Hollywood Mourns the Loss of Acclaimed Actress Known for Roles in “Tootsie,”

Teri Garr, an Oscar-nominated actress who was praised for her dramatic range, comedic timing, and adored roles in television and movies, died at the age of 79.

Garr, who passed away in Los Angeles this week, made a lasting impression on Hollywood and is still loved by both coworkers and admirers.

Garr had parts in some of the most well-known movies of her time over her long career, which lasted from the 1960s until the early 2000s. Her breakthrough performance was in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974),

where she played Inga, Gene Wilder’s enduring and wonderfully endearing secretary to Dr. Frederick Frankenstein. Garr’s comic skills and kind nature made her a long-lasting star and led to some of her most well-known parts.

She demonstrated her versatility as a confused yet supportive spouse in a supernatural thriller in 1977 when she played Ronnie Neary, wife of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Her portrayal was essential to the film’s emotional heart and solidified her reputation as a significant Hollywood actor.

But her most well-known performance was as Sandy Lester in the 1982 film Tootsie, in which she costarred with Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange. Garr won an Academy Award nod for Best Supporting Actress for her depiction of the charming yet emotionally charged Sandy,

captivating audiences with her combination of humor and tenderness. Tootsie is regarded as one of Garr’s most noteworthy performances and a defining feature of her career, even though it did not win the Oscar—her co-star Jessica Lange did.

Outside of the big screen, Garr had some memorable TV roles. For example, she played Phoebe Abbott in the classic NBC comedy Friends, who was the estranged birth mother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow).

Her appearance in three episodes during the third and fourth seasons of the show gave the cherished character’s past more nuance. Her versatility across genres is further demonstrated by her TV credentials, which include roles in MASH*, Frasier, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Garr said that she had been suffering from symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) for almost twenty years when she made her diagnosis public in 2002. Her candidness about her illness made her a spokesperson for MS awareness, sharing her story in interviews and inspiring others with the words,

“If you have MS, the important thing to know is that life will go on.” In 2006, she tragically had a brain aneurysm that placed her in a coma for a few weeks. Garr’s perseverance and passion for her work allowed her to make a brief comeback to acting in 2011 in spite of her health issues.

Fans and other actors have been paying tribute to Garr in droves. “Her mere presence in any film just made everything better,” one fan wrote on Twitter. She was one of the best comedy actors because of her incredibly sharp wit.

“She was ALWAYS so good in everything she did, no matter the size of the part or genre of the movie,” said another, recalling her amazing versatility. She simply never failed to deliver.

As one of Hollywood’s most adored comedy actors, Teri Garr is known for her kindness, grace, and sense of humor. Her work has cemented her status as a beloved figure in entertainment history by continuing to make audiences around the world laugh and smile.