Teri Garr

Teri Garr passed away on Tuesday. She was 79. Her long career began in the '60s. She made a memorable appearance on the original Star Trek series before her career took off in the '70s when she worked with Mel Brooks and Francis Ford Coppola. She largely disappeared from the beginning of the 2000s, a sadly common fate for actresses famed for youthful beauty, but in her case it was due to the cruelty of nature. She had multiple sclerosis that resulted in a variety of traumatic health problems and eventually her death.

She didn't stop working, though. She had the occasional small role in a film or did voice work. Her role in 2001's Ghost World is so small I had no idea she was in the movie for a long time.

It being Halloween, I imagine a lot of people are going to be watching Young Frankenstein. I imagine a lot of people would be watching it regardless. It is a classic of the season and Garr is an integral part of it. Who doesn't remember the "roll in the hay" or the "knockers"? People used to dismiss the idea that women could be funny because beauty is somehow antithetical to comedy. Garr demonstrates how untrue this is. It's not simply that she happens to be funny and sexy at the same time; that sexiness is a vital component to the comedy, it's why the jokes work. Questions and anxieties about sex are fundamental to the collective human psyche. Of course sex is funny. And Teri Garr made that admirably clear.

X Sonnet #1894

A mindless chuckle pinged connexions weak.
Diffusing cakes became the beef of men.
Discernment split the second mirror peak.
Across the glass, a daughter sought to win.
'Twas bats again the castle cast as staff.
Deserving lords require rarer beef.
Carousing vamps refuse the lonely calf.
Their raucous party filled the steamy bath.
The bouncing word was changed from naught to wax.
With wax we make a clock to pass the time.
A melting dream consorts with heavy Macs.
Another mountain chose a man to climb.
The dodging fly was caught in tangled legs.
The spider people hatch a trillion eggs.