Teri Garr, Oscar-Nominated Star of ‘Tootsie,’ ‘Young Frankenstein,’ Dies at 79
Teri Garr, who was Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in “Tootsie” and also lent her comedic charm to “Young Frankenstein,” “Mr. Mom” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” has died at age 79.
She had suffered for years with Multiple Sclerosis after being diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 1999. Garr was “surrounded by family and friends” at the time of her death, publicist Heidi Schaeffer told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The actress previously said she first started noticing symptoms of MS while she was in New York filming “Tootsie” in 1982. After she revealed her diagnosis years later, she became a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and National Chair for the Society’s Women Against MS program (WAMS).
In December 2006, Garr suffered a brain aneurysm that left her in a coma for a week, but recovered her speech and motor skills after therapy.
In the ’90s, the often offbeat actress, whom critic Pauline Kael once dubbed “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen,” was perfectly cast in the recurring role of Lisa Kudrow’s estranged birth mother Phoebe Abbott on “Friends.”
After memorably playing ditzy lab assistant Inge to Gene Wilder’s mad doctor in Mel Brooks’ 1974 horror comedy “Young Frankenstein,” she went on to co-star as the long-suffering wife of Richard Dreyfuss’ character in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the same year she played another exasperated wife role opposite John Denver in “Oh, God!”
The in-demand actress starred in some of her best-known movies in the ’80s, including “Tootsie,” in which she played Sandy, the ill-treated friend of Dustin Hoffman’s main character. She received an Oscar nomination for the role, but lost to co-star Jessica Lange.
Garr later commented on being typecast in comedic roles, “I would like to play ‘Norma Rae’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ but I never got the chance.” She also played a mother who goes back to work while her husband (Michael Keaton) stays home with the kids in 1983’s “Mr. Mom,” as well as one of the strange SoHo residents Griffin Dunne encounters during his nightmarish odyssey in Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours.”
Garr’s father was vaudeville comedian Eddie Garr and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
The actress grew up in North Hollywood and attended Cal State Northridge. She got her start in showbusiness as a dancer in Elvis Presley movies including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout” and “Clambake,” later becoming a regular on “The Sonny & Cher Show.” “Star Trek” fans will remember her from the Season 2 episode “Assignment: Earth.”
After her diagnosis, she continued to act, including roles in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Greetings From Tucson” and “Life With Bonnie.” In 2005, she published her autobiography, “Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood.”
After a longterm relationship with producer Roger Birnbaum, she married contractor John O’Neill in 1993. They adopted a daughter, Molly, before divorcing in 1996.
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