Annie Walton Doyle
A star of beloved TV sitcom Friends has died.
The news has hit fans of the sitcom extremely hard, with one person penning: “Heartfelt condolences to her family and friends. RIP sweet lady.”
“This is so sad please rest in peace,” another adds.
A third writes: “She was an all-time favorite. She always made me smile. RIP.”
“She was great. Pretty, funny, a wonderful actress. A true legend,” agrees a fourth.
Teri Garr, the esteemed comic actor known for her roles in Young Frankenstein, Friends, and Tootsie, has passed away at 79.
Her publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, noted she was ‘surrounded by family and friends.’
Garr had contended with various health challenges in recent years, including a 2007 surgery to address an aneurysm.
Tributes flooded social media, with Bridesmaids director Paul Feig calling her ‘truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more.’
Following news of Garr’s heartbreaking death, Kudrow has issued a statement remembering her on-screen mom.
Speaking to PEOPLE, the Friends star said: “Teri Garr was a comedic acting genius who was and is a huge influence on me and I know I’m not alone in that.
“I feel so lucky and grateful I got to work with Teri Garr.”
Garr’s inclination toward performing arts emerged early, per the Independent.
Her father, Eddie Garr, was a vaudeville comedian, while her mother, Phyllis Lind, was among the original Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.
Starting dance lessons at six, Garr joined both the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age 14. At 16, she toured with the Los Angeles production of West Side Story and began appearing in minor film roles by 1963.
She later found steady work dancing in movies, featuring in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, such as Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, and Clambake.
Garr’s breakthrough role came as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in the 1974 thriller The Conversation, which led to a meeting with Mel Brooks.
Brooks offered her the part of Gene Wilder’s assistant in Young Frankenstein – if she could do a German accent.
“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.
Her performance in Young Frankenstein established her comic talents, with critic Pauline Kael calling her ‘the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.’
In Tootsie, she portrayed a girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman’s character to Jessica Lange and discovers he disguised himself as a woman to reboot his career.
Garr received a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role, though Lange ultimately won the award that year.
While celebrated for her comedic work, Garr demonstrated versatility in dramatic roles in films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist.
“I would like to play Norma Rae and Sophie’s Choice,” she said, but felt she had been typecast as a comic actress.
In 1993, Garr married contractor John O’Neill, with whom she adopted a daughter, Molly. The couple divorced in 1996.
In 1983, she began experiencing unusual sensations in her right leg, which spread to her right arm, though she initially dismissed it.
By 1999, her symptoms worsened, prompting a medical consultation and a multiple sclerosis diagnosis.
For three years, Garr kept her diagnosis private, fearing it would impact her career.
“People hear MS and think, ‘Oh, my God, the person has two days to live,'” she said in a 2003 interview.
After disclosing her condition, she became a spokesperson for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, offering humorous speeches to audiences across North America.
“You have to find your center and roll with the punches because that’s a hard thing to do: to have people pity you,” she reflected in 2005. “Just trying to explain to people that I’m OK is tiresome.”
Despite her health struggles, Garr continued acting, with appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Greetings From Tucson, Life With Bonnie, and a recurring role as Phoebe’s mother in Friends during the 1990s.
Making her first appearance at the climax of season three in the episode, ‘The One at the Beach’, Abbott returned for the season four episodes ‘The One with the Jellyfish’ and ‘The One with Phoebe’s Uterus.’
The Ohio-born star died on Tuesday, October 29, due to complications from multiple sclerosis, per the New York Post.
Rest in peace.
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