(CNN) — Teri Garr, an Oscar-nominated actress known for her work in films like “Young Frankenstein,” “Tootsie” and “Mr. Mom,” has died, according to her manager.
She was 79.
Garr died Tuesday in Los Angeles, more than twenty years after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, her manger Marc Gurvitz told CNN.
She first shared her diagnosis publicly in an interview with CNN in 2002 in an effort raise awareness for others living with MS.
“I think everybody is scared and frightened when they hear something like that,” Garr recalled of first learning her diagnosis. “That’s because there’s so much – you know, there’s not a lot of information out there about it. And a lot of people don’t know that it’s not that bad. I mean, I’m going on with my life.
The daughter of a Broadway performer and a Rockette, Garr studied dance growing up and began auditioning soon after she graduated from high school in Los Angeles. Her intrepid career in Hollywood spans decades, with her earliest credits including appearances on TV shows like “Star Trek” and “That Girl.”
The 1970s proved to be a prolific time for Garr, apppearing on several episodes of the sketch comedy series “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” “The New Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Odd Couple” and “The Bob Newhart Show,” among many others.
Her break into film came in 1974, when she starred as Inga in the Mel Brooks-directed comedy “Young Frankenstein” alongside Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman. Two years later, Garr played Robbie Neary in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi epic “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
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