On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the late actress’ publicist told PEOPLE that Garr died from multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends”
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After decades of hosting guests on his talk show, David Letterman admits Teri Garr stands out amongst the rest.
Hours after the news of Garr’s death at 79, the legendary talk show host, 77, celebrated the late actress by sharing one of his favorite moments with her on his eponymous talk show on Instagram.
“Remembering one of our all-time favorite guests Teri Garr #RIP,” he captioned a throwback video of his interview with Garr ahead of the 1983 Academy Awards. The actress was nominated for best supporting actress for her performance in Tootsie.
“Congratulations on your success, it’s well deserved and I hope you’re enjoying it,” Letterman told Garr in the video.
When he asked if she had any words prepared for her big moment, the actress admitted she hadn’t “thought about it until just now, that you mention it.”
“I suppose you’re right, I’ll have to have something to say,” she mused. “It’s embarrassing, but I did think about something, if I were to win and I figure I’ve got one chance in five, to get up there, I’d have to say something so I started thinking about all of the people I would thank and stuff like that, you feel foolish thinking about this.”
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“It’s something that you expect that may not happen and then what am I going to do with all that information if I don’t win?” Garr joked. “I’d store it all in my brain.”
Instead of expressing gratitude for those who helped her find her way, Garr laughed and admitted she’d given thought about “some of the people I’d not thank.”
“I know you’re not supposed to do that, you’re supposed to be gracious and everything,” she added. “I’m a human.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the late actress’ publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, told PEOPLE that Garr died from multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends.”
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In 2002, Garr publicly revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 90s. She first began noticing symptoms while filming One From the Heart and Tootsie.
She released a memoir, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, in 2006, where she opened up about her illness. “MS is a sneaky disease,” she wrote in an excerpt published by PEOPLE. “Like some of my boyfriends, it has a tendency to show up at the most awkward times and then disappear entirely. It would take over 20 years for doctors to figure out what was wrong. Sometimes they mentioned MS, but all the tests came back clear. Then the symptoms would fade away and I’d forget about it, sort of.”Garr became a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and national chair for the Society’s Women Against MS program. She limited the number of projects she appeared in and retired from acting in 2011.