My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 9,956 ratings

Price: 17.5

Last update: 11-16-2024


About this item

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 has 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’s no one else quite like Penny Marshall.


Top reviews from the United States

J. A. Gordon
5.0 out of 5 stars In a League of Her Own
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2017
Well I almost didn't buy this Memoir and I'm so glad that I did. If Penny Marshall's mother was nuts than more people should have nutty mothers like her given the way that she turned out to be such an extraordinary person. Don't miss reading this book it is more exciting than her role as Laverne and more exciting than the majority of most people's lives and just an amazing being in terms of how she stays grounded and practical funny and satirical and handles all the situations that come up with complete honesty and she is so refreshing. Writer Mark Matousek says: tell the truth and your life will change, and Penny tells the truth and as a result our lives do change by her sharing it with us and it's a real gift. I read her friend Carrie Fisher's books and Carrie was funny in a different way. I think Penny brings the East Coast sarcasm and practical Spirit into her book. It is a powerful life and a powerful book and Penny is a real pioneer for women in terms of what she's achieved in the entertainment and film industry. What's next?, Penny asks at the end and I would say Penny Marshall for President!! Our lives would be a whole lot better with someone like her leading the way as she did in her directorial efforts. One thing Penny tells us her mom taught her was the pleasure of being able to entertain people and she surely accomplishes this in her humble inspiring funny Memoir and thank you Penny for letting us into your personal fabulous life. It's a book and a life I didn't want to stop reading about LOL. For someone who is well connected with celebrities and her brother being Garry Marshall, she never loses her down to earth practical way of being. Definitely a must-read wonderfully written memoir...absolutely amazing life thank you Penny!!!
K.B.
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommend if you like celebrity memoirs
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2019
3.5 stars
I didn't realize just how much I liked Penny Marshall until she passed away. The show that made her famous, Laverne and Shirley, aired mainly before I was born so that's not the reason I was bummed to hear the news she had died. I think the reason I was sad is because I feel like she had so much more to share with the world in terms of making movies and honestly just being a strong, female role model for many people.

After reading this book, I'm not sure if I would necessarily call Penny's mother nuts, but I can definitely say she seemed unusual and lacked a filter when talking to people. Their mother-daughter relationship made for some interesting reading as at first you get the sense that Penny hated her mom but as the book progresses you can also see also leaned on her for support such as when her daughter, Tracy, was born. My only real criticism of the book is I feel Penny was pretty vague when it came to Tracy being raised primarily by her ex-husband and his family during her early years. I also didn't entirely understand why Rob Reiner adopted Tracy when it appears Penny got along well with Tracy's father. Maybe she felt that was more Tracy's story to tell and that's why she didn't really get into it in the book. Not really sure though.

It's pretty well-known Penny's older brother, Garry, was a famous director and writer, and pretty much helped Penny get her start in Hollywood. And Penny freely admitted in the book nepotism gave her some opportunities that others with no family connections might not have had. Her talent though is the reason for her long and successful career in my opinion. Playing Laverne was obviously her breakout role and Penny talks about her time working on the show. There were always rumors of her feuding with her co-star Cindy Williams and while they certainly disagreed about some things, I think Penny is more than fair in regards to discussing Cindy, and you can tell she did value their friendship.

I loved hearing about her work as a director and found it fascinating that so much of it was just on the job learning. I really respect the fact she just wanted to make movies that made people feel good. I teared up when she mentioned how important it was to her to make sure the actual female ballplayers the movie A League of Their Own was based on were included in the movie. She realized this wasn't her movie, it was their story and she wanted to honor that. It made me sad that part of the reason she didn't do much movie directing in the last 15 years or so of her life was because studios just didn't care much about that type of storytelling anymore. I think the film industry underestimated her talent at bringing stories to the screen that audiences really connect with.

Overall, definitely a good read and I recommend especially if you enjoy celebrity memoirs.
Linda Declay
5.0 out of 5 stars Penny Marshall's Life
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2024
It was authentic and funny.
ancient incognito monkey
3.0 out of 5 stars okay but strangely distant
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2013
This book starts out really well....Penny Marshall gives one a feeling for her early life in the Bronx and being a Brooklyn woman myself, I get it since we grew up around the same time. (NYC LAMF!!)

But then as she starts getting closer to the woman she is now, she becomes more and more distant. I don't know what her life was really like during Laverne. I don't know what her first marriage was about or her marriage to Rob Reiner either. Once she grows up, the story stops and the name dropping commences.

When she talks about making movies, she becomes interesting. But her personal life, while somewhat detailed in a name dropping sort of cataloging way, is vague and filled with massive holes and not much introspection. Except to list what drugs she was taking during that period, which - okay - I get that too. Only I'd like to know what effect they had on her, how they changed her or her life. There's a lot more to this she just doesn't talk about.

I'm sorry to write about her book this way because in the beginning of it, she was great.., very conversational and even a lot of fun. I got a sense of her as a human being. But I think writing about a life while you're living it isn't so easy. Talking about people who are still alive is not so good when you have to face them after your book publishes, so there's that. Talking about the dead, who have people still living and mourning, is also not so easy.

The Hollywood community is kind of like a family, at least that's what they're always saying. And for whatever reason, it's not going to smile on you when you tell everyone the whole inside story and hang out the dirty laundry for the neighborhood to see. So she doesn't. And because she doesn't, the book falls very flat midway and while picking up here and there particularly when she talks about making a film which I thought was very fascinating, still, it's a dud. The rest of it was who she was with but not much about who she is, or who she was. She even glosses over her ill health, so I have no idea how she's come through that, if in fact she has. Maybe she's damaged...I don't know. And reading this, I'm not going to know.

Penny Marshall is a natural writer, she just never delivers so I don't know who this woman is or about her creative process. She's so damned fixated on celebrity.

I think I could like her, and I appreciate knowing a little because she's a wonderful talent. So there's that.

Best Sellers in

 
 

The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son: Perspectives, Ideology, and Wisdom

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 93
6.12
 
 

I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America

0 0 out of 5 stars 88
12.79
 
 

MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious: The Graphic Stories

0 0 out of 5 stars 0
13.94
 
 

The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 310
17.32
 
 

The King of Diamonds: The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 362
21.88
 
 

Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 75
21.84
 
 

The Meaning of Mariah Carey

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 13968
29.66
 
 

Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 1333
13.78