'NCIS' Alum Pauley Perrette Shares Photo With Late Actress and Director Penny Marshall

Pauley Perrette is one of the many in Hollywood mourning the loss of legendary actress and [...]

By Libby Birk

Pauley Perrette is one of the many in Hollywood mourning the loss of legendary actress and director Penney Marshall.

Perrette, who exited NCIS earlier this year after appearing in more than 350 episodes across all three NCIS series, shared a throwback photo with Marshall. In the picture, they both wore green shirts and smiled for the selfie. "Me and #PennyMarshall," she wrote. "Love Love Love!"

In another tweet, Perrette paid tribute to Marshall again.

"I LOVED #PennyMarshall ! The first time I met her I spontaneously threw my arms around her and she didn't mind a bit. She was so awesome!" Perrette wrote.

Other celebrities like Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon, Bette Midler, Mark Wahlberg, George Takei, Mayim Bialik and Carrie Ann Inaba paid tribute to the Laverne & Shirley star on Tuesday after news surfaced that she died.

According to Marshall's family and publicist, the 75-year-old died in her Hidden Hills, California, home on Monday from complications from diabetes. She had also reportedly battled various health issues on and off since 2009, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer, which spread to her brain.

"Our family is heartbroken over the passing of Penny Marshall," Marshall's family told TMZ. "Penny was a tomboy who loved sports, doing puzzles of any kind, drinking milk and Pepsi together and being with her family."

"Penny was a girl from the Bronx, who came out West, put a cursive 'L' on her sweater and transformed herself into a Hollywood success story," her family said in a statement to the New York Daily News, referring to the monogrammed wardrobe of Marshall's blue-collar protagonist, Laverne De Fazio.

Marshall's claim to fame came with her monster hit sitcom Laverne & Shirley, in which she played beer bottle capper Laverne De Fazio alongside quirky co-star Cindy Williams, who played Shirley Feeney. The Happy Days spinoff ran from 1976 to 1983.

After Laverne & Shirley, Marshall found success behind the camera as a director, and directed Tom Hanks in Big in 1988 — making her the first woman in history to direct a film that grossed more than $100 million. She did it again with A League of Their Own in 1992, for which Hanks returned along with stars like Rosie O'Donnell and Madonna.

She's also well known for directing the 1990 drama Awakenings, for which Robert De Niro was awarded an Oscar and which also starred the late Robin Williams.

Marshall landed her role in Happy Days with the help of her director brother Garry Marshall; their sister Ronny Hallin also went on to find success in the entertainment industry as a casting director and producer. Born to a tap-dance teacher mother and a film producer/director father, Marshall began taking acting lessons at age 3.

"I can't act that well, but I can sell a bit," she told The New Yorker in 2012 when promoting her memoir, My Mother Was Nuts. "It's partly the way I talk, but I'm also good with business — going through my purse, looking for my glasses, lighting a cigarette."

Marshall's family said plans for a "celebration of her life" will be announced at a later date. She is survived by her older sister Ronny, her daughter, Tracy, and three grandkids — Spencer, Bella and Viva.

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