Penny Marshall: Laverne & Shirley actress and Big director dies aged 75

Actress-turned-filmmaker Penny Marshall, who directed Tom Hanks in the family favourite comedy Big, has died aged 75.

She died at her home in Hollywood Hills on Monday due to complications from diabetes, her publicist Michelle Bega said.

Before she went behind the camera, Marshall was best known for starring alongside Cindy Williams in the hit ABC sitcom series Laverne & Shirley.

The show - a spin-off of Happy Days - aired from 1976 to 1983 and saw Marshall net three Golden Globe nominations for best actress in a TV comedy or musical.

She also directed several episodes during its seven-year run, which inspired her to pursue the role full-time and eventually move into film.

The first film she directed was Jumpin' Jack Flash in 1986, which featured a cover of the hit Rolling Stones song of the same name performed by the late Aretha Franklin.

But it is her work with Oscar-winning actor Hanks that will be remembered most fondly - first Big in 1988, a story about a boy who grows to adulthood overnight, and then A League Of Their Own in 1992.

Big was a huge success and became the first feature film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million.

Comedy baseball movie A League Of Their Own was another critical and box office hit and was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry in 2012 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In between her collaborations with Hanks, Marshall - who was the first-ever celebrity guest star on The Simpsons, playing a bitter babysitter in the first season finale - directed Awakenings.

The 1990 drama, starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, saw Marshall become only the second woman to be nominated for the best director gong at the Academy Awards.

She later directed 1996 film The Preacher's Wife, starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston, and her final film was the biopic Riding In Cars With Boys in 2001.

Her brother Garry Marshall, the co-creator of Happy Days, died in 2016.

Tributes from the world of entertainment poured in following news of Marshall's death.

In a tweet, Hanks said: "Goodbye, Penny. Man, did we laugh a lot! Wish we still could. Love you. Hanx."

Actress and singer Bette Midler wrote: "The Marshall family grieves again as the great #PennyMarshall dies at age 75. What an extraordinary family they were and continue to be, and how much love and sympathy my family and I send their way. The end of an era."

Gladiator actor Russell Crowe tweeted: "Penny told me the story of Jim Braddock, which became the movie Cinderella Man. She was kind, she was crazy,so talented and she loved movies. RIP."

Robert De Niro said: "Penny will be missed. May she rest in peace."

Danny DeVito paid tribute, tweeting: "Penny Marshall was a sweet woman. I was very fortunate to spend time with her. So many laughs. She had a heart of gold. Tough as nails. She could play round ball with the best of them."

William Shatner described her as a "true treasure", Billy Crystal said she was a "great comedienne, a terrific director and a dear friend", and Rosie O'Donnell, who starred in A League of Their Own, said she was "simply heartbroken".

Director Ron Howard tweeted: "She was funny & so smart. She made the transition from sitcom star to A List movie director with ease & had a major impact on both mediums.

"All that & always relaxed, funny & totally unpretentious. I was lucky to have known & worked with her."

And filmmaker Ava DuVernay - the first black female director to be nominated for an Oscar for historical drama Selma - tweeted: "Thank you, Penny Marshall. For the trails you blazed. The laughs you gave. The hearts you warmed."