Teri Garr brightened up comedies Tootsie, Young Frankenstein

LOS ANGELES - Academy Award-nominated American actress Teri Garr (right), whose sunny personality lit up the screen in films such as Young Frankenstein (1974) and Tootsie (1982), died on Oct 29 at age 79.

Garr, who earned an Oscar nomination for her role opposite American actor Dustin Hoffman in the gender-swop comedy Tootsie, died in Los Angeles from complications of multiple sclerosis (MS), publicist Heidi Schaeffer said.

Garr disclosed in 2002 that she had been diagnosed with MS after experiencing symptoms for some two decades. She became an advocate for MS research and treatment. In 2007, she underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm and used a wheelchair for a time.

"I had to learn to walk again, to talk again and to think again, which I'm not even sure is necessary in Hollywood," she joked in an interview with Reuters in 2008.