'Happy Days' creator and 'Pretty Woman' director Garry Marshall dies at 81

Tuesday, July 19, 2016
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Writer-director Garry Marshall, whose TV hits included "Happy Days" ''Laverne & Shirley" and box-office successes included "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride," has died. He was 81.

Publicist Michelle Bega says Marshall died Tuesday in at a hospital in Burbank, California of complications from pneumonia after having a stroke.
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Marshall also had an on-screen presence, using his New York accent and gruff delivery in colorful supporting roles in movies that included "Lost in America" and "Soapdish."



Marshall, brother of actress-director Penny Marshall, earned a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and worked at the New York Daily News. But he found he was better at writing punchlines.
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He began his entertainment career in the 1960s selling jokes to comedians, then moved to writing sketches for "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar in New York.
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