Teri Garr

Academy Award nominated actress Teri Garr has had a long career in film and television. Having been born to two talented parents, it was only natural that Garr would follow a similar path. Despite suffering from multiple sclerosis, Garr has leant her natural humor and acting talents to many productions.

Born in Lakewood, Ohio on December 11, 1944, to Eddie and Phyllis Garr, Terri Garr was born to be a performer. Her father Eddie was a comedic Broadway actor and her mother was a dancer. Terri’s father died when she was eleven years old. Living with her mother in Hollywood, Garr graduated high school in 1962 and in 1963 she appeared as an extra in her first film, A Swingin’ Affair. She also appeared uncredited in the Elvis Presely film, Fun in Acapulco, the same year. Though Garr has sometimes been credited as Teri Hope, she is not to be confused with the former Playboy Playmate of the same name.

Though she appeared in numerous television shows in the late 1960s and the 1970s including Dr. Killdare, Batman, The Sonny and Cher Show, M*A*S*H, and The Andy Griffith Show, Garr’s first major film role to garner her Hollywood attention was the 1977 film Oh, God! starring George Burns. This role was immediately followed with a starring role in the classic Stephen Spielberg movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, also starring Richard Dreyfuss.

Garr’s first, and only, Oscar nomination was given for her role in the 1982 comedy Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Dabney Coleman, Geena Davis, and Bill Murray. Other notable film roles include Mr. Mom, where she co-starred with Michael Keaton; Dumb and Dumber, starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels; and Michael, starring John Travolta and Andie MacDowell.

Amongst her many movie appearances throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Garr has also appeared on several television shows and made-for-television movies. Television appearances include multiple hostings of Satarday Night Live, and guest appearances on Frasier, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, and perhaps most notably in her recurring role on Friends as the birth mother of Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe Buffay.

In 2002, Garr publicly announced she was suffering with multiple sclerosis and has since become a leading advocate in the fight against MS and in 2005 became one of only five people to have been honored with recognition as The National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Ambassador of the Year. Just before Christmas of 2006, Garr suffered a brain aneurysm, from which she is now recovering with a good prognosis. Garr currently lives in Los Angeles with her daughter, Molly.

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