Teri Garr, star of “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has died at age 79

CNN
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Teri Garr, an Oscar-nominated actress known for her work in films such as “Young Frankenstein,” “Tootsie” and “Mr. According to her manager, “Mom” has died.

She was 79.

Garr died Tuesday in Los Angeles, more than twenty years after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, her manager Marc Gurvitz told CNN.

She first publicly shared her diagnosis in a 2002 interview with CNN to raise awareness for other people with MS.

“I think everyone is scared and scared when they hear something like that,” Garr remembers of when she first learned of her diagnosis. “That's because there's so much – you know, there's not a lot of information about it. And a lot of people don't know that it's not that bad. I mean, I'm moving on with my life.

The daughter of a Broadway performer and a Rockette mother, Garr learned dance as a child and began auditioning shortly after graduating from high school in Los Angeles. Her intrepid career in Hollywood has spanned decades. Some of her earliest appearances include appearances on television shows such as Star Trek and That Girl.

The 1970s proved to be a productive time for Garr, as he appeared in several episodes of the sketch comedy series “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” “The New Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Odd Couple,” and “The Bob Newhart Show” appeared. ” among many others.

Her film breakthrough came in 1974 when she played the role of Inga in the Mel Brooks-directed comedy “Young Frankenstein” alongside Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman.

Two years later, Garr appeared in one of her most notable roles when she played Robbie Neary, a woman who attempts to overcome her husband's (Richard Dreyfuss) inexplicable obsession as a result of an encounter, in Steven Spielberg's 1977 sci-fi epic Close “To understand encounters of the third kind with extraterrestrials.”

In “Tootsie,” Garr played a put-upon actress who dated Dustin Hoffman's protagonist, who gained fame on a soap opera by pretending to be a woman. The role earned Garr a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 1983 Academy Awards.

“I was proud,” Garr wrote of the nomination in her 2005 memoir “Speedbumps.” “Not only did the Academy know I existed, they thought I was good!”

That same year, she played Caroline Butler in the family comedy “Mr. Mom” alongside Michael Keaton.

She continued to work in film and television. In the '90s, Garr appeared in Good & Evil (1991), Good Advice (1994) and Women of the House (1995). Between 1997 and 1999, Garr had a guest role on Friends as the mother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow).

This is a developing story and will be updated.