Terri Garr

Teri Ann Garr (born December 11, 1944) is an American former actress, dancer, and comedian. She frequently appeared in comedic roles throughout her career, which spans four decades and includes over 140 credits in film and television. Her accolades include an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA Award nomination, and a National Board of Review Award.

Born in Lakewood, Ohio, Garr was raised in North Hollywood, California. She is the third child of a comedic-actor father and a studio costumer mother. In her youth, Garr trained in ballet and other forms of dance. She began her career as a teenager with small roles in television and film in the early 1960s, including appearances as a dancer in six Elvis Presley musicals. After spending two years attending college, Garr left Los Angeles, and studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City. Her self-described "big break" as an actress was landing a role in the 1968 ''Star Trek'' episode " Assignment: Earth" after which she said, "I finally started to get real acting work."

Garr had a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's thriller ''The Conversation'' (1974) before having her film breakthrough as Inga in ''Young Frankenstein'' (1974). In 1977, she was cast in a high-profile role in Steven Spielberg's ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977). Garr continued to appear in various high-profile roles throughout the 1980s, including supporting parts in the comedies ''Tootsie'' (1982), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Sandy Lester, and then appearing opposite Michael Keaton the next year in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983). She reunited with Coppola the same year, appearing in his musical ''One from the Heart'' (1982), followed by a supporting part in Martin Scorsese's black comedy '' After Hours'' (1985).

Garr's quick wit and charming banter made her a sought after guest on late night shows like ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' and ''Late Night with David Letterman''. In the 1990s, she appeared in two films by Robert Altman: '' The Player'' (1992) and ''Prêt-à-Porter'' (1994), followed by supporting roles in ''Michael'' (1996) and '' Ghost World'' (2001). She also appeared on television as Phoebe Abbott in three episodes of the sitcom ''Friends'' (1997–98). In 2002, Garr announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the symptoms of which had affected her ability to perform beginning in the 1990s. She retired from acting in 2011.

Early life

Teri Ann Garr was born December 11, 1944, in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb west of Cleveland. Her father, Eddie Garr (born Edward Leo Gonnoud), was a vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor, whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama ''Tobacco Road''. Her mother, Phyllis Lind Garr (born Emma Schmotzer), was a dancer, a Rockette, wardrobe mistress, and model. Her father was of Irish descent and her maternal grandparents were Austrian immigrants. Garr has two older brothers, Ed and Phil. She spent her early life in Cleveland, and the family briefly relocated to New Jersey before settling in Los Angeles, California.

When Garr was eleven, her father died in Los Angeles of a heart attack. She recalled that his death "left us bereft, without any kind of income. And I saw my mother be this incredibly strong, creative woman who put three kids through college—one of my brothers is a surgeon. Any kind of lessons we wanted, we had to have scholarships or sweep the floors. It had to be free. And so we always had to try harder. That was instilled in me very early." During her youth, Garr expressed interest in dancing, and trained extensively in ballet. "I'd go for three, four hours a day; my feet would be bleeding," she recalled. "I'd take buses all over the city just to go to the best dancing schools. You could just stand there and be quiet and beat yourself up, push the body." Garr graduated from North Hollywood High School, and attended San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge) for two years before dropping out and relocating to New York City to further pursue acting. In New York, she studied at the Actors Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Career

Early films and stage

Early in her career, she was credited as Terri Garr, Terry Garr, Teri Hope, or Terry Carr. Her movie debut was as an extra in ''A Swingin' Affair'' (1963). During her senior year, she auditioned for the cast of the Los Angeles road company production of ''West Side Story'', where she met one of the most important people in her early career, David Winters, who became her friend, dance teacher, and mentor. Winters cast her in many of his early movies and projects.

Garr began as a background go-go dancer in uncredited roles in youth-oriented films and TV shows choreographed by Winters, including '' Pajama Party'' (a beach party film), the ''T.A.M.I. Show'', ''Shindig!