Fun Trivia : Garr, Teri

Structure Sub-topic of: Celebrities E-G Quizzes Interesting Questions, Facts and Information There are a total of 15 general entries.

Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

Garr, Teri

During the 1960s, Teri made guest appearances on numerous television series of the era. Which popular science fiction program did she appear on?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Star Trek. During the second season of "Star Trek", Teri guest starred as Roberta Lincoln in the episode "Assignment: Earth". Robert Lansing also guest starred as Roberta's boss, Gary Seven, a mysterious 20th century human being who had been raised on another planet, and then returned to Earth tasked with preventing humanity from destroying itself. The USS Enterprise traveled back in time to Earth in the year 1968, on a mission to investigate the Cold War arms race. In the process, Kirk and Spock encountered Gary Seven on a mission of his own, to destroy an orbiting nuclear platform in an effort to reduce the proliferation of space-based nuclear weapons. This episode, which originally aired on NBC on March 29, 1968, was also actually the pilot for a proposed spin-off series that was to have starred Robert Lansing, Barbara Babcock, and Teri Garr, continuing the saga of Gary Seven and his mission on 20th century Earth. As history records, however, the NBC executives of the era never really grasped what they had in Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek", and the network declined to produce "Assignment: Earth" as a series.



Teri portrayed a recurring character on the NBC police series "McCloud". The show starred Dennis Weaver as Marshal Sam McCloud, a lawman from Taos, New Mexico on temporary assignment in New York City. What was the name of Teri's character?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Sergeant Phyllis Norton. "McCloud" - loosely based on the Clint Eastwood motion picture "Coogan's Bluff" - aired for seven seasons between 1970 and 1977. The show was originally part of the popular "NBC Mystery Movie" series, sharing its time slot with "McMillan and Wife", "Columbo", and "Banacek" on a rotating basis. Prior to her recurring role as Sgt. Phyllis Norton, Teri also had a guest appearance on "McCloud", playing the character Nora Mullins in the fourth season episode "The Million Dollar Round Up".



Teri Garr and Alan Alda appeared together in Richard Quine's 1970 comedy/drama, "The Moonshine War". Did Teri ever appear on Alan's signature television series "M*A*S*H"?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Yes. Not only did Teri appear opposite Alan Alda on "M*A*S*H", she played Hawkeye's love interest during her sole guest appearance on the series. Teri guest starred as Lt. Suzanne Marquette in the second season episode "The Sniper". The episode opened with Hawkeye and Suzanne enjoying a private moment together outside of camp, but their romantic interlude was abruptly interrupted by enemy sniper fire.



Many of Teri's earliest motion picture appearances consisted of non-dialogue dancing roles in the long series of Elvis Presley films. Did Teri appear in "The King's" debut movie, "Love Me Tender"?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


No. During his meteoric career, Elvis Presley starred in over 30 films. His first, "Love Me Tender", was released in 1957, several years before Teri made her professional debut as a dancer and actress. Teri made her first appearance in an Elvis film as an uncredited dancer in his 13th movie, "Fun in Acapulco", released in 1963. She went on to dance in several more Presley films, including "Kissin' Cousins" (1964), "Viva Las Vegas" (1964), "Roustabout" (1964), and "Clambake" (1967).



Following a decade spent filling mostly small (and often uncredited) film roles, Teri finally made her mark in motion pictures thanks to her co-starring role in which Mel Brooks comedy?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Young Frankenstein. Teri Garr's character Inga in "Young Frankenstein" was her first major film role, and allowed Teri to showcase her comic irreverence and screen persona. Released in 1974, it was the watershed point in Teri's career; her performance as Inga quite literally put Teri on the map in the motion picture industry. In a 1999 newspaper interview with the "Toronto Sun", Teri said the following regarding her role: "It was my very first big part, where my name was on the credits and on the poster and all that stuff. I think if I hadn't got that part, my life would be very different now. I'd be just another of the 900 girls a day who arrive in Hollywood on the bus, and then they don't make it and they fall through the cracks. This really changed my life. After this, I could get auditions for other things."



Teri Garr co-starred in a 1977 blockbuster science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg; it was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and won one. Which film was it?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", Teri played Ronnie Neary, the long-suffering wife of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss). Roy was obsessed with chasing Little Green Men, leaving Ronnie to manage the home (Earth?) front, essentially destroying their marriage in the process. To say much more would lead to spoilers, so we'll leave it at that...



In the 1982 romance comedy "Tootsie", Teri starred opposite Dustin Hoffmann, Jessica Lange, and Geena Davis. Teri and Geena have both modeled ladies lingerie. Geena was once a Victoria's Secret catalog model. What line of lingerie did Teri model for?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Fruit of the Loom panties. Teri modeled Fruit of the Loom panties during a 1990 advertising campaign. She has a long history of advertising work, having appeared in television commercials for numerous products, including Band-Aids, Pepsi, Crest toothpaste, Safeguard soap, MJB coffee, and Tide laundry detergent. Of her advertising work, Teri once said, "I've always had this American-pie face that would get work in commercials... I'd say things like 'Hi Marge, how's your laundry?' and 'Hi, I'm a real nice Georgia peach.' Sometimes this work is one step above being a cocktail waitress." In "Tootsie", Dustin Hoffman starred as actor Michael Dorsey, and Teri Garr played his girlfriend, Sandy. Michael had earned an industry reputation for being a difficult actor to work with, and as a result, roles were few and far between. Finding it impossible to secure acting work as himself, Michael decided to cross-dress and remake himself as a woman, "Dorothy Michaels", landing a starring role on a television soap opera in the process. The situation became even more complicated once Michael found himself falling in love with his co-star Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange), while simultaneously, "Dorothy" was attracting romantic attention from "her" male co-stars. Teri Garr's performance as Sandy earned her a 1983 Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.



