Teri Garr, Star of ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Tootsie,’ Dead at 79

I've been meaning to mention that the early '90s gem "Dream On" is now streaming on the Roku Channel -- God it's good! -- and now I'm remembering to do so with the sad news of the passing of the inimitable Teri Garr, who stars in a memorable arch at the beginning of the third season of the HBO series. Rest in peace, funny lady. I will love you forever in "The Conversation," "Oh, God!," "The Bob Newhart Show," "One From the Heart," "Tootsie," "After Hours" and so on. And I'll think of you each time I use my plaster of Paris bagel and cream cheese paperweight. xo

My condolences to David Letterman, who had this to say about his favorite guest:

"Teri Garr’s many appearances on 'Late Night' gave it a cache and importance not possible without her. She was a first class actor and comedian and a lovely human being. A bright star and a real friend to the show. I was lucky to know her. She elevated all, and I’m sad she is gone."

My friend Scott (of "So Help Me Todd" fame) remembers her on his Instagram page:

I had the honor of directing Teri Garr’s last feature film. When I first went to meet her, she walked up to me in a restaurant and said “I’m looking for Scott Prendergast?” I was so stunned to be standing in front of her – to be hearing my favorite actress say my actual name – that I was unable to form a coherent reply. 

I had a small but pivotal role for her in my tiny indie movie (KABLUEY). She would play Suze, a woman mysteriously terrorized by a blue mascot costume. The casting made sense to me, because Teri Garr often played women dropped into “zany” situations: a woman whose husband saw God (OH GOD), a woman whose husband saw aliens (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS), a woman whose boyfriend dressed as a woman to get work (TOOTSIE), a woman whose boyfriend was attempting to resurrect the dead (YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN), a career woman watching her husband unravel at home (MR. MOM). 

In all these films, she stands in for the audience, witnessing strange behavior and reacting like we would – with disbelief, with concern, with flummoxed rage. Her characters were the everywoman, the perfect All-American Mom, your favorite off-beat girlfriend. A reporter once said about her, “She wasn’t quite the girl-next-door, she was more like the girl-next-door to the girl-next-door.” Something unusual happened to that girl, to all her characters, and she had to muddle through, to put up with it, had to smile and play along. She had a way of giving a wry and skeptical look to insane behavior, a look that said “Well…OK.” 

Tonight, on a loop, I'll watch her shriek reaction to Dustin Hoffman "telling her the truth" in TOOTSIE, and her masterpiece "you idiot" look to Randy Quaid in OUT COLD -- a singularly perfect comic moment, singled out by Pauline Kael in a review that propelled college-age-me down to a theater on St. Marks Place in New York to see the film. I went to see every Teri Garr movie. I always stayed up to see her on Letterman. Hearing her name in random conversations throughout my life I would feel a swell of love and pride, like someone had mentioned my hometown. 

She was Teri Garr. She was our Teri Garr. And we will always love, cherish and remember Teri Garr.

And Sandra Bernhard writes:

S.P. Burke remembers: