This week, the world lost Teri Garr, who passed away on October 29, 2024 at the age of 79. The actor leaves behind a wonderfully diverse and eclectic career that exemplified her terrific range of talents, from pitch-perfect comedic timing to captivating earnestness. Celebrate her life and career by revisiting the best Teri Garr movies...
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr
What it’s about: Respected physician Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (which he pronounces “fronk-en-steen”) discovers that his grandfather’s infamous experiments were not lunacy after all during a visit to Transylvania.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr landed her breakout, scene-stealing role as Frederick’s beautiful assistant, Inga, in the classic horror-comedy movie, Young Frankenstein.
How to watch Young Frankenstein
The Conversation (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Teri Garr
What it’s about: An anxious surveillance expert uncovers concerning information about a couple he has been spying on.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Also in 1974, Teri Garr showed her more dramatic side in the Best Picture Oscar nominee, The Conversation, as Amy – a girlfriend of Gene Hackman’s character, Harry, who grows impatient of his overly private demeanor.
How to watch The Conversation
- Stream The Conversation on Paramount+ with Showtime add-on
- Rent or buy The Conversation on Amazon
- Buy The Conversation on Blu-ray on Amazon
Oh, God! (1977)
Director: Carl Reiner
Starring: George Burns, John Denver, Teri Garr
What it’s about: A mild-mannered grocery store assistant manager is chosen by God to spread His message to the rest of humanity.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr demonstrates a mix of the comedic and the dramatic in Oh, God! as Bobbie Landers – the wife of God’s chosen messenger in the divine satire based on Avery Corman’s novel.
How to watch Oh, God!
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr
What it’s about: A group of ordinary people become fascinated by evidence of UFOs.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Also in 1977, Teri Garr once again starred as the wife of a man who makes contact with an otherworldly being in one of the best alien invasion movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
How to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Rent or buy Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Amazon
- Buy Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Black Stallion (1979)
Director: Carroll Ballard
Starring: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr
What it’s about: A boy manages to survive a shipwreck with the help of a beautiful horse that he eventually trains to be a racing champion in the 1940s.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: One of the best and most inspiring movies about horses is The Black Stallion, in which Teri Garr plays the mother of the young hero, Alec Ramsey.
How to watch The Black Stallion
- Stream The Black Stallion on MGM+
- Rent or buy The Black Stallion on Amazon
- Buy The Black Stallion on Blu-ray on Amazon
Tootsie (1982)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr
What it’s about: A disgraced struggling actor finally lands a part in a popular soap opera by posing as a woman named Dorothy Michaels.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr starred in several of the best movies of the 1980s, including the acclaimed comedy Tootsie, in which she plays Sandy – a student and friend-turned-one-sided lover of Dustin Hoffman’s Michale Dorsey.
How to watch Tootsie
Mr. Mom (1983)
Director: Stan Dragoti
Starring: Michael Keaton, Teri Garr
What it’s about: After losing his job, a family man decides to be a stay-at-home father while his wife goes to work each day.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Also one of the best Michael Keaton movies, the hilarious Mr. Mom sees Teri Garr subvert societal norms of the time by starring in the role of a wife and mother who re-enters the workforce.
How to watch Mr. Mom
- Stream Mr. Mom on Tubi
- Stream Mr. Mom on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy Mr. Mom on Amazon
- Buy Mr. Mom on Blu-ray on Amazon
After Hours (1985)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr
What it’s about: A meek word processor endures a wild and increasingly dangerous night in New York City.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr has also starred in a few largely forgotten ‘80s movies, such as Martin Scorsese’s funny hidden gem, After Hours, as Julie – an eccentric restaurant server whose admiration for Griffin Dunne’s Paul Hackett at first charms and later perturbs him.
How to watch After Hours
Let It Ride (1989)
Director: Joe Pytka
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, David Johansen, Teri Garr, Jennifer Tilly
What it’s about: A cab driver with a compulsive gambling addiction receives a tip on a horse race that might finally earn him the win he has been chasing.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: More than a decade after appearing together in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Teri Garr reunited with Richard Dreyfuss for the screwball comedy Let It Ride, once again playing his onscreen wife.
How to watch Let It Ride
Dumb And Dumber (1994)
Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Teri Garr
What it’s about: Two dim-witted best friends travel across the country to deliver a lost briefcase to a woman that one of them fell for.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr appears in one of the best Jim Carrey movies, Dumb & Dumber, as Helen Swanson, the stepmother of Mary Swanson, who is tickled by Harry’s periwinkle tuxedo and horrified when Lloyd accidentally kills one of the owls at the fundraiser in Aspen.
How to watch Dumb and Dumber
BONUS: Friends (appearances in 1997-1998)
Creator: David Crane, Marta Kauffman
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
What it’s about: The daily struggles of a close-knit group of six twenty-somethings in New York City.
Why it is one of the best Teri Garr TV shows: One of Teri Garr’s most notable TV appearances was alongside the Friends cast for three episodes (Season 3, Episode 25 and Season 4, Episodes 1 and 11) as a woman whom Phoebe discovers is her birth mother.
How to watch Friends
Teri Garr's legacy is a plentiful one by the irresistible heart and humor she brought to every role.
