They worked together on his last film before he passed away on July 19th.
Their relationship, however, goes further back than this year’s ensemble, Mother’s Day. Kate Hudson, who also starred in Marshall’s Raising Helen, penned a tribute to legendary director Garry Marshall today.
“Garry and I were shooting Mothers Day this past year my children came to visit the set,” she wrote.
“I was behind a wall about to do a scene waiting for the very words that every working actor is quite used to, ‘and….ACTION!’ Much to my pleasant surprise the voice booming from behind the wall was my son, Ryder.
“I couldn’t help but smile and after we finished the scene both Garry and I shared a moment. We knew in an instant that so many things come full circle.
Hudson recalled herself sitting on Marshall’s lap in 1987 yelling the same command on the set of Overboard, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.
“The circle of life is an amazing thing isn’t it…” Hudson recalls Marshall saying.
“In that moment he was more then my director, he was family. That moment meant way more then any success of any film. I looked around the set and saw faces I had known and seen since I was a little girl.
“In one flash of a moment there was so much recognition of how loyal, wonderful, kind, generous, funny and profound Garry was.”
Marshall died from pneumonia after suffering a stroke at a Burbank hospital; he was 81.
“He kept his loved ones close, he loved people, he loved making movies, he loved to laugh, he loved loved loved. And those of us who were fortunate to know him like this were so lucky,” Hudson said of Marshall, famous for films like Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries and Beaches.
“The messages Garry shared with the world truly represented his character. He wanted peace and the importance of family and connection to be at the forefront of everything he did.”
Marshall was as much a talent in front of the camera as he was behind. He was brilliant as candy baron Walter Harvey in 1992’s A League of Their Own (directed by his sister, Penny Marshall), and equally as biting as a newspaper publisher 7 years later in Never Been Kissed.
Marshall was a rare breed, and Hudson said it best: He was funny and profound. And a bit of a genius, if I do say so.
