Garry Marshall, who brought some of the most remembered and successful sitcoms of the 1970s to American television and directed some notable films such as Pretty Woman, died on Tuesday in Burbank, CA, of complications from pneumonia following a stroke, according to Variety. He was 81.

Marshall’s programs, which pretty much dominated ABC-TV for the entire decade of the 1970s, consisted of The Odd Couple and Happy Days and its spinoffs, Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. With each of them came a kind of innocuous hilarity that had healthy doses of mild slapstick, easily resolved narratives, and always an emphasis on a slight surreal aspect of fun. Unlike say the socially conscious programs of the time that were being churned out by the stable of TV pioneer Norman Lear (like All in the Family and Maude), Marshall’s sitcoms, although they were rather perfunctory and innocuous by way of social redemption or awareness, held almost equal footing in terms of ratings success. And indeed, like many of the characters on Lear’s programs (Archie Bunker, Maude, Fred Sanford), Garry Marshall also helped create and was instrumental in bringing characters that were and have remained almost as iconic, such as The Fonz, Mork from Ork, Laverne, and Shirley.

Al Molinaro, who appeared on two highly popular 1970’s sitcoms in remembered roles, The Odd Couple and Happy Days, died Friday from complications of a gall stone in Glendale, CA, according to CNN. He was of 96.

Molinaro appeared on The Odd Couple as Murray the Cop, who was super nice, friendly, and with a kind of puppy dog style ignorance that the character wore around his neck in the nicest possible way. He was mainly there as a comic foil and fellow poker player to the show’s duo of stars, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. Although the show’s producer Garry Marshall (who was a friend of Molinaro) allowed the Murray character to stretch out in an episode or two during the five-year run on ABC (1970-1975). With Molinaro’s portly build, large W.C. Fields-like proboscis, and running water charm, he created one of the more memorable character on the program, and is an instantly recognizable one when the series found mega success in syndication.

In tribute to actor Robin Williams, who died on Tuesday, The Hub Network will air the 1978 episode of Happy Days where his character Mork debuted.

“My Favorite Orkan,” where Williams first appeared as the alien Mork from Ork, will air on Hub two times in succession on Friday, August 15, 2014, first at 9pm ET (6pm PT) and then at 9:30pm ET (6:30pm PT).

One of the all-time great TV dads, Tom Bosley passed away today at the age of 83.

Bosley had been battling lung cancer, but it’s said that the actor passed away due to heart failure at a hospital in Palm Springs.

The actor did many things over his career, but he is and always will be remembered as Howard Cunningham on the hit ’70s TV show, Happy Days. The show ran for ten years from 1974 to 1984 and spanned 255 episodes, all of which featured Bosley. Only his TV wife Marion Ross and the Fonz, Henry Winkler, appeared in every episode.

Pat Morita, who starred in the “Karate Kid” movies and in such TV shows as “Happy Days,” died Thursday of natural causes in Las Vegas. He was 73.

He rose to fame as diner owner Arnold on “Happy Days” during the 1975-76 season. But he’s probably best remembered as the wise Karate teacher Mr. Miyagi in four “Karate Kid” movies, dispensing such immortal advice as “wax on, wax off.” He earned an Oscar nomination for the first “Karate Kid” movie in 1984.