Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall dies

Tributes have started pouring in following the news of the death of director Garry Marshall at the age of 81.

Marshall’s deft touch with comedy and romance led to a string of TV hits that included Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley and the box-office successes Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride.

He died on Tuesday in a hospital in Burbank, California, of complications from pneumonia after having a stroke, his publicist Michelle Bega said in a statement.

The director began his entertainment career in the 1960s selling jokes to comedians and then moved on to writing for TV shows like Happy Days and Mork and Mindy, starring then newcomer Robin Williams.

Marshall’s Happy Days debuted as a television series on ABC in 1974, starting a 10-year run that saw Henry Winkler’s “the Fonz” become what Variety described as a cultural touchstone.

After cranking out what Marshall once estimated to be 1,000 sitcom episodes, he switched his focus to the big screen with 1984’s “The Flamingo Kid,” a coming-of-age story starring Matt Dillon, which Marshall wrote and directed.

Among his later films are Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

The Princess Diaries, starring Julie Andrews and a teenage Anne Hathaway, in 2001 was another winner. In March the director said he was planning a second sequel. Marshall and his wife, Barbara, had three children, Lori, Kathleen and Scott.