Oscar-nominated actress Teri Garr lent her endearing flair to movies like: Tootsie And Young Frankenstein He died Tuesday before his career was derailed by multiple sclerosis. He was 79 years old.

Garr, who worked as a background dancer with Elvis Presley in various 1960s party movies, died in Los Angeles, publicist Heidi Schaeffer said.

Garr revealed on Larry King’s CNN show in October 2002 that he had MS, a chronic, degenerative disease of the nervous system, and that he had survived emergency surgery to treat a brain aneurysm four years later. His last on-screen appearance came in 2011.

Garr’s career breakthrough came as Gene Wilder’s handsome Transylvanian laboratory assistant. Mel Brooks‘ Young Frankenstein (1974). She received a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Dustin Hoffman’s insecure actress friend in the film directed by Sydney Pollack. Tootsie (1982).

These films ranked #13 and #2, respectively, on AFI’s list of the funniest American movies of all time (published in 2000).

Garr, whose flair for comedy was complemented by her capacity to portray underlying pain, also excelled as the paranoid surveillance expert’s girlfriend. Gene Hackman inside Speech (1974); She played John Denver’s resilient wife Carl Reiner‘s My god! (1977); He was Richard Dreyfuss’ tolerant friend in Steven Spielberg’s movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); She had an affair with Raul Julia in Francis Ford Coppola’s ill-fated musical One from the Heart (1981); and was Michael Keaton’s working wife Mr. Mom (1983), written by John Hughes.

Garr graced Elvis films with: kissing cousins (1964), Long live Las Vegas (1964) and scallop (1967) and starred Annette Funicello as a girl in pajamas. Pajama Party (1964). During this time, the lively actress danced in hit musical series such as go-go. Dance fun! And hullabaloo and we played the Statue of Liberty on roller skates At the 1970 summer show at Disneyland.

Much later, he landed a recurring role on NBC. Friends as the estranged biological mother of Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe.

Various publications list Terry Ann Garr’s birth date as December 11, 1944. He was born in Lakewood, Ohio and had two older brothers. Her father, Eddie, was a song-and-dance man in vaudeville, and her mother, Phyllis (nickname: “Legs”), was a Rockette from Radio City Music Hall.

His father died when he was 11 and the family moved frequently. Her mother started working in the costume department of NBC in Hollywood.

Garr studied ballet and took a job on a road production shortly after graduating from North Hollywood High School. West Side Story. She met actor-producer-choreographer David Winters, who cast her in many of his early films, and studied at The Actors Studio in New York, where she met Jack Nicholson.

Between 1966 and 1968, Garr took on small roles on television. Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek (in the 1968 episode “Homework: The World”) and that girl and earned his first film speaking role in The Monkees. HEAD (1968), co-written by Nicholson.

Garr sang, danced and played various characters during the 1971-72 season. Sonny and Cher Comedy Hourshe later had recurring roles on two NBC shows: the short-lived Sally Field sitcom The Girl With Something Extra and Dennis Weaver as a goofy police officer on the cop show McCloud.

Wilder suggested Garr for the role of Inga. Young Frankenstein.

“Gene told me about this guy Teri Garr, and we made a movie about Teri,” Brooks said. Flaming Saddleshe recalled in 2014. “And I said, ‘She’s absolutely beautiful, can she act?’ I said. And Gene said: ‘Who cares?’ … Teri came in, read about half a page, and we both said, ‘Hooray!’ we said.

“He had a line Cloris (Leachman)) was untying the beast’s straps and setting it free, and Teri was looking down the stairs and yelling, “No, no – You can’t do it!” he said. “Isn’t it? You are hired!”

Garr, who was searching for the role of Madeline Kahn in the film, said: “I didn’t know there was an accent at first, and (when she found out) that’s what I was doing. Sonny and Cher. Cher’s hairdresser was German and I copied everything she said.”

She went to the audition wearing a bra filled with socks. “People pay more than $5,000 for a breast lift today. Mine cost under $5 at Woolworths and landed me my biggest role yet,” he wrote in his 2005 memoir. Speed ​​Bumps: Driving Through Hollywood.

In the film, Garr goes for “ze roll roll roll in ze hay” with Wilder’s Frederick Frankenstein, innocently wondering about the size of the monster’s schvontztucker (or something like that).

For TootsieGarr – who was dating One from the Heart -She told Pollack that she would only appear in the movie as Julie (Jessica Lange’s role) and nothing else. However, the director convinced her to play Sandy.

“I silenced my inner diva, who said she would only accept the leading role, and took on one of the most rewarding roles of my life,” she wrote in her book. Lange was also nominated for supporting actress. Tootsieand won the Oscar.

Garr also appeared in the following films: Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), Black Stallion (1979) and its sequel in 1983, Witches’ Beer (1980), Sting II (1983), First-born (1984), After Hours (1985), miracles (1986), Full Moon in Blue Water (1988), Waiting for the Light (1990), Actor (1992), stupid and stupid (1994), chic (1999) and out of date (2007).

When his film roles decreased, he took part in comedy series in the 1990s. Good and Bad, Designing Women spin off Women of the House And Good Advicebut it was all short lived.

hosted by Garr Saturday Night Live three times (in 1980, 1983 and 1985) and was a frequent visitor. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He also appeared frequently on David Letterman’s programs; in 1985 took a shower in his office during an installment.

“Dave reminded me of my brothers; “He was always trying to get my goat and was usually successful,” he wrote.

Garr, who dated and lived with producer and future MGM co-CEO Roger Birnbaum for several years, was married to developer John O’Neill from 1993 until their divorce in 1996. They adopted a daughter named Molly.

Survivors include his grandson Tyryn.

Garr served as a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and chaired the association’s Women Against MS programs.

Garr wrote in his memoirs after his moment in the Oscar spotlight: “In my head, everything was going as planned. But it’s not always like that, right?

“My body had a trick or two up its sleeve. A stumble here, a tingling finger there. I was trained as a dancer and knew better than to put up with the random aches and pains that came along every now and then. Becoming a successful Hollywood actor can be difficult, but little did I know that the body that has always been my calling card would betray me.