The actor: Teri Garr, who got her start as a go-go dancer in the background of swinging '60s films like Pajama Party and a string of Elvis movies before breaking out as a cast member on The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour. She went on to work with seemingly every big-name director in Hollywood, turning in memorable, varied performances in films like The Conversation, Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and Oh, God! before her comic tour-de-force in Tootsie netted her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Most recently, Garr has become a national spokesperson for multiple sclerosis, which she's suffered from for decades, according to her 2005 autobiography Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood. In December 2006, Garr suffered a brain aneurysm that affected her speech and motor skills, leaving her unable to work while she endured intense physical rehabilitation; she's only recently returned to the public eye with an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman, where she's long been a favorite guest. Garr's most recent films, Kabluey and Expired (both filmed before her aneurysm), are in theaters now.
Mr. Mom (1983)—"Caroline"
Teri Garr: I was in love with Michael Keaton. He was very funny. And it seemed like the people that made that movie didn't know anything about life. They hadn't been in a supermarket in, like, 10 years. So it was amazing that we came out with anything at all. I shouldn't say that, God! [Director] Stan Dragoti might read this. But anyway, it was cute. It turned out well.
AVC: Mr. Mom is yet another role where your character is described as "long-suffering." Why do you think you've always been called upon to play that type?
TG: Oh God. Because I'm a long-suffering doormat in my own life, I guess. That's why I was always cast as that. And because they only write those parts for women. If there's ever a woman who's smart, funny, or witty, people are afraid of that, so they don't write that. They only write parts for women where they let everything be steamrolled over them, where they let people wipe their feet all over them. Those are the kind of parts I play, and the kind of parts that there are for me in this world. In this life.
AVC: Yet Mr. Mom was one of those early-'80s films that was all about "redefining gender roles."
TG: I know, and the same thing with Tootsie. It was about a man doing a woman's work, so they see it's really not that easy. Women are not taken seriously.
AVC: When they pitched Mr. Mom to you, did they play up the "message" angle, that you'd be playing a character who's redefining gender roles?
TG: No! They just told me it was about a guy who does the work that a woman does, because it's so easy. And I went, "Oh, yeah. Ha ha." It's so easy. All the women I know who stay home and take care of their kids, they go, "Oh yeah, this is easy." Hmm.
Tootsie (1982)—"Sandy Lester"
TG: I just saw that again recently. I hadn't seen it in twentysomething years. And it's the same thing! Pretty, nice girls being taken advantage of by slimy men. They put a man in a dress, and he's supposed to know what it feels like to be a woman. But of course he doesn't. I think what Dustin [Hoffman] says is, "I realize now how important it is for a woman to be pretty. And I wasn't pretty." God! That's all you realized? Jesus Christ. Oh well. Don't quote me. Actually, quote me.
AVC: You play this very neurotic character who's full of self-loathing, who's desperate for attention, yet somehow, she's sweet and likeable. Was all that indicated in the script, or was that something you brought to the role?
TG: I think that's something that I was or am. Likeable? I guess, yeah. But neurotic, yes. It was right at that time in history when feminism was rearing its ugly head, so I read all these books like The Second Sex, and that's where I got that line, "I know I'm responsible for my own orgasm." [Laughs.] I read that sentence and I thought, "What does that mean?" I didn't even know. I thought that [Sandy] was caught between trying to have a career and trying to be a sexual woman, and it just doesn't work. At least it didn't in that movie, because it was made by sexist men. I can say that now, because Sydney [Pollack] isn't with us anymore. [Laughs.] But he was a fine director.
AVC: But you thought he was sexist?
TG: Oh, yeah! I think so. He just wanted the beautiful, blond, cute, shiksa girls to be nice and shut the fuck up! [Laughs.] God, I'm bad. But that's what he wanted. And that's what the world wants, I think. I'm bitter. Bitter!
AVC: You and Jessica Lange were both nominated for the Oscar on Tootsie, and she won. Was there any bitterness between the two of you?
TG: No, she's actually a nice girl. She's got her own problems, being married to that playwright. [Lange is not married to playwright Sam Shepard, but they've lived together since the '80s and have two children together. —ed.] Anyway, no. Well, okay… I thought both of us shouldn't have been nominated as "supporting," because she was the lead woman in that movie. So that wasn't fair. But it wasn't her fault that it wasn't fair.
AVC: Do you think you would have won if she'd been nominated as a lead?
TG: I don't know. I probably should have. [Laughs.] How dare I say that! You know, I had just done One From The Heart, where I was the lead woman, and I thought, "Why should I do this second-banana role when I'm a lead woman?" And Sydney [Pollack] talked me into it. He said, "We're going to make it funny. It's gonna be really good, and we're gonna take any ideas you have." So I started writing stuff about her right away—about Sandy Lester—and he let me do it. And I loved that. Dustin had beaten him into submission, so he'd say, "If you have an idea, tell Sydney." So I said, "Put the camera over there, and I'm going to rush out of the bathroom and say, 'What's the matter with you people? I've been in there for a half an hour screaming! Doesn't anybody care?'" That was a good part in the movie, right? And I made that up.
