Comic Actor Teri Garr Dies at 79

Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star of such favorites as Young Frankenstein and Tootsie has died at age 79. Garr died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis "surrounded by family and friends," said publicist Heidi Schaeffer, per the AP. Garr battled other health problems in recent years, and underwent an operation in January 2007 to repair an aneurysm.

• Early start, Elvis: Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comedian; her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dance lessons at 6 and by 14 was dancing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies. She was 16 when she joined the road company of West Side Story in Los Angeles, and as early as 1963 she began appearing in bit parts in films. From there, Garr found steady work dancing in movies, and she appeared in the chorus of nine Presley films, including Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, and Clambake.
• Big break: Her big film break came as Gene Hackman's girlfriend in 1974's Francis Ford Coppola thriller "The Conversation." That led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who said he would hire her for the role of Gene Wilder's German lab assistant in 1974's Young Frankenstein—if she could speak with a German accent. The film established her as a talented comedy performer, with New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael proclaiming her "the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen."
• Career takes off: Her big smile and off-center appeal helped land her roles in Oh God! opposite George Burns and John Denver, Mr. Mom (as Michael Keaton's wife), and Tootsie in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and learns that he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career. (She lost the supporting actress Oscar at that year's Academy Awards to Lange.) Although best known for comedy, Garr showed in such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she could handle drama equally well.
• Friend of Dave: She had a flair for spontaneous humor, often playing David Letterman's foil during guest appearances on NBC's Late Night With David Letterman early in its run. Years later, Letterman credited those early appearances with helping make the show a hit.

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