Marty Nadler, a comic and TV writer-producer who worked with Garry Marshall on the smash sitcoms Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley and many of his movies, died August 26 in Margate, FL. He was 80.
His son Charlie Nadler told Deadline through a rep that his father died of complications from myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles.
Nadler worked with five-time Emmy nominee Marshall for more than 40 years, writing jokes and serving as a script consultant on early episode of the seminal ABC comedy Happy Days and later as an executive script consultant on its top-rated spinoff Laverne & Shirley. His son said Nadler also worked on Marshall’s beloved early-’70s comedy The Odd Couple.
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He contributed jokes to nine of Marshall’s movies including the Julia Roberts starrers Pretty Woman, (1988) and Runaway Bride (1999) and the filmmaker’s final credit, Mother’s Day (2016), which also featured Roberts among a starry ensemble including Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis and Timothy Olyphant. Marshall considered Nadler his good luck charm, his son said, giving him on-screen cameos in those movies along with Valentine’s Day (2010), Frankie and Johnny (1991) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
Courtesay of Nadler family
Nadler worked on Happy Days while the ’50-set sitcom was No. 1 in primetime. He then joined ABC’s Laverne & Shirley, which spent two seasons from 1977-79 as TV’s top primetime show. He later served as supervising producer and producer for its sixth run in 1980-81, and got an acting credit in one 1976 episode. He also served as a warm-up comic for many tapings of Marshall’s shows.
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In between, Nadler was a co-producer on multiple episodes of NBC’s Freddie Prinze comedy Chico and the Man in 1976. He later was executive script consultant of episodes of sitcoms Perfect Strangers and The Hogan Family in 1986.
Born on October 13, 1945, in the Bronx, Nadler developed his comedy as a summer camp counselor. He took a shine to stand-up while pursuing a theater major at Ithaca College. Back in New York, he would become a regular at the Improv alongside such comic pals as Jay Leno, Richard Lewis and Jimmie Walker. Every New Year’s Eve he portrayed the New Year’s baby, bursting into the club from a freezing night clad in a diaper over blue skin.
After one improv performance, Penny Marshall and her then-husband Rob Reiner come backstage and offered to help Nadler if he ever went to Hollywood. He headed west soon after, where Penny introduced him to her brother Garry. He read a spec script of Nadler’s, launching their decades-long collaboration.
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It was while working on the Marshalls’ Laverne & Shirley that Nadler met Holly Mascott, a new writer whom he gave a script assignment after they met at Paramount to pitch ideas. They would marry in on Martha’s Vineyard in 1978.
Nadler retired in the early 2000s to South Florida, where he continued working on writing projects and w as an executive producer of the 2022 film iMordecai starring Judd Hirsch and Carol Kane.
Marty and Charlie Nadler, who also is a comic and writer, recently recorded their act at The Garry Marshall Theatre in Los Angeles. Titled A Boomer & a Millennial Walk Into a Special, it will be released in early 2027 by Comedy Dynamics. It turned out to be their last performance together.
Nadler is survived by his ex-wife Mascott, with whom he remained close friends; their son Charlie; and daughter-in-law Cary Kandel. Celebrations of Nadler’s life in multiple locations will be announced later. Donations in his memory can be made to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation.
