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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

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.