Teri Garr, the Oscar-nominated star of Tootsie and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was known for playing lovably daffy characters like Inga in Young Frankenstein. However, she also excelled in more somber roles.
Unfortunately, her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis. She died of the degenerative condition on Tuesday, aged 79. Now, we salute the gifted comedian and dancer with a selection of her best and most beloved film and television roles.
9. Pajama Party (1964) as Unnamed dancer
While many sources attribute Teri Garr’s debut cinematic appearance to the 1968 picture Head featuring The Monkees, she does appear in 1964’s Pajama Party. I recently heard TCM host Ben Mankowitz say that Ms. Garr “appears just to the right of Annette Funicello in every major scene,” which I have also seen stated verbatim on other IMDb ratings. Interesting but untrue. Ms. Garr appears as the second model in the fashion show scenario (which begins 37 minutes into the film), but Connie does not arrive at the clothing shop until after the fashion show. Teri Garr can be seen dancing to Annette’s right in the concluding musical song, “Pajama Party.”
Go Go (Tommy Kirk), a Martian teenager, is sent to Earth to prepare for an invasion. The first Earthling he meets, Aunt Wendy (Elsa Lanchester), is a wealthy widow who owns a fashion business catering to youngsters. Her nephew, Big Lunk (Jody McCrea), enjoys volleyball but has no interest in romance, which frustrates his girlfriend, Connie (Annette Funicello). Naturally, Go Go meets Connie, and they fall in love. Meanwhile, Aunt Wendy’s sleazy neighbor and gang devise a strategy to steal her money; the local biker gang also seeks vengeance on the volleyball players for leaving footprints on their beach. All of the subplots come together at the pajama party.
It’s not an exciting beginning for Garr’s career, but it led to so much more.
8. Doctor Franken (1980) as Kelli Fisher
Garr plays Kelli Fisher, the girlfriend of the Central Park heart attack victim Martin Elson.
This adaptation of the Frankenstein legend, set in a brownstone in modern-day Manhattan, stars Robert Vaughn as a determined New York surgeon named Dr. Arno Franken who brings “parts” home from work – the hospital where he conducts experimental research – to painstakingly rebuild the shattered body of an anonymous patient using organs from various donors.
This was a TV pilot that went unsold. The narrative concludes with the monster leaving to seek out the donors – or their families – of the bits and pieces that comprised him. It sounds like it would have gone the Kung Fu / Fugitive path, with the protagonist traveling the world and rescuing people. It was slightly better than I expected, but nothing earthshaking. The series was dubbed “The Franken Project,” and filming on the pilot began in late 1978. On January 13, 1980, NBC aired a Sunday night movie.
It’s one of Garr’s early television projects, and she was grossly underused.
7. Batman (1966): S1E07 – Instant Freeze as Girl Outside the Rink
Garr plays an unnamed girl outside the ice rink. In Gotham City, Mr. Freeze is a notorious criminal who uses instant freeze chemicals for criminal purposes. Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) suspect his motivation is revenge, and he is motivated by money to maintain sub-zero temperatures.
During this time, she frequently appeared on television as a go-go dancer on musical variety shows like Shindig! and Hullabaloo alongside pal Toni Basil. Garr appeared once on Batman in 1966 (episode seven, uncredited). In 1968, she appeared on The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D., and two episodes of It Takes a Thief.
While her Batman appearance didn’t do much for her career, it was heating up.
6. Aliens for Breakfast (1995) as Mrs. Bickerstaff
Next, Garr plays Richard’s kind-hearted single mom, Mrs. Bickerstaff. Aliens for Breakfast is an hour-long ABC TV movie starring Ben Savage as Richard and Sinbad as a pink alien named Aric. Aric warns Richard of an invasion by Dranes, who deprive the planets of their identity. The boy must face the Dranes and remain true to himself.
The show is based on a book by Stephanie Spinner and Jonathan Etra. Teri Garr plays Richard’s mother, and Alfre Woodard and Shelley Duvall are the teachers.
At the time, the 51-year-old actress was doing a lot of television and had just appeared as a best friend in the short-lived series Good Advice.
5. Mom and Dad Save the World (1992) as Marge Nelson
She plays a stereotypical suburban mom full of wide-eyed optimism and pop-psych wisdom, who placates Spengo by pretending to be in love with the intergalactic despot.
Mom And Dad Save The World (1992) is a loony fantasy film that opened after a year in distribution limbo. Written by the same team that brought us Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey, it has the earlier films’ freewheeling energy but lacks wit and charm. The film follows Dick and Marge Nelson, a middle-American couple sucked into outer space by Marge Nelson’s attraction to Tod Spengo (Jon Lovitz), the emperor of a small planet inhabited by idiots. Marge pretends to be in love with Spengo, while Dick must brave a dungeon filled with attack mushrooms and win the confidence of rebels. The film’s jokes are flat, and even sexual innuendos play so mildly that it is rated PG.
The movie had the potential to be a classic like other early 90s comedies. But critics savaged it, and it bombed at the box office. Thankfully, she appeared in Dumb and Dumber a year later, and it didn’t hurt her career much.
