My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir
Written by Penny Marshall
Narrated by Penny Marshall
4/5
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About this audiobook
Most people know Penny Marshall as the director of Big and A League of Their Own. What they don’t know is her trailblazing career was a happy accident. In this funny and intimate memoir, Penny takes us from the stage of The Jackie Gleason Show in 1955 to Hollywood’s star-studded sets, offering up some hilarious detours along the way.
My Mother Was Nuts is an intimate backstage pass to Penny’s personal life, her breakout role on The Odd Couple, her exploits with Cindy Williams and John Belushi, and her travels across Europe with Art Garfunkel on the back of a motorcycle. We see Penny get married. And divorced. And married again (the second time to Rob Reiner). We meet a young Carrie Fisher, whose close friendship with Penny spanned decades. And we see Penny at work with Tom Hanks, Mark Wahlberg, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, and Whitney Houston.
Throughout it all, from her childhood spent tap dancing in the Bronx, to her rise as the star of Laverne & Shirley, Penny lived by simple rules: “try hard, help your friends, don’t get too crazy, and have fun.” With humor and heart, My Mother Was Nuts reveals there was no one else quite like Penny Marshall.
Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall was an actress, producer, and director. From 1976 until 1983, she starred as Laverne DeFazio in the classic TV sitcom Laverne and Shirley. She went on to direct films such as Big (1988), the first movie directed by a woman to gross in excess of $100 million at the U.S. box office, Awakenings (1990), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and A League of Their Own (1992), which also made over $100 million in the U.S. Most recently, she directed episodes of United States of Tara (2009) and guest-starred on Portlandia (2011).
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Reviews for My Mother Was Nuts
402 ratings42 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Penny Marshall’s candid fun funny down to earth story was excellent!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think of sitting with an aunt or grandma telling you about themselves, growing up and the people in their life. Some laughs, some tears. No great revaluations, no gossip, just a nice visit and maybe a better understanding of person.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was a lot of fun! Marshall included the names of every person she ever met! A good listen and brought plenty of smiles. I need to re-watch some of her movies now…
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I wish the book would go on and on. I loved hearing her voice and especially her stories. Penny was a great story teller and seems to have known everyone. If you want from start to finish Penny Marshall this is the book. I enjoyed all of it, every second of this book. Thanks Penny. Godspeed!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really funny!! I laughed out loud . Her life was full of fun, charm, deep feelings, good friends, wonderful experiences. Her work ethic was admirable. She directed several great movies. Her philosophy made me feel good! And that was her goal. The audiobook was narrated by her and her accent made me laugh too. This is a worthwhile read!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Funny, poignant.... enjoyed getting to know so many actors through the eyes of Penny
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book. Liked Penny reading the book in her voice.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed this much more than expected. Her life was interesting and wacky, and she tells the stories well. Surprisingly endearing, I’m glad I listened.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Penny Marshall was a great entertainer and storyteller loved the book
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Funny memoir of Penny Marshall that spans her childhood and acting and directing career. A light, enjoyable read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fun book Marshall is funny and charming. A wonderful positive woman.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book very well wrote and will tell more to read it
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Wow. She was a wretched soul, alright. She basically wrote an entire memoir about how crap a human being she is. And without a shred of remorse. She comes off selfish, thoughtless, and negative as hell. Fun gal. What an awful experience it was to read this. She couldn’t have been more apathetic. Weird.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really warm and funny. An excellent book from a wonderful person.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Born in the Bronx to a mother who owned a dance studio, Penny Marshall has been in show business almost her entire life. Known best for her role as Laverne in Laverne and Shirley, she became a well-respected movie director, specializing in lighthearted and uplifting stories -- Jumpin' Jack Flash, Big, Awakenings, A League of Their Own, Renaissance Man, The Preacher's Wife, and Riding in Cars with Boys. She has not directed since 2001.This memoir is also lighthearted, mostly humorous and somewhat uplifting … if you don’t count drug use, promiscuous sex, and an overuse of the F-word. Ms. Marshall never goes into detail about those events in her life, but doesn’t try to hide them, either. Ms. Marshall is obviously NOT an introspective person and, therefore, the book is not as insightful as most memoirs. It's an easy read, and not too taxing, A friend at our non-fiction book group recommended this book. She said "it has its moments." A few.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inspiring and candid. A breath of fresh air. Would highly recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thus was a great read! Penny Marshal is funny, brilliant and knows EVERYBODY!!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed actually getting to know someone I've "known" for so long. And I got a little walk down my own memory lane remembering all the events P.M. mentioned.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What an amazing collection of memories and adventures…. And the bonus is hearing Penny tell the story. Loved every minute of it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Made me laugh. [end of review] And what’s wrong with a 3 word review Scribd?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Riveting, hilarious, poignant and moving. Loved it.
Penny Marshall had a story to tell and nailed it. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I loved this audio book written & read by Penny Marshall. Filled with humor. Even the parts about her days as a director ( usually dry in many Hollywood books) was interesting and at times humorous.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Entertaining, moving and overall a great read (or listen)! If you’re looking for a book that gives insights into some of the greatest films told by one of the greats herself, this is for you!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An easy listen. I really enjoyed her story, and she is funny!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Probably one of the best auto biographies that I have read in a long time. Penny Marshall tells stories and names names which I really enjoyed. There are many stories in this book about her life before she became famous and after.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5nonfiction/biography (comic actress/director)
a lighthearted look back at the accomplishments of a funny lady. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great read!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Marshall's memoir will be of most interest to people who remember "LaVerne & Shirley", "All in the Family" and "Happy Days". She tells some interesting stories, but nothing is particularly earth-shaking.
If you're looking for the tale of a kid growing up with a wonderful, wacky family (as the title would seem to imply), you're going to be disappointed. The parents Marshall describes were angry, bitter people, locked in a marriage that had gone far past loveless. One wonders why, even in the divorce-rare era of mid-Century America, they didn't simply move to end the conflict.
For whatever reason, Marshall and her brother Garry (creator of "Happy Days", director of "The Princess Diaries" and "Runaway Bride", among others) grew up to be major players in the entertainment industry of the 1970s and 80s. Her ramble down Memory Lane, via SNL and other hotspots, will amuse but not particularly engage the reader, and her inside stories of films like "Big", "A League of Their Own", and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" may send you off to Netflix to revisit them. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love Penny Marshall and have loved her since first seeing her in Laverne & Shirley. This is a very entertaining book read by Penny herself. I thought it might be hard with her thick accent but it wasn't. She read it with passion getting emotional when talking about her Mom's death and 9/11. It was really interesting to hear about the behind-the-scenes of the movies she directed and also the Laverne & Shirley show. If you like Penny then you will enjoy this. I recommend grabbing the audiobook. It will bring Penny directly to you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I listened to the audio version of this book which is read by the author.
I learned quite a bit I did not know about Penny Marshall: She was on the Jackie Gleason Show, she was in commercials, she really did not plan to be an actress let alone direct films.
Her brother Gary Marshall, which I did know she was related to Gary, is the one who opened the doors to get her career going. I loved her in Laverne and Shirley and have enjoyed the many films she has directed.
If you like Hollywood bios this is worth the read or a listen.