HIS creations never made him an award winner or critical darling, but we have lost a director who never failed to make us smile.
Garry Marshall, who died this week aged 81, was best known for bringing Happy Days to the screen.
Set in an rose-tinted American town untainted by the Vietnam War, the attempted assassination of their President or the Watergate political scandal, it featured the antics of The Fonz and became one of the most successful TV shows of the late 70s and early 80s.
I spoke to the man also responsible for the likes of Mork and Mindy, Beaches and The Princess Diaries from his London hotel room ahead of a UK tour of Happy Days, which visited Southampton's Mayflower Theatre back in February 2014.
But he had such an infectious enthusiasm for life that he was far more interested in asking my opinion on which of The Big Smoke's tourist attractions he would most enjoy.
After I'd been handed to his wife Barbara to lead her around the shops of Knightsbridge and had a lengthy chat with Garry about the virtues of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Afternoon Tea at The Ritz, I managed to steer the conversation onto a subject I was desperate to quiz him on.
He is the man behind one of the favourite films of my childhood and one my sister and I can recite word for word - the rags to riches tale Pretty Woman.
It's the Pygmalion of Hollywood and I absolutely loved hearing about Garry doubling for the voice of Richard Gere in one scene, him climbing into bed with Julia Roberts and her co-star to calm their nerves during filming and him arranging a cameo for his daughter Kathleen.
His was an extraordinary half century long-career which never got the credit it deserved because his creations were never worthy enough.
But they were full of feel good fun and brought joy to millions.
He gets a great big Fonzie-style thumbs-up from me.
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