4. Batman Beyond as Mary McGinnis
Mary McGinnis, voiced by Teri Garr, is the mother of Terry McGinnis (Will Friedle), who became Batman’s successor. She is an astronomer at Astro-Tech.
Batman Beyond is set in the then-future 2019. Batman, an aging Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy), struggles with handling criminals and losing his mystique. During a mission to rescue a kidnapped heiress, he suffers a heart attack and is forced to use a gun. Ashamed, Batman retires from crime-fighting. His Alfred Pennyworth has died, and he lives an isolated life. Batman’s Rogues Gallery is all in prison, institutionalized, reformed, or deceased, and he has severed ties with other superheroes. He befriends a young boy and starts training him to use a high-tech suit to fight crime as the new Batman.
Mary used to be very soft with Terry, but following his run-ins with the law and the loss of his father, she decided to be harsher with him. It takes all of her efforts to reconcile raising her two sons with her extremely stressful profession, and Terry’s frequent absences due to his work with Bruce Wayne exacerbate the situation. While she has no idea that her son Terry is the vigilante Batman, she is beginning to believe that his employment is peculiar. Despite his imperfections, Mary McGinnis is very proud of her son, especially given all the new obligations.
54-year-old Teri Garr perfectly voices the stern but loving mother in the series. Garr returned to the stage in the fall of 2000, performing in many off-Broadway productions of The Vagina Monologues alongside Sanaa Lathan and Julianna Margulies. She retired from acting a few years later in 2006.
3. Star Trek: The Original Series (1968) as Roberta Lincoln
She played a ditsy secretary in the “Assignment Earth” episode of Star Trek.
The plot is that in 1968, the Enterprise intercepts a transporter beam from Earth and brings aboard humanoid alien agent Gary Seven. Initially phaser-struck, Seven beams himself away to save Earth from a nuclear rocket launch. Kirk and Spock investigate, realizing the risk of changing their past. They find Seven’s trail and must beam back aboard. They eventually find him, and Scotty locates him and beams him up.
According to Lance Parkin, author of The Impossible Has Happened: The Life and Work of Gene Roddenberry, Teri Garr ended up storming off the set of Star Trek because Gene Roddenberry wanted her skirt to be much shorter than it already was. Garr feared (correctly) that Starlog wanted to talk Trek and had to be persuaded to chat to promote her new flick.
Warren sat down with her on the balcony of her publicist’s office for an in-person session, and from there, things went sour. “I have nothing to say about it,” Garr said when asked about the episode in Starlog #173. “I did that years ago, and I mostly deny I ever did it.” She was glad the Gary Seven show didn’t go into a series. “Thank God,” Garr told the author. “Otherwise, all I would get would be Star Trek questions for the rest of my natural life—and probably my unnatural life. You ever see those people who are Star Trek fans? The same people who go to swap meets.”
Despite her hatred for the role, it’s one of her best-known performances and her third-greatest sci-fi role.
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1979) as Ronnie Neary
In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Garr plays Roy Neary’s (Richard Dreyfuss) desperate wife, Ronnie. Meryl Streep was considered for the role of Neary’s wife. Still, Spielberg chose Teri Garr instead, owing to her ability to convey a wide variety of emotions in a 30-second coffee advertisement. After Neary sculpts a mountain from mashed potatoes, his wife, Ronnie (Teri Garr), quickly abandons him with their children.
Neary, an Indiana power lineman, has his tranquil and typical everyday life turned upside down following a close encounter with a UFO, prompting him on an obsessive cross-country search for answers as a pivotal event approaches.
Close Encounters is about Neary’s preoccupation with the UFOs he witnessed and their destructive effect on his family. Garr excels in this role, particularly in scenes where she and the children witness his erratic behavior and shed tears as he appears to be suffering from early dementia. But I’ve always thought the approach was a touch too safe.
1. Young Frankenstein (1974) as Inga
Garr began her career as a dancer and rose to prominence as Inga, the sassy assistant in Mel Brooks’ 1974 film Young Frankenstein, who welcomed Gene Wilder’s Dr. Frederick Frankenstein with the unforgettable line, “Vould you like to have a roll in ze hay?”
Respected medical lecturer Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) discovers that he has inherited his infamous grandfather’s estate in Transylvania. When Dr. Frankenstein arrives at the castle, he quickly begins to duplicate his grandfather’s experiments with the help of servants Igor (Marty Feldman), Inga (Teri Garr), and the terrifying Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). After creating his monster (Peter Boyle), additional issues arise with the arrival of the doctor’s fiancée, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn).
The movie launched Garr’s fledgling career as a beautiful woman and a comedic genius. The film showcased Garr’s talent as a beautiful woman and comedic genius, showcasing her ability to deliver jokes and define her character. Inga, a terrified blonde, is portrayed as a critical character, showcasing her ability to adapt and compete with intense actors, making her a memorable example.
What do you think of Teri Garr’s career? Which is your favorite role?
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