Comedy Icon Teri Garr, Beloved Star of Young Frankenstein and Tootsie, Passes Away at 79
Teri Garr, the Oscar-nominated comedic actress celebrated for her lively roles in classics like Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Tootsie, passed away on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Her friend and publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, confirmed that Garr was 79 and died due to complications from multiple sclerosis.
Teri Garr spoke openly about her journey with multiple sclerosis, a struggle she detailed in her 2005 autobiography, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood. Over a career that stretched more than 40 years, Garr won over audiences with her quirky charm and sharp humor, becoming a popular guest on sitcoms and late-night shows, especially The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Trained initially as a ballet dancer, she began her Hollywood career as an uncredited go-go dancer in several Elvis Presley musicals. By the early 1970s, she shifted to more serious roles, working with some of the most renowned filmmakers of the era.
The year 1974 marked a major turning point for Garr: she had a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and starred as Inga, the German-accented assistant to Gene Wilder, in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, a black-and-white parody of classic Hollywood horror films.
Brooks said in a tribute to Garr, “She was so talented and so funny. Her humor and lively spirit made the YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN set a pleasure to work on. Her ‘German’ accent had us all in stitches! She will be greatly missed.”
Garr’s career gained momentum when Steven Spielberg cast her as the wife of Richard Dreyfuss in the sci-fi classic Close Encounters, where her character struggles to understand her husband’s growing obsession with UFOs.
In Tootsie, directed by Sydney Pollack, Garr’s portrayal of a neurotic acting student—whose heart is broken by Dustin Hoffman’s character, a struggling actor who poses as a woman to get a soap opera role—earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Garr also worked with renowned directors Martin Scorsese in After Hours and Robert Altman in Prêt-à-Porter.
Coppola put her at the center of his 1982 surreal musical One from the Heart, which was initially a box-office flop but has since received positive re-evaluation from critics. Many younger audiences may recognize Garr from her role alongside Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom and from her recurring part as Lisa Kudrow’s estranged mother on the NBC sitcom Friends.
Teri Ann Garr was born on December 11, 1944, in Ohio. Her father was a vaudeville performer, and her mother was a dancer. The family eventually moved to the Los Angeles area, where her father passed away from a heart attack when she was young. Originally trained in ballet, Garr later moved to New York City to pursue acting.
Her first speaking role came in 1968 with Head, an offbeat satirical musical starring The Monkees and written by Jack Nicholson. Early in her television career, Garr appeared on the 1960s Batman series, an episode of the original Star Trek, and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.
“I was always hustling for the next job,” Garr wrote in her autobiography.
Garr’s doggedness paid off, and she remained prolific all through her screen career. Pauline Kael, the legendary film critic for The New Yorker, once hailed Garr as “perhaps the funniest, most neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.”
In October 2002, Garr publicly shared her multiple sclerosis diagnosis on national television. She soon became an important advocate for MS awareness, traveling nationwide to discuss her experiences with both doctors and patients.
“I think everybody is scared and frightened when they hear something like that,” Garr told CNN in 2002. “That’s because there’s so much — you know, there’s not a lot of information out there about it. And a lot of people don’t know that it’s not that bad. I mean, I’m going on with my life.”
In late 2006, Garr experienced a brain aneurysm that affected her speech and motor skills. She officially retired from acting in 2011, but her influence remained strong, continuing to inspire a new generation of female comedians.
“The person I always think of is Teri Garr,” Tina Fey was once quoted as saying. “There was a time when Teri Garr was in everything. She was adorable, but also very real. Her body was real, her teeth were real, and you thought that she could be your friend.”
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Comedy Icon Teri Garr, Beloved Star of Young Frankenstein and Tootsie, Passes Away at 79
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