“Tootsie" star Teri Garr dies at age 79
The actress died after a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis.
File image showing director Mel Brooks (L) with actresses Teri Garr (C) and Cloris Leachman.
Teri Garr, an Oscar nominee for best supporting actress for her role in the 1982 hit film "Tootsie,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles, her manager said.
Garr, 79, died after a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis, Heidi Schaeffer said in a statement to AFP.
Garr, an actress, comedian and singer, also co-starred in "Young Frankenstein" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms include muscle weakness and blurred vision.
The disease affects about twice as many women as men, usually between the ages of 20 and 40.
Garr was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002. She experienced symptoms for the previous two decades.
She was a "fierce advocate for MS awareness," Schaeffer said.
Her manager said she "passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and friends.”
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