Young Frankenstein Actress Teri Garr Dead at 79

Actress Teri Garr, best known for her comedic roles, died at the age of 79, confirmed her publicist Heidi Schaffer to The Hollywood Reporter. Garr had worked with what feels like every iconic director in Hollywood: Mel Brooks in Young Frankenstein, Steven Speilberg in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Sydney Pollack in Tootsie, just to name a few. She even acted alongside Elvis Presley in Girl Happy in 1965. However, her decades-long career in Hollywood slowed down in the 90s when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002. She made her last on-screen appearance with the television film How to Marry a Billionaire in 2011.

Brooks, who cast Garr as Inga, Gene Wilder’s assistant in Young Frankenstein, remembers her “humor and lively spirit” on set. “Her ‘German’ accent had us all in stitches,” Brooks recalled in a tribute post on X. Michael Keaton, Garr’s co-star in Mr. Mom, wrote on Instagram in response to the news of her death, “this is a day i feared and knew was coming. Forget about how great she was as an actress and comedienne. she was a wonderful woman. not just great to work with but great to be around.
AND go back and watch her comedic work-Man, was she great!!”

So very sorry to hear about Teri Garr’s passing. She was so talented and so funny. Her humor and lively spirit made the YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN set a pleasure to work on. Her “German” accent had us all in stitches! She will be greatly missed.

— Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) October 29, 2024

Related

• The Episode When David Letterman Was Too Tired to Do a Show