Teri starred with Michael Keaton in the 1983 comedy "Mr. Mom". Martin Mull co-starred as Teri's lecherous boss. Several years later, Teri and Martin appeared together again in which Robert Altman film?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


The Player. Director Robert Altman is famous (some might say infamous) for battling the film industry establishment and the major Hollywood studios. "The Player" was a satirical piece about blackmail, corporate politics, and double-dealing, set against the backdrop of the motion picture industry. Teri Garr and Martin Mull both appeared as themselves, joining over 50 other stars and celebrities making similar cameo appearances.



In 1983, Teri co-starred in a sequel to George Roy Hill's 1973 blockbuster "The Sting". Paul Newman (as Henry Gondorff) and Robert Redford (as Johnny Hooker) were the main protagonists in the original film. Who played Gondorff and Hooker alongside Teri in "The Sting II"?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Jackie Gleason and Mac Davis. Jackie Gleason and Mac Davis starred as Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker in the sequel. Teri's character, Veronica, had no equivalent in the original film. "The Sting II" told a tale similar to its predecessor, involving a complicated scam to con a crooked gangster out of a vast sum of money. It's hard to follow a classic... "The Sting" was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1973, and won seven, including Best Picture. "The Sting II" was nominated for only a single Oscar in 1984 (Lalo Schifrin for Best Score), which it did not win.



Teri had a recurring role on the popular NBC sitcom "Friends", playing the mother of one of the six main characters. Whose mom did she portray?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Phoebe's. Ross and Monica were brother and sister, so Teri could not have been mother to just one of them; their parents (Jack and Judy Geller) were portrayed by Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles, and were frequent guest stars on "Friends". Rachel's parents (Sandra and Leonard Green) also made several appearances on the show, played by Marlo Thomas and Ron Leibman. Joey's parents (Joseph, Sr. and Gloria Tribbiani) appeared in only one episode ("The One With The Boobies"), and were portrayed by Robert Costanzo and Brenda Vaccaro. Chandler had the most "interesting" set of parents, Nora and Helena Bing, memorably played by Morgan Fairchild and Kathleen Turner; his mother Nora was the author of steamy romance novels, and his father Helena was the cross-dressing star of a drag queen revue. Phoebe's parental situation was considerably more complicated than any of the other characters, but she was eventually reunited with both of her parents during the run of the series. Phoebe met her father, Frank Buffay, Sr. (played by Bob Balaban) during the fifth season episode "The One With Joey's Bag". Phoebe first encountered her mother (Teri Garr, in an inspired piece of casting) during the final episode of the third season, "The One At The Beach". That episode was a cliff-hanger, and Phoebe didn't discover that she was her birth mother, Phoebe Buffay, Sr., until the fourth season opener, "The One With The Jellyfish". Teri reprised her role as Phoebe, Sr. one more time, in the fourth season episode "The One With Phoebe's Uterus".



During her lengthy career, Teri has been no stranger to the late night talk show circuit. She has long been a favorite guest of one particular late night host, who once convinced Teri to take a shower on-camera during his show. Who was the host when Teri took her legendary shower?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


David Letterman. Ever the good sport, Teri took her memorable shower on November 20, 1985, on NBC's "Late Night With David Letterman". The show was filmed entirely in Letterman's office suite, reportedly due to a failure of the studio air conditioning system. After considerable prompting from David, Teri reluctantly showered in Letterman's office bathroom. One of David Letterman's all-time favorite female guests, Teri has made over 25 appearances on "Late Night". Quoting from a "People" magazine article written by Jane Hall, published on July 14, 1986: "Another favorite is actress Teri Garr, who plays a dizzy Gracie Allen to Letterman's George Burns. Garr delights Letterman because, he says, 'Half the time I'm apologizing to Teri for what I did to her last time.' Perhaps regretting that he had persuaded Garr to take an on-camera shower in his office (In retrospect, it looked like a VFW smoker), Letterman sent her an electronic bouquet: Teri Garr Week, four nights of reruns on which she had appeared. 'David is "mean" like my brother was,' says Garr, who takes Letterman's kidding in stride. 'That's not really mean.'"



In 2002, Teri publicly revealed that she is afflicted with a chronic medical condition. What affliction does Teri suffer from?

Teri Garr - Totally Teri


Multiple sclerosis. During an October 9, 2002 appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live", Teri revealed that she had been suffering from multiple sclerosis symptoms for roughly 20 years. She had previously kept her condition secret, fearing that if it became known she would find it difficult to obtain acting roles. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, progressive disease affecting the central nervous system. Its symptoms can include weakness, numbness and tingling in the limbs, difficulty walking and loss of balance, and vision impairments. The disease affects more than two million people worldwide, the vast majority of them women. Medications exist to control the symptoms of MS, but there is no known cure. For more information about this debilitating disease, visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society web site at www.nationalmssociety.org.