Writer-director Garry Marshall, creator of Happy Days, dies

Writer and director Garry Marshall, who boasted small- and big-screen hits such as Happy Days and Pretty Woman, died Tuesday at age 81. Marshall began his career as a journalist but switched to comedy writing in the 1960s. By 1979, he had three of the top five TV comedies on the air: Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy. He also directed the films Overboard (1987), Beaches (1988), and Dear God (1996). Richard Gere, who starred opposite Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, said in a statement, “Everyone loved Garry. He was a mentor and a cheerleader and one of the funniest men who ever lived. He had a heart of the purest gold and a soul full of mischief. He was Garry.”