Teri Garr, 1944-2024

Sigh

As many of you already know, the actress and dancer Teri Garr died today at age 79.

She began her career as a dancer, became an actress in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually saw her acting career evaporate because of the effects of Multiple Sclerosis, the complications from which ultimately caused her death. 

You can find obituaries for her in several places, such as The New York Times, Variety, and NPR. 

I don’t have much to add to those, but wanted to note that, as a man now in his mid-60s, it’s difficult to explain what a significant effect Ms. Garr had on this then-16-year old, when the film Young Frankenstein was released. She was a dream. Funny. Vulnerable. Strong. And heart-meltingly attractive. I saw her in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Tootsie. Huge hits. And she always was terrific. 

As you grow older, you start to see those you knew when you were young die, one by one. I just learned today that a person I’d dealt with in my work over nearly a decade in the 1990s and 2000s, died last November at age 70. Although our roles and professional obligations made our interactions necessarily adversarial, he was honest, reliable, reasonable, and trustworthy. I respected him and I’ll miss him. 

And I’ll miss her knowing that Teri Garr no longer is among the living. 

She was special.