This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Penny Marshall, who starred in the hit American sitcom Laverne & Shirley before becoming one of the top-grossing female directors in Hollywood, has died at 75.

Marshall’s publicist said she passed away at her home in the Hollywood Hills, California, on Monday due to complications from diabetes.

Marshall played Laverne, starring alongside Cindy Williams as Shirley, in the hit ABC comedy that aired from 1976 to 1983.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Penny Marshall, left, pictured with her Laverne & Shirley co-star Cindy Williams in 1975. Photograph: ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

As a film-maker, she became the first woman to direct a film that grossed more than $100m with Big, the 1988 comedy starring Tom Hanks. She also directed A League of Their Own, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Awakenings.

Fellow film-makers and performers paid tribute on Twitter. The director Rob Reiner, who was married to Marshall from 1971 to 1981, wrote: “I loved Penny. I grew up with her. She was born with a great gift.

“She was born with a funnybone and the instinct of how to use it. I was very lucky to have lived with her and her funnybone. I will miss her.”

Hanks wrote: “Goodbye, Penny. Man, did we laugh a lot! Wish we still could. Love you. Hanx.”

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Laverne & Shirley was a spinoff from Happy Days and followed the lives of two single women and their nutty friends in 1950s and 60s Milwaukee. Marshall, known for her bluntness, described the success of the series this way: “We dared to be stupid.”

Fellow Happy Days star and director Ron Howard tweeted in tribute: “She was funny & so smart. She made the transition from sitcom star to A List movie director with ease & had a major impact on both mediums.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Penny Marshall pictured in 1988. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Marshall, who was born in the Bronx in New York, was the younger sister of the successful TV and film director and producer Garry Marshall. She turned to directing herself after Laverne & Shirley ended. Her first film was the underwhelming 1986 Whoopi Goldberg comedy Jumpin’ Jack Flash, but that was followed by the charming 1988 hit Big, starring fellow former TV sitcom star Tom Hanks.

Hanks delivered a great performance in the wistful comedy as a 12-year-old boy whose wish to become an adult is magically granted. The film is known for its classic scene in which Hanks and Robert Loggia play duets by dancing on a toy store’s foot-operated electronic keyboard.

Marshall went on to repeat the success of Big by earning more than $100m at the US box office again with the 1992 women’s baseball comedy A League of Their Own.