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Health & Fitness

15 Things I Learned About Penny Marshall From Her New Memoir, "My Mother Was Nuts"

Next time you're playing Quizzo and the topic is Penny Marshall, you'll be prepared.

As a child, Penny Marshall danced on “The Jackie Gleason Show.”

June Taylor told Marshall that she had the potential to become a June Taylor dancer if she took ballet. But she didn’t because she hated ballet.  

Her grandfather died while she was at summer camp, but her folks didn’t tell her because they didn’t want to ruin her summer. 

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Early in her career, she was in a Head and Shoulders commercial with Farrah Fawcett. Penny played the “plain girl.” Fawcett was the “pretty girl.” 

She was in a serious relationship with Art Garfunkel. 

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Paul Simon made Art Garfunkel wear a hairpiece for their 1981 Central Park concert. “Artie” wasn’t pleased.

She knew her relationship with Rob Reiner was getting serious when he announced that he was going to fart in front of her. 

When she married Rob Reiner, her wedding vow was: “I’ll love you and try not to make you nervous.” 

She dropped acid for the first time with Carrie Fisher. They rode up and down on an elevator at the Ritz Carlton, lying on the floor so they could admire the elevator’s ornate ceiling. Then the doors opened and Eric Idle got on.  

Marshall tried heroin once. It made her carsick.  

In her heyday, Marshalls drug of choice was the Quaalude. 
She once offered Steven Spielberg a Quaalude. He turned it down.

When she had a late-in-life abortion, both her therapist and Carrie Fisher came with her.  

Her response when asked about the greatest love of her life? “Pizza and my daughter.” 

After being diagnosed with and treated for lung cancer, she continues to smoke. 

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