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Penny Marshall: ''I didn’t want to be in show business''
The story is as unexpected as it is interesting!
It's funny how one person's dream might not appeal to someone else. We each have our own definition of success, and all of us have our own paths to fulfillment. So, while celebrity and Hollywood accolades might seem like the pinnacle for some, to others it's just a byproduct of an honest day's work.
Penny Marshall's career on both sides of the camera earned widespread acclaim and contributed to one of the most triumphant legacies in Hollywood history. Audiences loved her in Laverne & Shirley and turned out in droves for her directorial work, like Big. By any measure, Marshall was a success, both in terms of artistry and commercial viability. But, to hear her tell the story, it was never really a part of some bigger dream.
In an interview for The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation, Marshall made many personal revelations. Among them was a very telling statement about her way into the spotlight, and how she'd never really planned on getting there in the first place.
Marshall's mother, Marjorie Irene Ward, was a dance instructor. So, long before she was either a director or an actress, Penny Marshall was a dancer.
"I was good at it, but I didn’t like it," she said.
"Especially as I got older, I was a little boy crazy. I wanted to hang out with the boys, and I didn’t care about dancing school. But we did every benefit there was, whether it was for arthritis, the March of Dimes, Army camps, veteran’s hospitals… Wherever they would feed us, we went. We were three-time winners on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour; we were on The Jackie Gleason Show. We did everything."
Whether she wanted to be onstage or not, she was clearly turning heads. Most important, though, was the attention Penny Marshall garnered from her own brother, writer/producer Garry Marshall.
"I didn’t want to be in show business, but I had sort of been in it already. I didn’t call it show business; to me, it was just my mother’s weirdness. After I got divorced, I moved to California. My brother lived there, and he helped me land a few small acting roles. Then he asked if Cindy [Williams] and I wanted to play the role of two 'fast girls' on Happy Days. Those roles led to the spinoff Laverne & Shirley. Later on, I had directed a few Laverne & Shirley episodes and was then asked to take over directing the movie Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Then came Big…"
The rest is reluctant show biz history!
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