Penny Marshall, who played feisty Laverne in 'Laverne & Shirley' before directing movies, dies at 75

Penny Marshall, who costarred as a Milwaukee brewery worker in the top-rated 1970s and '80s sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" before becoming a director of hit movies such as "Big" and "A League of Their Own," has died. She was 75.

Marshall died peacefully on Monday night in her Hollywood Hills home due to complications from diabetes, Michelle Bega, a spokeswoman for Marshall's family, told The Times on Tuesday.

"Our family is heartbroken over the passing of Penny Marshall," the Marshall family said in a statement.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated," Marshall and costar Cindy Williams famously chanted as they skipped down the sidewalk in the opening sequence of "Laverne & Shirley."

A spinoff of "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley" starred Marshall as the feisty Laverne De Fazio and Williams as the idealistic Shirley Feeney, two 1950s working-class roommates who worked on the assembly line at