Teri Garr Dies: The 'Young Frankenstein' And 'Tootsie' Star Was 79

Teri Garr during the 10th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival - The Moth. No Way Back: Stories from the ... [+] Frontlines at St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, United States. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)

Teri Garr, the actress, comedian and singer who became an ambassador for multiple sclerosis after her own diagnosis in 1999, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 79 years-old and the cause of death were complications from multiple sclerosis.

The daughter of a comedic-actor father and a studio costumer mother, Teri Garr began her career as a teenager with small roles in television and film in the early 1960s, including appearances as a dancer in six Elvis Presley musicals. After leaving college midway through and studying at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City, Garr’s self-described "big break" as an actress was landing a role in the Star Trek episode in 1968 titled “Assignment Earth.”

LOS ANGELES: Teri Garr as Roberta Lincoln in the STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES episode, ... [+] "Assignment: Earth." Season 2, episode 26. Original air date was March 29, 1968. Image is a screen grab. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

Earlier Garr began on television with guest roles in series like Mr. Novak, Batman, Dr. Kildare, and The Andy Griffith Show. Following Star Trek, she was in demand in more guest spots, including the series That Girl, Room 222 and It Takes a Thief.

Garr’s first regularly scheduled series was in the summer variety series The Ken Berry “Wow” Show in 1972.

By the 1970s, Garr successfully segued to film in titles like the Francis Ford Coppola thriller The Conversation and Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein, both in 1974, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and comedy Tootsie in 1982, which resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reunited with Coppola in a role in his musical One from the Heart (1983), headlined the family film Mr. Mom (1983), and appeared in Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy After Hours (1985), among other films.

Teri Garr smiles at Dustin Hoffman in a scene from the film 'Tootsie', 1982. (Photo by Columbia ... [+] Pictures/Getty Images)

Actors Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman and Teri Garr in a scene from the movie 'Young ... [+] Frankenstein', 1974. (Photo by Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty Images)

In late night, Garr was a favorite guest on talkers like The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. She appeared as a regular in the one-season sitcoms Good & Evil, Good Advice, and the Designing Women spinoff Women of the House. More guest spots on television followed, including three episodes of Friends as the estranged mother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow). And her film resume deepened with Robert Altman’s The Player in 1992, Michael in 1996, and Ghost World in 2001, among other titles.

Garr's career began to slow in the late 1990s after a she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Teri Garr during The 10th Annual Race to Erase MS - Show at Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, ... [+] California, United States. (Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage)

Throughout the 2000s, she made guest appearances on TV series like Felicity, ER, Law & Order: SVU, and Bonnie Hunt sitcom Life with Bonnie. She also worked as a voice actor in the animated Batman Beyond and What’s New, Scooby Doo? Garr’s final credit came in 2011 when she appeared on the TV series How to Marry a Billionaire.

Garr is survived by her daughter, Molly O'Neil, and a grandson, Tyryn.