Teri Garr died earlier today, of complications of Multiple Sclerosis. She was about 6 weeks short of her 80th birthday. She was diagnosed with MS about 25 years ago, which essentially killed her career, as it made it difficult for her to act.
Her peak was in the late 1970s and 1980s, when she starred in several major movies, including "Tootsie", "Mr. Mom", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and many others.
She lost her starring roles in the 1990s for the most part, probably due to age, but was notable to fans of "Friends" as Phoebe's mom.
To me she seemed to be more of a major star than she actually was, as I saw almost every major and semi-major movie made in the 1980s, and I kept seeing her pop up over and over in starring or co-starring roles.
I had forgotten about her until reading about her death today. She was also known as a great talk show guest, as she was personable and had a quick wit, so hosts loved to have her on.
You probably don't remember that she had an uncredited role in the video for Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters", which honestly was one of the best videos of the 1980s MTV days. The major stars in cameos in that video show the power of MTV at the time. She's at 3:55. See how many of the other '80s stars you can name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe93CLbHjxQ
She is listed as 5'7". I always thought she was taller than that -- something like 5'9". I guess that's because a lot of Hollywood leading men are short.
