teri garr

Teri Garr

Fun In Acapulco, 1963
Kissin' Cousins, 1964
Viva Las Vegas, 1964
Roustabout, 1964
Clambake, 1967

Born: December 11, 1945, in Lakewood, Ohio.

teri and John Denver

It's a crying shame that there's not more webspace devoted to Teri Garr! She's one of those actresses who seemed to be constantly in the public eye from around the mid 70's, and was always appealing in whatever role she played! Teri is probably most familiar as the long-suffering wife in Oh, God!, or as the even-longer-suffering wife in Close Encounters before making it big as the long-suffering friend/lover of Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. She also put up with Michael Keaton as Mr. Mom! I liked her in these films (no, really!), but I think to really appreciate Teri, you've got to dig up a copy of the Monkees' movie head, or maybe After Hours, where she dances to a Monkees record! Anyway, she's done some interesting stuff during her lengthy career! With an actor father and a dancer mother, it was not a shocker that Teri went into show business. She studied dance in California State University while appearing on the TV show "Shindig" as well as in five (some sources say nine!) Elvis films! Teri can be seen as a dancer in the films listed above, usually in a "crowd" scene, or in back of Elvis on stage (as in "Roustabout" below). I still have yet to spot her in all of the Elvis films! (So little time!) If you'd like to explore further, check out the Teri Garr page on the My Presley Gallery site.

After Elvis, Teri went on to make a couple of memorable guest shots, first on "Star Trek", as Roberta Lincoln in "Assignment: Earth", and around the same time, in the Monkees' psychedelic classic, head (1968). (Her skit was "a western" with Michael Nesmith) This was definitely a wierd flick, but definitely ya-gotta-see-it! She went on from there to do her time on a few TV variety series, before making a big impression in Mel Brooks' classic Young Frankenstein. Her next big break was in 1977, when she appeared in almost interchangable roles in two of the biggest hits of the year, Oh, God! and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In both films, her character had to deal with husbands who were seemingly going bonkers, but she was the one that had to deal with reality (and the kids)! That same year she appeared in Steve Martin's excellent short film, The Absent-Minded Waiter.