Garry Marshall, TV legend and film director, is dead at 81

Garry Marshall is dead at 81 — (Image credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for WGAw)

Garry Marshall, a TV legend, successful film director, and occasional actor, died Tuesday, his publicist confirmed. He was 81, and the given cause of death was complications of pneumonia following a stroke. Marshall, the oldest brother of fellow actor-director Penny Marshall, created Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, The Odd Couple, and other hit TV shows before directing such films as Pretty Woman (1990), The Flamingo Kid (1984), Beaches (1988), and Runaway Bride (1999). During his long career, starting with a joke-writing job for Jack Paar in 1960, Marshall earned five Emmys and a Lifetime Achievement in Television Award from the Producers Guild of America, and he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Science's Hall of Fame in 1997.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.