Penny Marshall of ‘Laverne & Shirley’ Dies at Age 75: Reports

Penny Marshall, the actress and director famed for her role in “Laverne & Shirley,” died at age 75, according to reports.

Marshall died in her home in Hollywood Hills on Dec. 17, after suffering from complications from diabetes, TMZ reported on Dec. 18.

Director Penny Marshall attends the game between the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden in New York City, on March 27, 2013. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The actress had been battling health issues for the past decade. In 2009, she was diagnosed with lung cancer that spread to her brain.

Marshall’s family told TMZ: “Our family is heartbroken over the passing of Penny Marshall. Penny was a tomboy who loved sports, doing puzzles of any kind, drinking milk and Pepsi together and being with her family.”

Marshall was best known for her role as Laverne DeFazio in the 1970s and 1980s, opposite to Cindy Williams’ Shirley Feeney. She later went on to direct “A League of Their Own” with Tom Hanks and Geena Davis, “Big” with Tom Hanks, and “Renaissance Man” with Danny DeVito.

Her family noted Marshall gave actor Mark Wahlberg his first acting job in “Renaissance Man.”

Actress/filmmaker Penny Marshall, Henry Winkler and guest attend the 2014 Writers Guild Awards L.A. Ceremony at J.W. Marriott at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 1, 2014. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for WGAw

She and her family grew up on Grand Concourse in the Bronx across from director Rob Reiner. Her brother was the actor, Garry Marshall, who died in 2016.

“I didn’t know my brother that well,” she said in a 2012 interview. “So I went and said, ‘Let me go meet him.’ He was doing well. He was writing for Dick Van Dyke and Joey Bishop and every show, so why not to meet him?”

“He’s a great guy. I wouldn’t have a career without him. He told me go have lunch with this person, go take acting classes from this person. I said, ‘Mommy wants me to change my name.’ He said: ‘Why?‘ ’Because she doesn’t want me to embarrass the family.‘ He said: ’Don’t listen to her, she’s nuts.’”

Actor Michael Douglas and director Penny Marshall attend the 33rd Annual Police Foundation gala at The Waldorf Astoria in New York City, on June 2, 2011. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

She and Reiner later got married in 1971, but they got divorced 10 years later.

“When Rob Reiner and I were children, we lived across the street from each other. We never met because the Grand Concourse was a busy street, and we were too young to cross it,’’ Marshall also told the New York Post in 2012. “He went to PS 8, I went to 80. He moved when he was 7. His father, Carl, was one of the stars on ‘Your Show of Shows,’ and he was the most famous person in the neighborhood. He was also known for giving out the best Halloween candy,” she added.

Penny also directed the film “The Preacher’s Wife” with Denzel Washington as well as “Jumpin' Jack Flash” in 1986 starring Whoopi Goldberg. She also produced movies “Cinderella Man” and “Calendar Girl.”