Mel Brooks, who directed Teri Garr in the iconic 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein, remembered the actor upon her death Tuesday, recalling Garr’s talent and spirit.
“So very sorry to hear about Teri Garr’s passing,” Brooks said in a statement on social media. “She was so talented and so funny. Her humor and lively spirit made the Young Frankenstein set a pleasure to work on. Her ‘German’ accent had us all in stitches! She will be greatly missed.”
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Garr was a standout in a film filled with standouts. She played Inga, the German lab assistant to the visiting American Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “FRONK-un-STEEN,” please), played of course by Gene Wilder. As the seemingly ditsy — “seemingly” being the operative word — Inga, Garr employed a rather ersatz German accent, hence Brooks’ quote marks around the word.
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In a 2008 interview with the AV Club, Garr explained how she came up with the accent and how she was cast in the role — initially, she was up for the role of Frederick’s fiancée Elizabeth, which would ultimately be played, unforgettably, by Madeline Kahn. The accent and her recasting were, it seems, inextricably linked.
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Asked whether she based the accent on anyone specifically, Garr, adopting the accent, responded: “Ja, Cher’s wigmaker! I actually auditioned for the part of the fiancée — the financier — and [Mel Brooks] said, ‘I want Madeline Kahn to do this part, but she doesn’t want to do it.’ And when I came in for my third callback, he said, ‘Madeline is going to do it, but if you can come back tomorrow with a German accent, you can try out for the part of the assistant.’ I said [adopts German accent] ‘Oh yes, I vill come back tomorrow.’ Cher’s wigmaker was from Düsseldorf, so I just did an impersonation of her.”
Garr and Cher had worked together and become friends on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in the early 1970s.
Reflecting on the film and its enduring popularity, Garr said: “I have to say, though, that really put me on the map, being in that movie. I had no idea it was going to be such a big hit, and it’s still hot. People still look at it all the time. I had no idea. It really was the first time I ever had my name on the poster, co-starring and all that stuff. So I’m really grateful that I was even in it, that I came back with that German accent.”
And asked about working with the film’s impeccable cast — in addition to Wilder and Kahn, the principal cast included Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle and Cloris Leachman — Garr recalled: “You know, it was like when the teacher says to stop laughing, and all you can do is laugh more. Mel would say, ‘Can we do another take with no laughing?’ And we’d say, ‘We’ll try.’ We would laugh at everything. Marty Feldman — God, was he funny.”