Actress Teri Garr, best known for her roles in “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has died at the age of 79.
She died on Oct. 29 in Los Angeles “surrounded by family and friends,” following a lengthy battle with multiple sclerosis, according to her publicist, Heidi Schaeffer.
Garr battled a number of different health issues over the years, including an operation to repair an aneurysm five years after her initial multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis 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.
Early Career
Garr began her rise to fame as a background dancer at a young age but made her mark as a quirky comedic actor following in the footsteps of her father, Eddie Garr, a well-known comedian, and her mother, Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
At 16, Garr joined the road company of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and as early as 1963, landed dancing roles, most notably appearing in nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”
Following her dancing success, Garr cemented her position as an actress, becoming a familiar face in dozens of television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”
Her first big on-screen role came in 1974 in the Francis Ford Coppola thriller “The Conversation,” which led to her starring role as Inga in the Mel Brooks-directed comedy “Young Frankenstein” along with Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, and Marty Feldman that same year.
The film established her as a talented comedy performer, leading to appearances on several episodes of “The New Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Late Night With David Letterman,” “The Odd Couple,” and “The Bob Newhart Show,” among many others.
Garr was well-rounded in her craft and proved so by holding her own in drama-driven roles in films such as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “The Black Stallion,” and “The Escape Artist.”
Throughout her decades-long career, Garr appeared in more than 150 film and TV credits combined, earning an Oscar nomination in 1983 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as Sandy Lester in the 1982 comedy “Tootsie” starring Dustin Hoffman.
After her MS diagnosis, she continued acting, appearing on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Greetings From Tucson,” “Life With Bonnie,” and other TV shows.
