The Best Teri Garr Movies and How to Watch Them

This week the world lost Teri Garr, who has passed away on October 29, 2024 at the age of 79. The actor leaves behind a wonderfully diverse and eclectic career that exemplified her amazing range of talents, from perfect comedic timing to captivating seriousness. Celebrate her life and career by rewatching the best Teri Garr films…

Teri Garr lies in the hay as she introduces herself in Young Frankenstein. — (Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Director: Mel Brooks

Starring: Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr

What it’s about: The respected physician Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “fronk-en-steen”) discovers during a visit to Transylvania that his grandfather’s infamous experiments were not madness after all.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr had her breakout, scene-stealing role as Frederick’s beautiful assistant, Inga, in the classic horror comedy, Young Frankenstein.

How do you view Young Frankenstein?

Teri Garr as Amy smiling at Gene Hackman as Harry in The Conversation

(Image credit: Paramount)

The Conversation (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Teri Garr

What it’s about: A concerned surveillance expert discovers disturbing information about a couple he is spying on.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Also in 1974, Teri Garr showed her more dramatic side in the Oscar for Best Picture nominee, The conversationas Amy – a friend of Gene Hackman’s character Harry, who grows impatient with his overly private behavior.

How to view the conversation

Teri Garr cries as Bobbie Landers in Oh, God!

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Oh God! (1977)

Director: Carl Reiner

Starring: George Burns, John Denver, Teri Garr

What it’s about: A mild-mannered supermarket assistant manager is chosen by God to spread His message to the rest of humanity.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr demonstrates a mix of the comedic and dramatic Oh God! as Bobbie Landers – the wife of God’s chosen messenger in the divine satire based on the novel by Avery Corman.

How to watch Oh, God!

Teri Garr as Ronnie Neary concerned about Roy's behavior in Close Encounters of the Third

(Image credit: Columbia Pictures)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr

What it’s about: A group of ordinary people become fascinated by evidence of UFOs.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Also in 1977, Teri Garr again starred as the wife of a man who makes contact with an alien in one of the best alien invasion movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

How to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Teri Garr as Alec's mother who speaks to him in his bedroom in The Black Stallion

(Image credit: United Artists)

The Black Stallion (1979)

Director: Carol Ballard

Starring: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr

What it’s about: A boy manages to survive a shipwreck with the help of a beautiful horse that he eventually trains to become a racing champion in the 1940s.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: One of the best and most inspiring movies about horses is The black stallionin which Teri Garr plays the mother of young hero Alec Ramsey.

How to watch The Black Stallion

Teri Garr as Sandy has a serious conversation with Dustin Hoffman as Michael in Tootsie

(Image credit: Columbia Pictures)

Tootsie (1982)

Director: Sydney Pollack

Starring: Dustin HofmanJessica Lange, Teri Garr

What it’s about: A disgraced actor finally lands a role on a popular soap opera by posing as a woman named Dorothy Michaels.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr starred in several of the films best movies of the 80sincluding the critically acclaimed comedy Toetsiein which she plays Sandy – a student and friend who has become a one-sided lover of Dustin Hoffman’s Michale Dorsey.

How to watch Tootsie

Teri Garr in Mr. Mom

(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

Mr. Mom (1983)

Director: Stan Dragoti

Starring: Michael KeatonTeri Garr

What it’s about: After losing his job, a family man decides to become a stay-at-home dad while his wife goes to work every day.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Also one of the best Michael Keaton moviesthe hilarious Mister Mom sees Teri Garr subvert the social norms of the time by starring in the role of a wife and mother re-entering the workforce.

How to find Mr. Mom can view

Griffin Dunne on the left in After Hours

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

After Hours (1985)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr

What it’s about: A meek word processor experiences a wild and increasingly dangerous night in New York City.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr also starred in a few films largely forgotten films from the 80slike Martin Scorsese’s funny hidden gem, After hoursas Julie, an eccentric restaurant server whose admiration for Griffin Dunne’s Paul Hackett first charms him and later disturbs him.

How to watch After Hours

Teri Garr as Pam sits alongside Richard Dreyfuss as Trotter in Let It Ride

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Let It Drive (1989)

Director: Joe Pytka

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, David Johansen, Teri Garr, Jennifer Tilly

What it’s about: A taxi driver with a compulsive gambling addiction gets a tip about a horse race that could finally give him the victory he’s been looking for.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: More than a decade after they appeared together in Close Encounters of the Third KindTeri Garr reunites with Richard Dreyfuss for the comedy Let it rideonce again playing his wife on screen.

How to watch Let It Ride

Mary Swanson introduces her stepmother, played by Teri Garr, to Jeff Daniels as Harry Dunne in Dumb and Dumber

(Image credit: New Line Cinema)

Dumb and Dumber (1994)

Director: Peter FarrellyBobby Farrelly

Starring: Jim Carrey, Jef DanielsTeri Garr

What it’s about: Two dim-witted best friends travel across the country to deliver a lost briefcase to a woman one of them was in love with.

Why it’s one of the best Teri Garr movies: Teri Garr appears in one of the best Jim Carrey movies, Stupid and stupideras Helen Swanson, Mary Swanson’s stepmother, who is tickled by Harry’s periwinkle tuxedo and shocked when Lloyd accidentally kills one of the owls at the Aspen fundraiser.

How to watch Dumb and Dumber