2014 Award Recipient

Veteran writer-producer-director Garry Marshall, who has been responsible for some of the most popular series in television, including Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy, is set to receive the Writers Guild of America West’s 2014 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, honoring lifetime achievement in outstanding television writing. Marshall’s contributions to entertainment will be recognized at the upcoming 2014 Writers Guild Awards’ West Coast ceremony to be held on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE.

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“Garry Marshall’s filmography – from The Joey Bishop Show to Happy Days – is a virtual history of American television comedy. Both of-their-time and timeless, his shows are a gentle, generous, comic mirror held up to late mid-century America. And no one is a finer or funnier chronicler of friendship – male or female (or alien) – than Garry Marshall. Beloved both for his iconic work and the warmth of his spirit, today we rightly place him on the short list of the best of our best,” said WGAW President Christopher Keyser.

Over the course of his prolific career, Marshall has created or co-created and executive produced numerous hit television series that have helped define pop culture for a generation of viewers, including ’50s-era sitcom Happy Days, which ran from 1974-84, Happy Days spin-offs Laverne & Shirley (Created by Marshall, Lowell Ganz, Mark Rothman), which ran from 1976-83, and Joanie Loves Chachi (Created by Marshall, Lowell Ganz, Developed by Thomas L. Miller, Robert L. Boyett), sci-fi sitcom Mork & Mindy (Created by Marshall and Dale McRaven and Joe Glauberg), which ran from 1978-82 and made actor-comic Robin Williams a household name, Angie (Created by Marshall, Dale McRaven, Developed by Alan Eisenstock & Larry Mintz, 1979), the disco-era comedy Makin' It (Created by Mark Rothman & Lowell Ganz and Garry K. Marshall), The Brian Keith Show (1972-74), and Hey, Landlord! (Created by Jerry Belson and Marshall).

He also developed an updated take on The New Odd Couple (1982), based on the play by Neil Simon. His other TV writing or co-writing credits include series such as The Odd Couple, which he served as executive producer during its 1970-75 run, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Danny Thomas Show (later Make Room for Daddy), Love American Style, I Spy, The Lucy Show, Gomer Pyle USMC, Bob Hope Presents Chrysler Theatre, The Bill Dana Show, The Little People, and The Joey Bishop Show, as well as telefilms such as Evil Roy Slade and The Murdocks and the McClays, both co-written by Jerry Belson. He also served as executive producer on the acclaimed Showtime telefilm The Twilight of the Golds (1996), in which he also co-starred as “Mr. Gold.”

A five-time WGA nominee and a WGAW member since 1962, Marshall earned a Writers Guild Award in 1967 for co-writing the “Road to Lebanon” episode of The Danny Thomas Special (shared with Jerry Belson, Television: Variety, Series of Special, Musical or Comedy). Marshall received WGA nominations for his work on episodes for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1966, “4 ½” and “Romance, Roses, & Rye Bread,” Episodic Comedy), The Danny Thomas Show (1965, “Bowling Partners,” Episodic Comedy), The Danny Thomas Hour (1969, “It’s Greek to Me,” Television: Variety, Series of Special, Musical or Comedy), all co-penned with his frequent writing partner Jerry Belson. In 1995, Marshall received the WGAW’s Valentine Davies Award, honoring a Guild member whose “humanitarian efforts and service have brought dignity and honor to writers everywhere.”

As an executive producer Marshall has earned four Primetime Emmy nominations: three for The Odd Couple – in 1971 for Outstanding New Series, as well as in 1972 and 1974 for Outstanding Comedy Series, shared with executive producer Jerry Belson and producers Jerry Davis, Anthony H. Marshall, and Harvey Miller – and in 1979 for Mork & Mindy for Outstanding Comedy Series, shared with executive producer Anthony H. Marshall and producers Dale McRaven and Bruce Johnson.

Marshall’s screenwriting credits include The Other Sister (1999, Screenplay by Garry Marshall & Bob Brunner, Story by Alexandra Rose & Blair Richwood and Garry Marshall & Bob Brunner), which he also directed, The Flamingo Kid (1984, Screenplay by Neal Marshall and Garry Marshall, Story by Neal Marshall), which he also directed, The Grasshopper (Screenplay by Jerry Belson & Garry Marshall, Screen Story by Jerry Belson & Garry Marshall, from the novel The Passing of Evil by Mark McShane), How Sweet It Is (Screenplay by Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, Based on the novel The Girl in the Turquoise Bikini by Muriel Resnik),

On the big screen, Marshall’s directorial credits include feature films such as Valentine’s Day (2010), New Year’s Eve (2011), Georgia Rule (2007), which earned a Prism Award for Best Feature Film (shared with Mark Andrus), Raising Helen (2004), The Princess Diaries (2001), and its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), Runaway Bride (1999), Dear God (1996), Exit to Eden (1994), Frankie and Johnny (1991), box-office smash Pretty Woman (1990), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Film (shared with Arnold Milchan and Steven Reuther) and a Cesar Awards nomination for Best Foreign Film, Beaches (1998), Overboard (1987), and Nothing in Common (1986), many of which he also produced.

On the stage, Marshall directed his first opera, Grand Duchess, which opened the 2005 season for the Los Angeles Opera. In 2008, he directed L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love) for the San Antonio Opera. In 2007, Marshall debuted a stage musical production of Happy Days based on his hit ABC TV series, with a book by Marshall and music & lyrics by Paul Williams. Following its initial national U.S. tour, Happy Days the musical is set to embark on a UK national tour in 2014.

Known also for his work as an actor, Marshall has appeared in a wide array of film and television projects over the years, including stints TV shows such as Louie, The Simpsons, ER, Brothers & Sisters, The Sarah Silverman Program, According to Jim, Monk, and Murphy Brown, as well as the acclaimed telefilm The Twilight of the Golds, and in feature films such as Lost in America, Race to Witch Mountain, Never Been Kissed, A League of Their Own (directed by his sister, Penny Marshall), Hocus Pocus, Soapdish, and Keeping Up with the Steins, directed by his son Scott Marshall.

Among Marshall’s numerous industry accolades, he received the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Lifetime Achievement Award in Television in 1998, the Casting Society of America (CSA) Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, TV Land Awards’ Legend Award in 2008, American Cinema Editors’ Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year in 2004, Women in Film’s Lucy Award in 1996, American Comedy Awards’ Creative Achievement Award in 1990, the Publicists Guild Motion Picture Showmanship Award for Film and Television, and his own “Star” on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 1983. In 1997, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Science’s Hall of Fame, was honored in 2002 by Washington, DC’s National Italian American Foundation, and in 2012 was inducted into the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Born on November 13, 1934, in the Bronx, NY, Marshall first learned his craft writing jokes for Lucille Ball, Dick Van Dyke, and Danny Thomas. He attended Northwestern University, where he has a building named after him and his wife Barbara, specializing in radio, television, and film production. Since 1997, he has owned and operated the Falcon Theater in Burbank, CA, together with his daughter Kathleen. In 2012, Marshall published his memoir, entitled My Happy Days in Hollywood, co-written with his daughter Lori. His first book was Wake Me When It’s Funny: How to Break Into Show Business and Stay There (1995).

Named after one of the most influential writers in entertainment history, the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement is the WGAW’s highest award for television writing, given to writers who have advanced the literature of television throughout the years and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer. Past Television Laurel Award recipients include Steven Bochco, Susan Harris, Stephen J. Cannell, David Chase, Larry David, Diane English, Marshall Herskovitz & Ed Zwick, and Joshua Brand & John Falsey.