| Born Garry Kent Marshall in New York, New York, on November 13, 1934, Garry is probably more well known for the people he has launched into stardom than his own personal accomplishments.
Starting out as a joke-writer, he later moved to Hollywood to team up with Jerry Belson and wrote scripts for sitcoms like "The Dick Van Dyke Show," and "The Danny Thomas Show," before producing a television version of the hit movie (and Neil Simon play), "The Odd Couple." The success of this led him to write a short script and film a segment called "New Family in Town," following a family in the 50s. Unable to sell the piece as a pilot, Marshall got it aired as a Love, American Style segment. After the success of American Graffiti, Marshall suddenly found new interest in his show, and it's young star, Ron Howard. The show was rewritten, and titled Happy Days, and would prove to be one of Garry's most successful works. Happy Days spawned a number of spin-offs with varying success, including Mork and Mindy, Joanie Loves Chachi, and of course, Laverne and Shirley, starring his own sister, Penny Marshall.
Happy Days could be called the show that launched a thousand careers, because of all of the now-famous people who got their "big break" courtesy of Garry Marshall: Henry Winkler, Scott Baio, Pat Morita, Donny Most and Ted McGinley (just to name a few) all owe a large part of their success to appearing on one of America's most beloved television sitcoms.
After Happy Days and it's spin-offs, Garry took to directing. Although he had moderate success with several movies (including The Flamingo Kid, and Nothing in Common), it wasn't until 1990 that he really struck gold - directing Pretty Woman, which rocketed Julia Roberts to the top. Continuing his success with Frankie and Johnny and Exit to Eden, Marshall has proved that he's got the stuff good directors are made of.
Garry wasn't one to stay behind the camera, either. He has a long history as a comedic actor, with bit parts in over 30 movies and television shows. His acting career, however, never matched up to his directing and producing.
Today, Garry continues to act, direct and produce, making him a versatile, if relatively unknown contributor to Hollywood.
The following is a brief list of some of his more famous productions. It is not a complete list.
Writer Filmography
Director Filmography
Sources:
Internet Movie Database - http://us.imdb.com/Name?Marshall,+Garry | 
