One of Hollywood’s most versatile figures, Garry Marshall was best known for being a juggernaut creative force as a director, writer, and the producer behind such hit shows as “The Odd Couple,” “Happy Days,” “Laverne and Shirley,” and “Mork and Mindy,” all of which ruled primetime television for decades. For all that impact on pop culture, Marshall never won an Emmy Award — despite being nominated four times. When it came to movies, Marshall received little more than goose eggs for his work on successful productions that included “A League of Their Own,” “Pretty Woman,” and “The Princess Diaries.”
Perhaps he was too busy to notice those omissions among his prolific output; it certainly explains why he seldom took on projects as an actor. Still, he managed one cameo on “ER” as a senior. He wasn’t exactly a fixture on the screen, but he did manage to snare plum roles on other TV fare, including “Two and A Half Men,” “Murphy Brown,” and a 2016 remake of “The Odd Couple,” his final contribution as an actor. While not exactly a darling among critics, The New York Times — in noting his passing from a stroke at 81 — still managed to call him a “comedy mastermind” and someone who “consistently found the sweet spot smack dab in the middle of the mainstream.” More heartfelt was one tweet by “Happy Days” alum Henry Winkler, who wrote, in part, “Thank you for my professional life. Thank you for your loyalty, friendship and generosity.”