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Dustin Hoffman Remembers Late ‘Tootsie’ Costar Teri Garr After Her Death: ‘Heart of Gold’
Dustin Hoffman spoke out in a statement after the death of Tootsie costar Teri Garr on Tuesday, October 29.
“Teri was brilliant and singular in all she did, and had a heart of gold,” Hoffman, 87, told The New York Post. “Working with her was one of the great highs. There was no one like her.”
Hoffman and Garr costarred in 1982’s Tootsie, along with Jessica Lange, Dabney Coleman and Charles Durning. For her role of Sandy Lester, Garr received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Hoffman also received a Best Actor nod from the Academy, while Lange took home the award for Best Supporting Actress.
“I was proud. The Academy not only knew I existed, they thought I was good!” Garr said in her 2005 memoir, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, of the nomination.
Garr was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. In 2002, the Women of the House actress publicly revealed her diagnosis.
“MS is a sneaky disease,” she said. “Like some of my boyfriends, it has a tendency to show up at the most awkward times and then disappear entirely. It would take over 20 years for doctors to figure out what was wrong. Sometimes they mentioned MS, but all the tests came back clear. Then the symptoms would fade away and I’d forget about it, sort of.”
Her final acting appearance came in 2011 when she appeared in How to Marry a Billionaire.
“I think my career would have changed anyway at a certain age, but Hollywood’s very finicky about everyone being perfect. When things slowed down, it was either the MS or that I’m a stinking actress, so I chose to believe it’s the MS,” Garr told Brain & Life. “There’s definitely fear and misunderstanding out there about what MS is, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to me to go out and talk about it.”
Garr died after her decades-long battle with the chronic disease at age 79. Her publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, told People that Garr was “surrounded by family and friends” at the time of her death.
Michael Keaton, who costarred with Garr in 1983’s Mr. Mom, also shared a tribute to the late star on social media after her passing.
“This is a day I feared and knew was coming,” he wrote on Instagram. “Forget about how great she was as an actress and comedienne. She was a wonderful woman. Not just great to work with but great to be around. AND go back and watch her comedic work-Man, was she great!! RIP girl.”
Throughout her incredible acting career, Garr notably portrayed Phoebe Abbott, the birth mother of Lisa Kudrow‘s Phoebe Buffay, on Friends. Kudrow spoke out in a statement following Garr’s death.
“Teri Garr was a comedic acting genius who was and is a huge influence on me and I know I’m not alone in that,” Kudrow told People. “I feel so lucky and grateful I got to work with Teri Garr.”
Garr is survived by her daughter, Molly O’Neil, whom she welcomed with ex-husband John O’Neil, and one grandson.
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