This is a kicker! Teri Garr, beloved star of Close Encounters, Young Frankenstein, and Tootsie, has passed away at the age of 79 due to complications from Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She was surrounded by family and friends, who shared the sad news.
Show business ran in Garr’s family; her father, Eddie Garr, was a vaudeville comedian, and her mother, Phyllis Lind, was one of the original Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
Garr’s career began with dance, and by age 16, she was performing in a touring production of West Side Story. In the early 1960s, she started appearing on TV, with roles on shows like Batman, MASH, Star Trek, and Dr. Kildare.
Her first big film role came in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, where she played Gene Hackman’s girlfriend. That role led her to audition with Mel Brooks, who cast her in Young Frankenstein on the condition that she deliver her lines with a German accent.
Young Frankenstein launched Garr’s career, and she was described as:
“…the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.”
In Tootsie, Garr played Dustin Hoffman’s girlfriend, earning an Oscar nomination. She lost to Jessica Lange, her co-star in the same film. Best known for her comedic talent, Garr also demonstrated equal skill in dramatic roles, as seen in Close Encounters, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist.
Illness
In 1983, Garr began noticing a “beeping or ticking” sensation in her right leg. Later the feeling spread to her right arm. Doctors diagnosed her with MS in 1999, a condition she initially kept private. She was worried it would impact her career. In 2003, she revealed:
“I was afraid that I wouldn’t get work. People hear MS and think, ‘Oh, my God, the person has two days to live.’”
After going public, she became a spokeswoman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Sharing her story with humour in the U.S. and Canada.
Garr built an exceptional career and earned the deep affection of everyone she worked with. A quote of hers:
“Comedy is really a mystery, because you are either funny or you’re not. I think being funny is having intelligence and having wit.”
RIP Teri Garr, 1947–2024. Out thoughts are with her family and friends. What was your favourite role of hers?
