Penny Marshall Video Interview On ‘My Mother Was Nuts’

In a sense. Not that I feel I’m going to die, because I’m clean, I’m fine, I’m healthy. It was that rags keep writing ‘Pray for her, 'She’s dying.’ Nothing’s wrong with my liver. I wanted to make that clear. I’m fine. But my brother is doing a second book and I figured, ‘I’ll try it. This is a new thing. I’m adventurous, some.’ I figured, ‘Why not give this a shot?’

In a sense. Not that I feel I’m going to die, because I’m clean, I’m fine, I’m healthy. It was that, rags keep writing ‘pray for her, she’s dying.’ Nothing’s wrong with my liver. I wanted to make that clear. I’m fine. But my brother is doing a second book and I figured, ‘I’ll try it. This is a new thing. I’m adventurous, some.’ I figured, ‘Why not give this a shot?’

Absolutely, my mother was nuts. It’s possible that yours was, and many people’s were. But my mother had a great sense of humor. My father — dull. But my mother, great sense of humor. So we all got it from my mother. And you had to have a sense of humor or you’d kill yourself, because the sarcasm would just fly at you.

Cindy was fine. She had a manager that was annoying, that my brother actually started in the business. She would feed into Cindy’s insecurities. Then, she was fine. It’s like any family together for eight years, you’re going to have disagreements with Michael [McKean] or David [Lander] or whomever. But it ended anti-climatically, because I was very happy, she was having a baby and all that. I was happy. I spoke to her last night. I just didn’t like her husband [musician Bill Hudson] much, because he got in the way. She thought he was being protective, ok. But I spoke to her last night — they’re not together anymore. I spoke to her last night and we’re fine.

The hardest thing was getting up in the morning, which I’m still not very good at, by the way. And also, the waiting for the lighting. You could kill yourself. And then you do one take and they say, ‘You ready to move?’ 'No!' You get used to it. But, getting lines out of actors is not fun to me. Behavior. Laverne and Shirley, we did a lot of behavior, whether it was physical comedy or whatever, go through a purse, do something. Sitting here, talking like this is not a very exciting thing for me to do … or watch.

She was fine, she was as funny as can be — she had a great sense of humor. She didn’t not know her lines. She knew them, never went up. And you’re watching, so you don’t see. Whatever she did on her own time, you know, she did on her own time. But don’t do it on my time. That’s my rule.

I want to go home and go to bed and not get up so early, number one. Wait for basketball season to start. I have to come back to New York around the 20s of October for something totally different — BIANYS. The Brain Injury Association of New York State, which Lorraine Bracco and I do every year. I’m reading some things, and I'll see if there's anything. I wouldn’t mind being in something, multi-camera preferably. I don’t find anyone funny at six or seven in the morning. Call me crazy.

I want to go home and go to bed and not get up so early, number one. Wait for basketball season to start. I have to come back to New York around the 20s of October for something totally different — BIANYS. The Brain Injury Association of New York State, which Lorraine Bracco and I do every year. I’m reading some things, and I'll see if there's anything. I wouldn’t mind being in something, multi-camera preferably. I don’t find anyone funny at six or seven in the morning. Call me crazy.