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Remembering the career of Penny Marshall, director and beloved ‘Laverne’

Penny Marshall may have been first known as Laverne, star of the hit '80s sitcom "Laverne & Shirley," which ran for eight seasons on ABC. But she also forged a career as a successful director. Her 1988 blockbuster "Big," featuring Tom Hanks, was the first film by a female director to surpass $100 million at U.S. box offices. Jeffrey Brown remembers Marshall, who died Monday at age 75.

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  • Jeffrey Brown:

    Penny Marshall was first, and she would later say, forever, known as Laverne from the hit ABC sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" that debuted in 1976 and ran for eight seasons.

    A spinoff of "Happy Days," the show featured Marshall and Cindy Williams as roommates and blue-collar workers at a Milwaukee brewery.

  • Cindy Williams:

    Those boys have got the right idea. We should try making money at what we really love to do.

  • Penny Marshall:

    I think we would get arrest for that.

    (LAUGHTER)

  • Jeffrey Brown:

    It was created by penny's older brother, Garry Marshall.

    From there, though, Penny Marshall forged a new and long-lasting Hollywood career as a director. Her first major hit came in 1988 with "Big" starring Tom Hanks as a boy suddenly transformed into a grown man. It became the first film by a female director to gross $100 million at the box office.

  • Robin Williams:

    All these things you're experiencing are the side effects of that and they're making you behave this way.

  • Jeffrey Brown:

    She followed it with "Awakenings" starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, which received an Oscar nomination for best picture.

  • Tom Hanks:

    Are you crying? Are you crying?

  • Jeffrey Brown:

    And then "A League of Their Own" in 1992, also with Tom Hanks, alongside Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna.

  • Tom Hanks:

    Because there's no crying in baseball. There's no crying in baseball!

  • Jeffrey Brown:

    Marshall continued to make films, television series and documentaries up until her death, which came last night at her home in Los Angeles from complications with diabetes. She was 75 years old.

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