One From The Heart (1982)—"Frannie"
TG: God, that was long and tedious and hard. Francis [Ford Coppola] was outside in a trailer, just speaking over a loudspeaker to direct us. That was not easy. Over the loudspeaker he'd say, "Let's do another take, and this time let's try acting, Ms. Garr." [Laughs.] I'd be like, "What does that mean? I guess I wasn't good."
AVC: You never had any personal interaction with him?
TG: Oh, of course we did. He had parties every weekend. And it was amazing, that set, because he was just starting Zoetrope, and every director—I mean, Gene Kelly, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa—every director in the world was there, on the stage with us, watching what Francis was doing.
AVC: Coppola gave you one of your first big film roles in The Conversation. What do you think he saw of yours that made him take a chance on you?
TG: I don't know! I went to this party—I must say, I'm a party girl—at Jack Nicholson's house… God, I'm dropping names now. Anyway, Francis was there, and the next day, I got a call from the casting director who said, "[Coppola] wants you to try out for this part in the movie The Conversation." I said, "Really?" I couldn't believe it. I mean, I was working on The Sonny And Cher Show at the time. Anyway, they sent me this scene, and I said, "Well, if this is just the scene for the test, it must be a huge part!" And of course, that scene for the test was my only scene in the movie. [Laughs.]
AVC: One From The Heart was kind of a… Let's go ahead and use the word "bomb."
TG: Yes, go ahead.
AVC: But it's picked up a cult following since. Do you think it's deserving of rediscovery?
TG: No. It's a bomb! No, actually, you know what I think? Francis wanted it to be a woman's point of view. This was an Italian guy—a humorless Italian guy. Oh, I shouldn't say that. He's got humor. Anyway, he wanted a woman's point of view, but I don't think he had a clue. But he's a smart guy. He makes good movies, let's face it. The Godfather was like an opera. It was so beautiful.
Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)—"Ericka"
AVC: Speaking of movies deserving of rediscovery…
TG: [Laughs.] Oh, that deserves a rediscovery? [Adopts German accent.] John Schlesinger! I remember going to Florida in the sweltering heat, being in that trailer barreling through town. And I remember Schlesinger saying, "It's like every town in America is the same. You go into a town and it's got the same IHOP and the same McDonald's." And I thought, "He's right! It's true." America's all the same, in every town. And we feel comfortable that way, us Americans. We want the same thing. And Schlesinger picked up on it. I also think he was a genius. After that, he said he was going to direct The Tales Of Hoffman, and I thought he said Hellzapoppin'. [Laughs.] Which is so wrong. That's the opposite of The Tales Of Hoffman. He was going to direct an opera, and here he was directing this movie about how every city is the same. I thought it was rather clever of him.
After Hours (1985)—"Julie"
TG: Oh, I love it! With the hairspray? And my hair? Oh yeah. My favorite scene is when Griffin [Dunne] is in the cab, and he goes, "I'm in no hurry, I'm in no hurry." And the guy's rushing him and he loses the $20 bill out the window? God! [Laughs.] It's so funny, that movie. Also Catherine O'Hara, when he says, "Can I use your phone?" and sits down to dial someone, and she goes, "Seven-two-five-nine-seven-two-one," and screws up his whole line of thought. [Laughs.] I just thought that was so cruel and funny. That was a funny movie. [Martin] Scorsese, right? God, I've been lucky! I've worked with some great directors.
AVC: What goes into auditioning for Martin Scorsese?
TG: Well, I wrote about it in my book, which you obviously haven't read. I had lunch with him every day for a week at his loft, and I saw that he was very, very into movies. He had lots of posters and films around. So I liked him, because I like movies too. He was also very respectful of actors, because of Bobby D [Robert De Niro], and any time you were on the set he'd go [to the crew], "You can't talk to the actors! Can't touch them! Don't talk to them!" Like, what are we? Crabs or something?
AVC: Having been an actual 1960s go-go girl, could you relate to that character being stuck in her Shindig!-centric world?
TG: Yes! I could. And it was my idea to say, "Wouldn't it be funny if I opened the cupboard and there was nothing but cans of hairspray?" [Scorsese] says, "Good idea." So we put all this Aqua Net up there. I like Aqua Net. [Laughs.]
AVC: Do you still like Aqua Net?
TG: I do. Actually, I don't know if they make it anymore. But I love having my hair in a beehive. At one point, wasn't there a scene where I had bees coming in and out of my beehive? God. Joe what's-his-name [Minion] who wrote it was good. Funny. What's his name? Ah, forget it. So rude. He's going to love that. He worked so hard on that wonderful script, and here I can't even remember his name. Oh well.
AVC: The scene where you put on The Monkees' "Last Train To Clarksville," was that perhaps a nod to your appearance in Head?
TG: [Laughs.] No! Believe it or not, it was already in the script.
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