Lisa Kudrow pays tribute to her TV mom, Teri Garr.

Shortly after news of Garr’s death broke on October 29, the Friends alum, 61, remembered the actress in a heartfelt statement to PEOPLE.

“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,” she said. “I feel so lucky and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Teri Garr.”

Garr made her debut on Friends as Phoebe Abbott, the estranged biological mother of Kudrow’s Phoebe Buffay and Ursula Buffay, in season 3, episode 25. She appeared in three episodes of the hit NBC sitcom.

Garr first appeared in the season 3 finale in 1997, titled “The One at the Beach”, in which Phoebe broke away from the friend group’s journey to connect with a woman who knew her parents. Phoebe later discovered that the woman, Phoebe Abbott (Garr), was not only a friend of her parents, but her biological mother. Once they realized this, the two also noticed that they share the same quirky mannerisms.

Garr’s final two episodes came in season 4, with “The One with the Jellyfish” and “The One with Phoebe’s Uterus”, both airing in 1998.

“The One with the Jellyfish” (the season 4 premiere) continued with Phoebe shocked after learning her mother’s identity and telling her she never wanted to see her again. However, it was short-lived as Abbott tracked down Phoebe in Central Perk and the two officially reconciled.

In “The One with Phoebe’s Uterus,” Abbott helped Phoebe as she debated whether or not to become the surrogate for her brother Frank (Giovanni Ribisi) and sister-in-law Alice (Debra Jo Rupp). To do this, Abbott gave Phoebe a puppy to care for for three days, to see how she would feel if she had to give him up. But things took a turn when Phoebe ultimately wanted to keep the puppy, which was revealed to be Abbott’s pet.

Garr, best known for her comedic work in films like 1974 Young Frankenstein and 1982 Toetsiedied on Tuesday, October 29, of multiple sclerosis.

Her publicist Heidi Schaeffer told PEOPLE that Garr died “surrounded by family and friends.”

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The late actress first revealed in 2002 that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1990s. She first started noticing symptoms during filming One from the heart And Toetsie.

She later released a memoir, Speed ​​bumps: through Hollywoodin 2006, where she opened up about her illness. “MS is a sneaky disease,” she wrote in an excerpt published by PEOPLE. “Like some of my boyfriends, it has a tendency to pop up at the most awkward times and then disappear completely. It would take more than twenty years for doctors to figure out what was wrong. Sometimes MS was reported, but all tests came back clear. Then the symptoms would go away and I would kind of forget about it.”

Throughout her career, Garr was known for her comedic roles in films such as Toetsie And Young Frankensteinand appeared on TV shows like McCloud, M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show, The odd couple, Maud And Barnaby Jones. She was also a host Saturday evening live three times, in 1980, 1983 and 1985, and had roles in Casper meets Wendythe Women design spin-off series Women of the House, Dick And Ghost world.

Garr became a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and national chair of the Society’s Women Against MS program. She limited the number of projects she appeared in and retired from acting in 2011.

“Slowing down is not in my nature, but I have to,” she said Brain and life magazine in 2005. “Stress and anxiety and all those stressful things are not good for MS.”