Written by Matthew Swigonski | Published
Teri Garr, best known for her performance as Inga in Young Frankensteindied following a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 79 years old. According to spokeswoman Heidi Schaeffer, the longtime actress “peacefully” passed away on October 29 surrounded by family and friends.
Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis
In a 2002 interview with Larry King, Teri Garr revealed that she was diagnosed in 1999 with multiple sclerosis, also known as MS. According to the Mayo Clinic, this degenerative disease often interferes with the immune system and central nervous system, causing symptoms such as visual impairment, numbness and tingling, weakness in concentration, cognitive impairment, fatigue, and impaired communication. Despite his diagnosis, the comedian continued to work in 2011 until he quietly retired from Hollywood.
Teri Garr was born on December 11, 1944, to parents Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comedian, and Phyllis Garr, known as one of the first Rockets at Radio City Music Hall in New York. In her youth, Teri Garr followed in the artistic footsteps of her parents, training in ballet and various other forms of dance before participating with a road company in production West Side Story Los Angeles. In 1963, she launched her acting career on screen at the age of 19, landing many small roles in television and films throughout the 1960s.
A Long Career in Hollywood
Teri Garr would go on to appear in nine different Elvis Presley films, incl Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, again Clambake. His self-proclaimed “big break” came in 1968 when he played a major role in the game Star Trek episode “Assignment: The World,” where he said he “finally started getting real acting work.” In 1974, he was brought on board to play a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s thriller. The conversationgiving the actor significant exposure in Hollywood.
But that was when he played Young Frankenstein that Teri Garr’s career has reached a completely different level. Acclaimed as a consummate professional, comedic presence, and guaranteed scene ticket to Mel Brook’s horror comedy, Teri Garr was on her way to Hollywood stardom. With her portrayal of Inga, Frederick Frankenstein’s dim-witted but always sweet sidekick, she not only proved she could go toe-to-toe with comedy legend Gene Wilder, but she made it clear she was more than just ditsy relief.
In 1983, she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, opposite Dustin Hoffman in Sydney Pollack’s. Tootsie. Throughout the rest of the 80s, Teri Garr would star in a variety of films, such as Mr. Mother again After Hours. During his decades-long acting career, he would appear in more than 150 movies and TV shows.
Speaking of MS
After her MS diagnosis in 1999, Teri Garr feared that her disease would prevent her from getting any more acting roles in Hollywood. However, in an interview with Larry King in 2002, he revealed that he has begun to realize that his public profile has given him an opportunity to spread awareness about multiple sclerosis. “I am starting to tell my story so that I can help people. I can help people know that they are not alone and tell them that there is reason to be positive because, today, treatments are available,” Garr said.
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