women and Hollywood in 2012. “In TV we did our show in front of an audience, so we got up early only one morning. We did camera blocking in the morning and we shot at night which was a much more humane existence. No one is funny at 7 a.m. It’s faster to act, but a lot of times you are sitting in a Winnebago waiting. Directing is more fun if you can create stuff. If you can create business for people to do and not just pull lines out of people’s mouths. So, if people come prepared then you can add business. I like behavior.”

A multitalented workhorse, Penny also produced a number of movies and TV series. “Penny was a girl from the Bronx, who came out West, put a cursive ‘L’ on her sweater and transformed herself into a Hollywood success story,” the Marshall family said. “We hope her life continues to inspire others to spend time with family, work hard and make all of their dreams come true.”

Penny was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, which she ultimately beat years later. As she told the Television Academy Foundation in 2016, “being alive” was her “biggest achievement.” With her dry sense of humor, she joked, “I’m the only one who gained weight! Everyone else with cancer shrinks. I gained 50 lbs.! I don’t know why. I have this very strange constitution. Why could I lift [Laverne & Shirley‘s Cindy Williams] up and spin her around? I have a strange constitution. I never worked out. I never did gym. Don’t like it! I’d rather play a game. I’d rather play tennis badly. I’d rather shoot a basket—anything!—than do a treadmill or sit on a bike that hurts your butt. No. So, I have strange constitution. Right now—except that I’m overweight, and I know it—I’ve been pretty lucky. So, that’s a big thing that I overcame, and I’m very lucky.”