Actress Teri Garr, who guest-starred in the M*A*S*H episode “The Sniper” during Season 2, died yesterday (October 29) at the age of 79. Garr played Lt. Suzanne Marquette, a new nurse who was enjoying a picnic with Hawkeye when a sniper started shooting at the 4077th. She was in Post Op when Frank had his meltdown and the next day she stood next to Colonel Blake as Hawkeye ventured into the bushes to treat the wounded sniper.
According to her Internet Movie Database page, Garr started acting in 1963 with bit parts in movies and TV shows, often uncredited. Fans of the original Star Trek will recognize Garr for her role in “Assignment: Earth,” a 1968 episode that served as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off that never materialized. She made guest appearances in a number of other TV shows in the late 1960s, including That Girl, Mayberry R.F.D., and Room 222.
Following her guest appearance on M*A*S*H, Garr appeared in episodes of TV shows like The Odd Couple, Barnaby Jones, and Maude. In 1974, Garr had a starring role in the film Young Frankenstein opposite Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle. Other major movie roles included Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Oh, God!, both in 1977. Garr earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1982 film Tootsie, which Larry Gelbart co-wrote with Murray Schisgal.
She continued acting in movies, television, and theater throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom Good & Evil, which ran for six episodes during the 1991-1992 TV season. Garr guest-starred in three episodes of NBC’s Friends, playing Phoebe Buffay’s mother, between 1997 and 1998. In 2002, Garr revealed publicly that she had multiple sclerosis. She released an autobiography, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, in 2006. Her retired from acting in 2011.
Obituaries can be found at The New York Times, Deadline Hollywood, and NPR.
