Teri Garr, star of ‘Young Frankenstein’, ‘Tootsie’ & more, dead at 79

Teri Garr, whose many films include Young Frankenstein, Mr. Mom and Steven Spielberg‘s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, has died at age 79.

ABC News confirmed the performer died on Tuesday in Los Angeles surrounded by family and friends. In a statement, she was described as “a fierce advocate” for multiple sclerosis awareness after appearing on Larry King Live in October 2002 to share her diagnosis.

Garr initially trained as a dancer and even appeared as such in several Elvis Presley films. Her first significant acting role came in the 1968 Star Trek episode “Assignment: Earth,” which was intended as a pilot episode for a spin-off series that never materialized.

But Garr’s breakout role, and one in which she displayed her gift for comedy, came in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy classic Young Frankenstein, in which she played the sexy lab assistant Inga, more than holding her own against her more experienced comedy co-stars Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman and Marty Feldman.

Garr was in demand in the 1970s and ’80s, with roles that included Close Encounters of the Third Kind opposite Richard Dreyfuss; 1983’s Mr. Mom opposite Michael Keaton; and 1982’s Tootsie, opposite Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. Later roles included the 1992 comedy Mom and Dad Save the World.

Garr made regular TV appearances from the 1960s through the 2000s, notably as Phoebe’s birth mother on Friends. Her quick wit made her a popular late-night talk show guest, with frequent appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Show with David Letterman. She also hosted Saturday Night Live three times.

Garr revealed in 2002 that she’d been diagnosed with MS, which required her to essentially go into semiretirement. She also suffered a brain aneurysm in 2006 that left her in a coma for several weeks, but from which she recovered. She was briefly hospitalized in December 2019 for what was described as dehydration.

Garr was married and divorced once and leaves behind a daughter, Molly O’Neil, and grandson Tyryn, 6.