THE DEATH OF A NICE GUY.

Sadly Garry Marshall died yesterday at 81. While most people seem to remember him from a film I detest, Pretty Woman, and a comedy I also never liked, The Princess Diaries, he is perhaps most notable for such long-lived television series as Happy Days, The Odd Couple, and Laverne and Shirley, starring his sister Penny, and many more. Marshall was a successful director and a brilliant writer, but I most appreciated the many talents of Garry Marshall as a comedian. He was hilarious as a station manager on Murphy Brown and brilliant as a casino manager in the film Lost in America. Pity he didn't do more acting. I can't comment on Marshall's films as I don't think I ever saw any but the two I mentioned. But I still think his death a loss, as he was a pioneer in television and always seemed like someone you'd like to know better, a lot better.