Teri Garr, the Oscar-nominated actress best known for her work in hit comedies like Toetsie And Young Frankensteindied Tuesday, October 29, at her home in Los Angeles, The New York Times reports. She was 79.

Garr’s publicist confirmed her death and said it was caused by complications from multiple sclerosis. Garr was diagnosed with MS in 1999 and made it public in 2002. In 2006, she suffered a brain aneurysm that left her in a coma for several days, although she eventually regained the ability to speak.

Over four decades, Garr enjoyed a hugely successful and versatile career, excelling in comedy as well as creating memorable turns in dramas, thrillers and science fiction epics. That same year she made her breakthrough in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankensteinshe had a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The conversation. A few years later she starred opposite George Burns and John Denver Oh God!as well as Richard Dreyfus in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Garr’s 1982 performance as Sandy Lester – the frustrated girlfriend of Dustin Hoffman’s Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels – earned her an Oscar nomination, although she ultimately lost to her co-star, Jessica Lange. In her 2006 memoir, Speed ​​bumps: Floors through HollywoodGarr revealed that she almost turned down the role of Sandy, so determined was she to play the lead role. And while she called the character “one of the most rewarding roles of my life,” she also wasn’t afraid to expose its flaws.

Describing the film in a 2008 interview with The AV clubGarr joked, “They put a man in a dress, and he’s supposed to know what it feels like to be a woman.” But of course he doesn’t. I think Dustin (Hoffman) says, ‘I now realize how important it is for a woman to be beautiful. And I wasn’t beautiful.’ God! Is that all you realized? Jesus Christ. Oh well. Don’t quote me. Just quote me.”

Garr was born and raised in Los Angeles, the daughter of an actor/vaudevillian and a former Rockette (her father, Edward, died when she was 11, and her mother, Phyllis, became a costumer to support the family). Garr began her career with small roles in commercials, and as an uncredited dancer in several films (including several starring Elvis Presley).

In the mid-1960s, she finally began to land speaking roles in film and on TV, as in a 1968 episode of Star Trek and the Monkeys movie Headwhich arrived the same year. In the early 1970s, just before her film career took off, she regularly scored recurring roles The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. In addition to giving her the opportunity to hone her comedic skills, Garr was also able to borrow a German accent from Cher’s wig stylist for her performance as Inga – Dr. Frederick Frankenstein by Gene Wilder – in Young Frankenstein.

“That really put me on the map because I was in that movie,” Garr said The AV club. “I had no idea it would be such a big hit, and it’s still hot. People still watch it all the time. I had no idea. It was really the first time my name was on the poster, starring and all that kind of stuff. So I’m very grateful that I was in it at all.”

Other highlights of Garr’s acting in the 1970s and 1980s included major box office successes such as the drama The black stallion and the comedy Mister Momas well as cult favorites like Martin Scorsese’s After hours. Later she collaborated twice with Robert Altman – The player And Ready-to-wear — while also delivering memorable supporting returns in films like Stupid and stupider, DickAnd Ghost world.

On TV, Garr appeared for guest spots on shows like M*A*S*H, ER, HappinessAnd Friendswhere she appeared in several episodes as the biological mother of Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe. But perhaps her most memorable TV appearances came late at night: she was a host Saturday evening live three times and was a regular at Johnny Carson’s Tonight Toonbut she was probably best known for her many performances opposite David Letterman.

Garr and Letterman’s fantastic repartee often veered between flirty and controversial, which inevitably led to bits that didn’t age well (like when Letterman convinced Garr to shower in his office). While Garr enjoyed the sparring, in an interview with Roger Ebert around the release of her 1988 film, Full moon in blue watershe spoke about the way her Letterman performances seemed to reinforce this perception of her as a ‘ditz’, and an actress only capable of comedy.

“I started in the 1970s with the Wife, the Bimbo and the Ditz, and if I somehow get a serious role, they all want to know the same thing: When are you going back to comedy?” she said.

She added: “I’m making a serious movie, it’s not working, it’s back to comedy, honey. I keep persevering, and keep tapping them on the shoulder. Maybe I’ll get the chance to do other things, and maybe I won’t. You have to want to be an actor, not just a movie star. You should be content just playing roles and go as far as you can, because becoming a movie star is like winning the lottery. It’s a big joke. You have to be in the right place at the right time.”