Penny Marshall

March 3, 1997

Former actress and star of the popular sitcom Laverne and Shirley, Marshall was born in the Bronx, New York on October 15, 1942. The younger sibling of Laverne's producer Garry Marshall, Penny earned some early directing credits when she directed some episodes of her popular TV show. Her speciality is making comedies that showcase fine simple storytelling, without using too many of the old-fashioned Hollywood movie cliches to inhance the stories. She made her feature-film debut with the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle, Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986). She has followed it up with features that have become renowned by the public and critics alike.

Awakenings (1990), the most ambitious film of her's by far, was her first attempt at serious drama. Most of her other films have ranged from straight-out comedies like Renaissance Man (1994) to comic fantasies, like Big (1988) and The Preacher's Wife (1996). She recently opened up a forgotten chapter of historical female figures, with the baseball comedy A League of Their Own (1992). My rating on a scale of 1 to 10: 7

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