Young Frankenstein and Friends Star Teri Garr Dies at 79

Teri Garr, the Academy Award-nominated actress and singer behind iconic roles in movies like Young Frankenstein and Tootsie, has died. She was 79 years old. Garr passed away due to complications from multiple sclerosis after a long fight with the disease, according to Variety, who first reported the news.

Garr has been working in Hollywood since the 1960s, appearing in uncredited roles in Elvis Presley movies and an episode of Batman. Over time, her roles started to grow a little, with minor appearances in shows like The Andy Griffith Show, That Girl, and Star Trek. Her first significant role as in Head, a movie featuring The Monkees. Ironically, right after that she would head back to Mayberry for a brief role in Mayberry R.F.D.

Within a few years, Garr became a recurring guest on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, and that visibility led her to a new round of appearances on hit shows like M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show, and Barnaby Jones.

The first role that most contemporary audiences would likely remember her for was that of Inga in Young Frankenstein. The 1974 movie has become a comedy staple, cementing her legacy almost as much as Tootsie, the movie for which she earned her Oscar nomination.

In between those movies, she appeared in episodes of McCloud and Maude, and then recurred on The Sonny and Cher Show, continuing her long relationship with the celebrity couple.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Garr’s star rose further, playing key roles in hits like Oh, God! and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She combined mainstream hits like The Black Stallion and The Sting II with appearances on iconic TV shows like Saturday Night Live and Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre.

In the 1980s, Garr went on to star opposite Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, and opposite Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom. She had a small role in the music video for Ray Parker, Jr.’s mega-hit “Ghostbusters” song, and showed up in After Hours, on Sesame Street, and in a number of smaller roles in film and TV.

Garr’s diverse career gave her chances to star in serious dramas, loopy comedies, kids’ shows, and everything n between. In the 1990s, she went from Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme to Tales From the Crypt to playing herself in The Player within two years. By the middle of the decade, she was a proper comedy icon, appearing in things like Dumb and Dumber, Frasier, The Weird Al Show, and Friends (in which she played Phoebe Abbott Sr).

More than 30 years after her brief appearance in the 1960s Batman, Garr returned to the DC Universe to play Mary McGinniss in Batman Beyond: The Movie, then reprised the role on the TV show and in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Garr was diagnosed with MS in 1999, and her work slowed down in the 2000s. She made a final comic book movie appearance in Ghost World, did some voice acting in a couple of different takes on Scooby-Doo!, and scored roles in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Unaccompanied Minors. Her last credited work was in 2011’s How To Marry a Billionaire.

Our thoughts go out to Ms Garr’s family, friends, colleagues, and fans during this difficult time.

h/t Variety