Hollywood Legend Teri Garr Passes at 79

Teri Garr, beloved for her iconic roles in Hollywood classics, has died at 79.

A comedic powerhouse in film and television, Garr rose to stardom with unforgettable performances in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Tootsie (1982), for which she earned an Academy Award nomination.

In 2002, she revealed her battle with multiple sclerosis, a condition that would ultimately take her life on Tuesday, according to publicist Heidi Schaeffer. Garr passed “surrounded by family and friends.”

Garr’s journey to Hollywood was anything but ordinary. Born in 1944 in Lakewood, Ohio, her roots were steeped in show business: her father, Eddie Garr, was a vaudeville performer, and her mother, Phyllis Lind Garr, danced as a Rockette before moving into costume production.

“She put two kids through school,” Garr once proudly shared with the Los Angeles Times in 2008, adding, “I have one brother who is a surgeon, there’s me, and my other brother builds boats.”

Garr trained as a dancer, performing in six Elvis Presley movies, including Viva Las Vegas (1964). Frustrated with her chorus roles, she famously told Roger Ebert in 1980, “I got sick and fed up of dancing in the chorus…I didn’t study all those years to be in the back.” Her persistence paid off in 1968 when she secured her first speaking role in Head, the Monkees’ film written by Jack Nicholson.

Garr’s talent for humor shined brightest in the 1974 Mel Brooks classic Young Frankenstein. She landed the role with a bit of family help—her mother was a costumer on set. “I asked if they’d finished casting,” she recalled in 2012 to PBS, “and after four auditions, I got the part. It was unbelievable.”

The hits kept coming. In 1982’s Tootsie, Garr played a struggling actress opposite Dustin Hoffman. Her portrayal of the “funniest neurotic dizzy dame” on screen, as New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called her, earned Garr an Oscar nomination. Her performance and comedic timing left audiences captivated.

In a male-dominated industry, Garr often pushed for depth in her characters, though it wasn’t always welcomed. “I tried to make the character a little more real,” she told The Washington Post in 1983 about her role in Mr. Mom. When that didn’t work, she began to consider directing as a way to take creative control.

Her television presence was prolific, with appearances on MASH*, *The Bob Newhart Show*, and three memorable turns as host of *Saturday Night Live*. Yet it was her lively banter with David Letterman that became legendary. “I went on *Letterman* the first time to plug something, and then I came back as the Fool, the court jester,” she joked in 1988 to Ebert. Her quick wit and humor endeared her to audiences everywhere.

Garr noticed the first symptoms of multiple sclerosis in the 1980s but wasn’t officially diagnosed until the late 1990s. In her memoir, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, she called MS “a sneaky disease” and wrote, “Whatever this MS was, the industry wanted no part of it.” Despite these challenges, she went public to raise awareness, becoming a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Garr ultimately retired from acting in 2011. “Slowing down is so not in my nature,” she told Brain & Life Magazine in 2005. She remained an advocate for MS awareness, giving hope to others with the condition.

Garr is survived by her daughter, Molly O’Neil, 30, and grandson Tyryn, 6. A tireless performer and a cherished comic talent, Teri Garr’s legacy will live on in the laughter she brought to generations.

RIP