Teri Garr, the actress, comedian and singer, who became an ambassador for Multiple sclerosis after her own diagnosis in 1999, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles.

Teri Garr Dies: The ‘Young Frankenstein’ And ‘Tootsie’ Star Was 79

Teri Garr, the actress, comedian and singer, who became an ambassador for Multiple sclerosis after her own diagnosis in 1999, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles.

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Teri Garr during the 10th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival - The Moth. No Way Back: Stories from the ... [+] Frontlines at St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, United States. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
FilmMagic, Inc

Teri Garr, the actress, comedian and singer, who became an ambassador for Multiple sclerosis after her own diagnosis in 1999, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 79 years-old and the cause of death were complications from Multiple sclerosis.

The daughter of a comedic-actor father and a studio costumer mother, Teri Garr began her career as a teenager with small roles in television and film in the early 1960s, including appearances as a dancer in six Elvis Presley musicals. After leaving college midway through and studying at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City, Garr’s self-described "big break" as an actress was landing a role in the Star Trek episode in 1968 titled “Assignment Earth.”

LOS ANGELES: Teri Garr as Roberta Lincoln in the STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES episode, ... [+] "Assignment: Earth." Season 2, episode 26. Original air date was March 29, 1968. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
CBS via Getty Images

Earlier Garr began on television with guest roles in series like Mr. Novak, Batman, Dr. Kildare and The Andy Griffith Show. Following Star Trek, she was in demand in more guest spots, including the TV series That Girl, Room 222 and It Takes a Thief.

Garr’s first regularly scheduled series was in the summer variety series The Ken Berry “Wow” Show in 1972.

By the 1970, Garr successfully segued to film in titles like the Francis Ford Coppola thriller The Conversation and Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein, both in 1974, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and comedy Tootsie, which resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reunited with Coppola in a role in his musical One from the Heart (1983), headlined the family film Mr. Mom (1983), and appeared in Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy After Hours (1985), among other films.

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Teri Garr smiles at Dustin Hoffman in a scene from the film 'Tootsie', 1982. (Photo by Columbia ... [+] Pictures/Getty Images)
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