TERI GARR - Love, Laughter My Lıfe Today

SHE HAS NEVER ALLOWED HER HEALTH ISSUES TO BREAK HER BRILLIANT SPIRIT

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Mel Brooks still marvels at how Teri Garr clinched her audition for 1974's Young Frankenstein. “All the other people who were up for the part of Inga had read their lines in a normal way,” Mel tells Closer. “When Frau Blücher is about to release the monster, they had all said, “No, no, you mustn't.' But not Teri! When Teri auditioned, she shouted, 'No, no, youmozzn’t!' in a crazy-exaggerated Germanic/Transylvanian accent. We all laughed out loud. We were so lucky to get to work with her.”

The daughter of a Broadway performer and a Rockette, Teri, 74, studied dance as a teen and began auditioning the moment she graduated North Hollywood High School. One of her earliest credits was a dancer in Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas. She also shimmied on the variety series Shindig!, Hullabaloo and The Sonny & Cher Show before growing weary of always being in the background. I finally asked myself, Why am I not in the front?” Teri recalled. I didn't study all those years to be in the back and get no money.

Young Frankenstein would become Teri's big breakthrough. Before long, her versatile and effervescent presence would make her a star in films like Oh, God!, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Mr. Mom. She was even nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in 1982's Tootsie. I was proud,” Teri said in her 2005 memoir Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood.