Garr Better After Brain Aneurysm

62-year-old actor said to be "recovering nicely" after undergoing surgery last month to repair a brain aneurysm

By Josh Grossberg Jan 03, 2007 10:52 PMTags

Teri Garr is on the mend and "recovering nicely" after undergoing surgery last month to repair a brain aneurysm.

"She's alert. She's sitting up. She's talking," publicist Heidi Schaeffer told People magazine. "The prognosis is very, very good."

The health scare began early on Dec. 21, when Garr's 13-year-old adopted daughter, Molly, was unable to rouse the 62-year-old actor.

Molly and one of Garr's house staff called 911, and the Close Encounters of the Third Kind star was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital, where physicians performed a noninvasive procedure called a coil embolism. The operation involves the insertion of a microcatheter through the cerebral arteries at which point platinum coils are used to stop blood from entering the aneurysm.

Garr, who announced in 2002 that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic degenerative disease of the nervous system, remained in the hospital over Christmas and New Year's with her family at her side.

"Her humor seems to be intact," said Schaeffer.

One of the most popular and bankable stars of the '70s and '80s, Garr's hit list includes The Conversation, Young Frankenstein, Oh, God!, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, Tootsie, Mr. Mom and After Hours.

But her career was sidetracked as she struggled for years to determine the cause of the mystery symptoms that had been plaguing her. It wasn't until the late 1990s that doctors at the neurology department at USC's School of Medicine told her she was suffering from MS. She was immediately put on a drug treatment regimen and eventually decided to go public to raise awareness about the disease.

Garr also embarked on a comeback, appearing in Dumb and Dumber and landing uncredited cameos in Ghost World and Unaccompanied Minors, released last month. She played Phoebe's mom on Friends and had a guest stint last season on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; she also voiced a character on the animated series Batman Beyond. According to IMDb, Garr has two films in the pipeline for 2007.

Last year, she also published a memoir, Speedbumps, which details her ongoing fight with MS.