Actress, Director Penny Marshall to Write Memoir

Actress and filmmaker Penny Marshall, who transitioned from her role as tough-talking Laverne in hit TV show Laverne and Shirley to become a pioneering female director, is releasing a memoir about her rise in Hollywood, her agent said on Tuesday.

Marshall, 68, has sold the rights to her autobiography, called My Mother Was Nuts, directly to Amazon.com Inc, her agent Dan Strone said. The book will discuss her former 10-year marriage to fellow director Rob Reiner, her friendships with John Belushi and Art Garfunkel, and her battle with brain and lung cancer in 2009.

People have always asked me how I got from the Bronx to Hollywood, so I thought it was time to tell how it all happened. I have had many lives (not in the Shirley MacLaine sense) and you will hear about them all ... Just don't expect any recipes ... I don't cook, Marshall said in the statement.

After playing Laverne De Fazio in the hit show Laverne and Shirley, which was co-created by her brother, producer and director Garry Marshall, the actress went on to direct such film hits as Big, A League of Their Own, and Awakenings.

The memoir will discuss her humble roots growing up in the Bronx, New York, to her relationship with her brother Garry to her turn behind the camera and dealings with actors such as Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks. It will be published in print and e-book form in the fall of 2012.

The decision by Marshall's agent to sell the book to Amazon Publishing reflects the online retailer's push to expand its operations and compete directly with other book publishers.