RIP Teri Garr
Actress Teri Garr has died at 79, with her cause of death listed as multiple sclerosis. Garr started as a dancer but became known for mostly comic roles:
Garr’s big break came with her role as Inga, Frankenstein’s assistant, in Mel Brooks’ 1974 comedy horror “Young Frankenstein.” …
That same year, Garr starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s thriller “The Conversation.” She followed that up with Steven Spielberg’s 1977 sci-fi film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Come the 1980s, Garr landed a role opposite Dustin Hoffman in the satirical rom-com “Tootsie.” Her performance as Sandy Lester earned Garr her first and only nomination for an Academy Award.
Garr was in many more movies as well. She had a deft comic touch that was often subtly deadpan. I think most people might remember her best from “Young Frankenstein,” but for me it was “After Hours,” the quirky and somewhat surrealistic Scorcese film about a really bad night in New York:
After Hours is always near the top of my movie recommendations because so many people haven’t seen it. It’s great! Can’t imagine anyone not liking that movie.
She was great in After Hours.
After Hours is kinda the movie you accidentally tune into while going through the channels and end up watching the whole thing.
Then, every once in awhile, you watch it again from the beginning
One of my favorite actresses. RIP.
Mike Plaiss:
I love After Hours, and I saw it originally in a movie theater and have watched it many times since. But I have no trouble imagining people not liking it.
Trekkies also remember Teri Garr as the slightly ditzy but very intelligent secretary Roberta Lincoln in the “Assignment: Earth” episode (original series, season 2).
“After Hours” had a budget of $4.5 mil and a box office of $10.6 mil. So it didn’t lose money but didn’t make much either.
I saw it when it came out and loved it, but I never ran into many people who did see it. Comedy is one thing; black humor another. I tend to humour noir, myself.
It does seem to be a film which is better remembered than originally received.
My first reaction when seeing this news was “No, not Teri Garr!”
She was a one-of-a-kind, and I don’t mean that as a cliche. Not only did she have such great talent for acting (I didn’t know about the dancing though); but she always came across as such a likable person, one who you might be friends with if you met her in real life.
My she rest in peace.
“After Hours” had the same template as Scorcese’s “Goodfellas.” It starts low-key then gradually escalates the speed and tension to an insane climax, followed by utter deflation.
In Griffin Dunne’s case he is literally being pursued down the street by an angry mob led by a cute blond, Catherine O’Hara, driving a Mr. Softee ice cream truck.
A scholarly paper could be written on Dunne’s eye cuts in “After Hours.”
Wasn’t expecting this. But then, I haven’t seen her in a movie or a show in a long, long time. Of course, it’s possible that I missed her; I don’t catch a lot of movies or shows.
Always liked what Pauline Kael wrote in praise of her performance in “One From the Heart”: “She dances like a hot poney.”
Perfect.
And in “Young Frankenstein”:
DR. FRANKENSTEIN: “Say, those are nice knockers!”
INGA: “Oh, zank-you dok-tor!”
Very cute, very funny, very talented. Always a joy to watch. RIP, kid.
I’m seventy-two years old, and that’s enough time to have accumulated a few female friends, but I’ve always been suspicious of women as friends, and time has sadly proved me right.
In the US, celebrities and movie stars play roles similar to the saints in religious societies. We project our emotions and desires upon them. As a much, much younger man, I wanted to be Terri Garr’s friend. In that, she was a unique actress. As far as I know, it was the least of her achievements. RIP.
Star Trek, as the genius bimbo. Frankenstein… Frankenshteen, too. She was an entertaining and talented actress. A beautiful girl. A fond farewell.
MJR beat me to the obscure Star Trek episode.
I loved After Hours. There are also noteworthy films like Close Encounters of a Third Kind, Tootsie, The Player (Robert Altman), and The Conversation (F.F. Coppola).
The earliest entry for her in IMDB is as a go-go dancer – a real one, not acting – in the T. A. M. I. Show, a superb music performance video from 1964 featuring James Brown, The Rolling Stones, the Supremes, The Beach Boys, the Miracles and many others. RIP, Teri.
In the US, celebrities and movie stars play roles similar to the saints in religious societies. We project our emotions and desires upon them.
==
That’s not the role of saints in any society.
Oh yes close encounters i dont recall her part in the conversation i though cyndi marshall had a larger role nor the player
She wasnt a bimbo exactly more like someone out if depths in extraordinary circumstance in that trek episode (there was a trek series of books where they continue the adventures into the 70s leading into the eugenics wars)
She was appealing, especially as “Roberta Lincoln”. Cannot say I’ve seen her in anything since a TV movie that IMDB reminds me was released in 1990.
Re: Teri Gar / Close Encounters of a Third Kind
TommyJay:
I found her scenes as the frazzled working class mom trying to hold it together while her husband, Richard Dreyfuss, has seemingly lost his mind, quite painful and hard watching in later viewings.
Sure, we know that Dreyfuss really Saw Something, but there is no way for Teri Garr to know that. All she knows is she must keep things together for the kids.
In later years Spielberg admitted that he regretted the ending of the film where Dreyfuss blithely abandons his family to fly off with the Space Beings.
Yes your husband goes nutz and drags you to devils peak colorado (its often suggested that et was sort of a sequel to ce) jj abrams sort of revisited these tropes with super 8 if memory serves
And don’t forget Mr Mom with Michael Keaton. Classic.