Teri Garr
Academy Award-nominated comedy actress Teri Garr, whose sunny personality lit up the screen in films such as and Tootsie, died on Tuesday at age 79. teri garr cause of death
Garr, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role opposite Dustin Hoffman in the 1982 gender-swap comedy , died in Los Angeles from complications of multiple sclerosis (MS), publicist Heidi Schaeffer said.
The actor disclosed in 2002 that she had been diagnosed with MS after experiencing symptoms for some two decades. She became an advocate for MS research and treatment. In 2007, Garr underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm and was confined to a wheelchair for a time. teri garr cause of death
“I had to learn to walk again, to talk again and to think again, which I’m not even sure is necessary in Hollywood,” she joked in an interview with Reuters in 2008.
Oscar-nominated star of ‘Tootsie’ and ‘Young Frankenstein
Teri Garr, Oscar-nominated star of ‘Tootsie’ and ‘Young Frankenstein,’ dies
Teri Ann Garr was born on Dec. 11, 1944 in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio, to show-business parents: Her father, Eddie, was a vaudeville performer and actor who appeared on Broadway and her mother, Phyllis, danced at New York’s Radio City Music Hall as one of the Rockettes.
After attending college in Los Angeles, Garr moved to New York City to pursue a career in ballet and then in acting, studying at the famed Actors Studio in Manhattan.
Some of her earliest credits included work as a background dancer in Elvis Presley’s
After roles on TV shows such as and , Garr was cast by Mel Brooks as a German lab assistant in the 1974 film “Young Frankenstein”.
“Her humour and lively spirit made the set a pleasure to work on,” Brooks wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “Her ‘German’ accent had us all in stitches! She will be greatly missed.” teri garr cause of death
Michael Keaton, who starred with Garr in , also paid tribute.
Teri Garr, Oscar-nominated star of ‘Tootsie’ and ‘Young Frankenstein,’ dies
“Forget about how great she was as an actress and comedienne. She was a wonderful woman,” Keaton said on Instagram, adding “go back and watch her comedic work – man, was she great!!”
“Loved her so much,” comedian Steve Martin wrote above a photo of Garr.
Outside of comedy, Garr also had memorable drama roles. For , she played the wife of a man obsessed with UFOs (Richard Dreyfuss) in the Steven Spielberg science-fiction classic. teri garr cause of death
Garr said her sense of humour had helped her persevere through health challenges.
“It’s absolutely critical,” she told Reuters. “A sense of humour and attitude is the most important thing in everything.”