American film and TV director-producer, writer and actor, the older brother of actress-director Penny Marshall. He is the creator and comedy writer of popular TV sitcoms “The Odd Couple,” “Happy Days,” “Joanie Loves Chachie,” “Mork and Mindy,” “Laverne and Shirley” and the producer of noted films that include “Big,” “Pretty Woman,” and “A League of Their Own.”
Marshall, the son of an industrial filmmaker Tony Marshall (formerly Marscharelli), and dance teacher mother Marjorie, grew up in the Bronx on The Grand Concourse. He and his two younger sisters, Ronnie (now a Hollywood casting director) and Penny were exposed to show business from a young age due to their mother’s dance troupe and her insistence on taking her children to as many Broadway shows as possible. During adolescence he aspired to be a drummer and after graduating Northwestern University with a degree in journalism, he enlisted in the army where he entertained troops with stand up comedy routines, winning an All Army award for his performances in 1957.
Returning to civilian life, he worked as a copy boy for the New York Daily News, wrote sketches for The Jack Paar Show and played drums on weekends. The disparity in his income between $45 a week at the Daily News and $450 at The Jack Paar show convinced him that show business was the route to a more lucrative income than pursuing a career as a staff writer at a newspaper. When his writing partner received an invitation from Joey Bishop to come to Chicago to work on a nightclub act, Marshall accompanied him and when Bishop got his own show in Hollywood a few years later, he sent another invitation to the talented young comedy writer from New York who arrived in California on his 24th birthday.
After writing comedy routines for Bishop, Marshall wrote his first script for “The Danny Thomas Show” in the early ’60s, which won a Writer’s Guild Award. From that day forward he was never out work, writing scripts for “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Gomer Pyle,” and “I Love Lucy.” Success continued during the ’70s with “The Odd Couple” plus his blockbuster hit “Happy Days,” which led to spin off shows, “Joanie Loves Chachi” and the No. 1 sitcom ,”Laverne and Shirley.” “Mork and Mindy” followed suit where Marshall introduced the madcap antics of comedian-actor Robin Williams as the visitor from outer space. “I got it in my head that if you had a good piece of talent out there….they could carry it…For reasons unknown, some people have Magic and if you see it, use it.”
In a stellar career spanning almost 40 years, Marshall has successfully parlayed his experience from TV sitcoms to the screen .
Marshall made one marriage in 1963 and had three children. He made his home in Los Angeles, California. On 19 July 2016, Marshall died at a hospital in Burbank, California, at the age of 81, due to complications from pneumonia after a stroke.
Link to Wikipedia biography