This week, the entertainment world lost Teri Garr. Best known for playing Inga in the Mel Brooks classic Young Frankenstein (1974) and Phoebe’s estranged mother on the popular sitcom Friends (1997-1998), the comedic character actress nabbed an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in Sydney Pollack’s rom-com Tootsie (1982) which features a largely improvised speech from Garr.
After scoring her first speaking part in Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson’s trippy flick Head (1968) and regularly appearing on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-1974), she went on to co-star in the box office hits The Black Stallion (1979), Mr. Mom (1983), and Dumb and Dumber (1994).
Throughout the years, Garr appeared in comedies and dramas from film industry giants such as Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) and One from the Heart (1982); Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); Michael Ritchie’s A Simple Wish (1997); Nora Ephron’s Michael (1996); and Robert Altman’s The Player (1992) and Prêt-à-Porter (1994), for which she shared a Best Acting Ensemble prize from the National Board of Review.
Behind the camera, Garr battled typecasting and sexism in show business, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1990s, survived a brain aneurysm in 2006 and consequently retired from acting in 2011. In addition to writing her autobiography “Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood” (2005), Garr built up an impressive movie résumé including these three recommended gems:
After Hours (1985)
Directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Joseph Minion
While the Oscar-winning auteur of The Departed (2006) is known for making crime sagas, from Mean Streets (1973) to Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), this black comedy is Scorsese’s often-overlooked masterpiece. Second only to Goodfellas (1990), the farcical film noir shadows word processor Paul Hackett (Golden Globe nominee Griffin Dunne) as he tries to get home on one fateful night in Manhattan. Among the women (Catherine O’Hara, Linda Fiorentino, and BAFTA nominee Rosanna Arquette) he encounters is Julie (Garr), a volatile bouffant-donning, Monkees-loving artist who moonlights as a Xerox shop girl despite the fact that she can’t calculate tax. Once Paul passes on Julie’s advances, he leaves her mousetrap-ridden apartment and she joins a vigilante mob searching for him in a Mister Softee truck. Garr’s zany portrayal pops under the guidance of Scorsese, who was named Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival and at the Independent Spirit Awards where the movie won Best Feature.
Dick (1999)
Directed and co-written (with Sheryl Longin) by Andrew Fleming
Set in D.C. during the Watergate scandal of 1972, this All the President’s Men (1976) spoof centers around high schoolers Arlene (Young Artist nominee Michelle Williams) and Betsy (Young Star nominee Kirsten Dunst) who cluelessly cross paths with G. Gordon Liddy (Harry Shearer), H. R. Haldeman (Dave Foley), Henry Kissinger (Saul Rubinek), John Dean (Jim Breuer), and President Richard Nixon (Satellite Award nominee Dan Hedaya at his hilarious best). Although a box office flop, the underrated political parody will please niche audiences with its humorous premise, groovy wardrobe, Top 40 soundtrack, and amusing ensemble cast that includes a young Ryan Reynolds and veteran Garr, both shining regardless of their limited screen time.
Ghost World (2001)
Directed and co-written (with Daniel Clowes) by Terry Zwigoff
As is the case with the Elvis Presley musicals (Fun in Acapulco, Kissin’ Cousins, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, Girl Happy, and Clambake) of the 1960s, Garr is uncredited in this pic. Based on the comic book of the same name, the black comedy earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay as it follows teenage outcasts Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) on their journey into adulthood. Parts of the pic haven’t aged well but Garr’s understated cameo as the love interest of Enid’s Father (Bob Balaban) proves the Constantin Stanislavski line, “there are no small parts.”