Teri Garr dead at 79: American actress received an Oscar nomination for ‘Tootsie’
Teri Garr was born on December 11, 1944 in Lakewood, Ohio and passed away on October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. The American actress is dead at age 79 following a long battle with multiple sclerosis. Garr had over 150 acting credits to her name, including in the beloved films “Young Frankenstein” (1974) as Inga, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977) as Ronnie Neary, “Tootsie” (1982) as Sandy Lester, and “Mr. Mom” (1983) as Caroline Butler. May her memory be a blessing.
Garr received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 1983 Oscars for “Tootsie,” losing out to her co-star Jessica Lange. Gold Derby recently named “Tootsie” as the best film in director Sydney Pollack‘s entire career. The plot follows out-of-work actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman), who dresses in drag to get a job on a daytime soap, and his alter ego, Dorothy Michaels, becomes a national sensation. Garr plays his girlfriend Sandy, a fellow actress who has an epic meltdown when she learns he wants to see other people — watch below.
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Garr retired from acting in 2011, with her last credited role being on the TV series “How to Marry a Billionaire.” Some of her other television appearances included “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in 2005, “Life with Bonnie” in 2003, and “ER” in 1999. “Friends” fans will always remember her as Phoebe Abbott Sr. in three episodes that aired between 1997 and 1998.
In 2002, the actress publicly announced her multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Four years later, Garr released an autobiography titled “Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood” that chronicled her acting career and health struggles. Due to a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2006, she was in a coma for about a week, and she later attended therapy to regain her speech and motor functions.
Garr attended North Hollywood High School as a youth and honed her craft at the Actors Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. She married John O’Neil in 1993 and divorced in 1996, and she was also romantically linked to Roger Birnbaum (1979–1983) and David Kipper (1983–1990). Garr is survived by one child.
Besides her Oscar nomination for “Tootsie,” Garr also received a BAFTA bid and a National Society of Film Critics honor for that film. Her other accolades include noms at the Saturn Awards for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and CableACE Awards for “Faerie Tale Theatre.” She shared in the National Board of Review prize for Best Acting Ensemble for “Prêt-à-Porter.”
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