The Actor Within: Intimate Conversations with Great Actors

Teri Garr

143 i Teri Garr Teri sat alone in her kitchen munching on a bagel with cream cheese, unaware that I had been shown into her Beverly Hills canyon home. Standing in the doorway, I noticed a walking cane hanging from one of the chairs and a wheelchair parked nearby. The pretty blond actress who played Gene Wilder’s lab assistant in Young Frankenstein and Dustin Ho√man’s actor friend in Tootsie has been sidelined in recent years with multiple sclerosis. ‘‘Oh, hello,’’ she said, ‘‘I didn’t see you there.’’ I stepped up and introduced myself. Teri o√ered her hand and invited me to sit near her. ‘‘I read that you had been a Hollywood dancer before becoming an actress.’’ ‘‘Yes, that’s right. I studied ballet from the time I was eight and danced in lots of movies and television shows throughout the 1960s and ’70s.’’ ‘‘When did your interest in acting begin?’’ ‘‘I started thinking about acting after I was cast as Velma in the road company of West Side Story at the Moulin Rouge Theatre in Hollywood. The year was 1963. Many of the original cast members from the movie were involved with this stage show. Tony Mordente, who played the role of Action in the film, was directing, and he would always talk about how Jerome Robbins had been influenced by the Group Theatre and the Actors Studio. Robbins was one of the first to make dancers think like actors. Tony wanted us to do more than just go through the moves when we were dancing. He wanted us to be the characters. I took that to heart. That’s when I first started to think that acting might be a good way for me to express myself.’’ ‘‘So your dancing was your entrée into the movie world?’’ ‘‘Yes. After West Side Story, I took dance classes with David Winters, who was also working as a choreographer in Los Angeles. He got hired to choreograph Elvis Presley’s film Viva Las Vegas (1964), and if David liked you, you’d end up in whatever he was working on. He liked me, and I was hired as a chorus-line dancer on that film, which led to my dancing in eight more Presley movies including Kissin’ Cousins (1964), Roustabout (1964), and Clambake (1967). I was also listed in the Screen Extras’ Guild 144 The Actor Within and occasionally would get called to be a background dancer. That’s how I ended up in What a Way to Go (1964), staring Shirley MacLaine.’’ ‘‘What prompted you to take that leap from dance to acting?’’ ‘‘I didn’t like dancing in the back row, one among many. I wanted to be in the front, where the camera would show me. And I wanted to have my own dressing room or trailer. I had no real strategy as to how I would accomplish that, but I studied everything around me—who’s doing what, when, and how. That’s when I realized that the people in the front who enjoyed their own dressing rooms had studied acting. So, I enrolled in acting classes. I figured, since it took me ten years to become a dancer, it would take me just as long to become an actor.’’ ‘‘With whom did you study?’’ ‘‘In the beginning, I took classes from Eric Morris on Fountain Avenue in Hollywood. Jack Nicholson was in my class. It didn’t take long before I got an agent and was doing television commercials: Safeguard soap, Bold detergent, Doritos chips, Chevrolet, Nationwide Insurance, and lots more. I was also getting small parts on television. My first real speaking part was on an episode of Star Trek, which led to roles on The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., and Batman. Dancing was still my bread and butter, so I continued auditioning for movies and TV shows like Shindig and Shivaree. Every time I walked into an audition, I’d say to myself, I’m going to be an actress so this is my last dance audition. And then, I’d show up the next time: This is my last audition. Really, this is my last dance audition.’’ ‘‘How did you land the role of Inga in Young Frankenstein (1974)?’’ ‘‘I heard that they were looking for a girl to play Elizabeth, Frederick von Frankenstein’s fiancé and financier. Every actress in town vied for the part. It was a cattle call; five hundred girls...