Teri Garr, ‘Young Frankenstein’ Star, Dead at 79

Teri Garr, the actress best known for Young Frankenstein and Tootsie, has died. She was 79. According to Variety, she died in Los Angeles after years of battling multiple sclerosis.

In addition to her breakthrough role in Mel Brooks’ 1975 comedy Young Frankenstein and an Oscar-nominated role in 1982’s Tootsie, Garr appeared in 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1989’s Mr. Mom and the TV show Friends, where she guest starred as Phoebe’s mom.

Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio, but raised in North Hollywood. Her career started in the mid-’60s when she appeared as a dancer in the acclaimed rock movie The T.A.M.I. Show and in six Elvis Presley movies from the era. In 1968, she was in the Monkees’ movie Head, which featured her first speaking role, and the “Assignment: Earth” episode of Star Trek, which she once referred to as her big break.

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For the next few years, she appeared in various TV shows, such as The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, as a regular dancer and sketch player. Her bubbly personality soon landed big-screen roles in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation in 1974 before Young Frankenstein made her a star, as Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant, a year later.

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In 1977, Garr played Richard Dreyfuss’ wife in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and John Denver’s wife in Oh, God! With 1982’s Tootsie, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Dustin Hoffman’s best friend. During this time she hosted Saturday Night Live three times.

By the mid-’90s Garr was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but she continued to act, most notably appearing in a recurring role as Phoebe’s estranged birth mom in the hit sitcom Friends, as well as a voice actress in animated Batman films. She acted in the ’00s, onstage in The Vagina Monologues, and onscreen in independent films.

She retired from acting in 2011.