TV Actress to Hitmaker: Penny Marshall

Penny Marshall and her brother Garry were mainstays of 1970s and 80s sitcoms. Garry's little sister became a big star when she starred in the Happy Days spinoff, Laverne and Shirley. However, Penny observed her brother and all of the other creative writers and directors around her. She realized that she had an eye for directing, and she was especially good with actors. Penny Marshall's films are very underrated for how successful they are. Her second film was Big, which launched Tom Hanks into stardom, and it became the first film directed by a woman to gross over $100 million at the box office. Her follow-up to Big was Awakenings, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Her next film, A League of Their Own, grossed over $100 million again, and it remains popular and quotable to this day. Penny Marshall made legitimate, bona fide hits - and she doesn't get nearly as much credit as she deserves. Let's change that! This episode originally aired on Grab Bag Collab. Brock Alter does the artwork for Directora. Directora is researched, written, recorded, and edited by Stephanie Weber. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.