Teri Garr, who starred in Tootsie and Young Frankenstein, dies aged 79

Published

1 year ago

October 29, 2024

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Oscar-nominated actress Teri Garr, best known for her roles in Young Frankenstein and Tootsie, has died.

Garr, who also starred in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, died at the age of 79 due to complications from multiple sclerosis (MS), her manager Heidi Schaeffer said on Tuesday.

She appeared in three episodes of Friends in 1997 and 1998 as Phoebe Abbott, the estranged birth mother of Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe.

In a screen career that spanned more than 40 years, she was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in 1982’s Tootsie, starring opposite Dustin Hoffman, but lost out to Maureen Stapleton.

Her most famous role was playing Inga, a Transylvania local who becomes the assistant to Gene Wilder’s Dr Frederick Frankenstein in Mel Brooks’s 1974 comedy hit, Young Frankenstein, part of a star-studded cast that included Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman and Gene Hackman.

Garr had plenty of memorable lines, such as “Vould you like to have a roll in zee hay?”

She was a familiar face on sitcoms and late-night talk shows, including NBC’s The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson era.

She struggled with health issues in recent years and in 2002, she revealed she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had been suffering symptoms for some two decades.

Five years later, she underwent surgery for a brain aneurysm.

She later became a key advocate for MS awareness, traveling across the country to speak with doctors and patients about her experiences, NBC News, Sky’s US partner said. She retired from acting in 2011.

Teri Ann Garr was born in Cleveland in 1944 to showbusiness parents and began dance lessons aged six.

Her father, Eddie, was a vaudeville performer and actor who appeared on Broadway and her mother, Phyllis, had been a member of the Rockettes precision dance troupe.

After studying in Los Angeles, Garr moved to New York to pursue a career first in ballet and then in acting, studying at the famed Actor’s Studio in Manhattan.

Garr, a quirky comedy performer, got her break with bit parts in a number of 1960s Elvis Presley movies, including Viva Las Vegas and Roustabout.

As well as enjoying memorable movie roles, such in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and One From The Heart, she was a familiar face on TV, including roles in That Girl, Batman, and The Andy Griffith Show, Variety said on its website.

She played a dizzy secretary in an episode of the original Star Trek and became a regular singer and dancer on The Sonny And Cher Show.

In her autobiography, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, published in 2005, she complained of being typecast as a ditzy woman, Variety said.

In 1993, Garr married building contractor John O’Neil, and that same year, in November, they were present when their adopted daughter Molly O’Neil was born.

The couple divorced three years later.

She is survived by her daughter, and a grandson, Tyryn.

Entertainment

Saturday Night Live announces creative team ahead of UK launch

Published

6 hours ago

November 13, 2025

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Saturday Night Live announces creative team ahead of UK launch

Saturday Night Live UK has announced its top creative team ahead of the series launching next year.

An American pop culture institution, SNL launched the careers of stars including Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell – and now a “new generation” of British comedians is set to be cast in the first UK spin-off on Sky.

While the show’s stars are yet to be revealed, details of the creative team behind it have now been announced.

Two-time Emmy winner James Longman will serve as lead producer, BAFTA winner and live broadcast specialist Liz Clare will direct the series, while writer, comedian and composer Daran Jonno Johnson takes on the role of head writer.

Longman’s credits include The Late Late Show With James Corden, for which he produced famous sketches with stars and notable figures including Sir Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise and then president Joe Biden.

He also worked on the Friends reunion special in 2021 and hit UK shows such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Alan Carr: Chatty Man, The F Word and The Friday Night Project.

Clare’s directing credits include An Audience With Adele, The Brits and MTV awards ceremonies, Glastonbury, the BAFTAs and shows such as The Voice UK and Britain’s Got Talent, while Johnson, who is part of the acclaimed sketch group SHEEPS, has written for shows including Wedding Season for Disney+, Siblings for the BBC and Rose d’Or winner Parlement for France.TV.

Saturday Night Live UK marks the first time the US producers have adapted the show, which celebrated 50 years on air earlier this year, for a British audience.

Channel 4 ran several series of a similar programme on Saturday and Friday nights in the 1980s, featuring comedians like Ben Elton and Harry Enfield, but it was domestically produced.

‘A lot of big US comedy is stolen from the UK’

Comedian Pete Davidson, another SNL star, told Sky News he’s excited about the UK version – and that it is about time the UK is able to take from US comedy, rather than the other way round.

Speaking in the summer during promotion for The Pickup, Davidson said: “I think it’s a smart idea to have SNL over there because… not that it’s a different brand of comedy, but it is a little bit.

“A lot of the biggest stuff that’s in the States is stuff that we stole from you guys, like The Office or literally anything Ricky Gervais does… there’s just tonnes of great comedy over there. Jimmy Carr is a great stand-up.”

Also highlighting Jack Whitehall, he continued: “I think anything that’s great over there, we just kind of steal… and it doesn’t seem like the other way around. This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything American going to the UK, so I think it’s great.”

Read more from Sky News entertainment:
Dua Lipa backs ticket resale cap
Sam Fender donates Mercury Prize cash

Producers say the UK series will follow the same format as the original, featuring “a new generation of comedy players in the core cast, alongside guest hosts and musical performances”.

The UK show will be overseen by US producer Lorne Michaels. Along with his production company Broadway Video, which has made The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and 30 Rock, the show will be led by UK production team Universal Television Alternative Studio.

Saturday Night Live UK will be broadcast on Sky Max and streaming service NOW in 2026.

Entertainment

Dua Lipa and Coldplay call on government to keep its promise on ticket resales

Published

15 hours ago

November 13, 2025

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Dua Lipa and Coldplay call on government to keep its promise on ticket resales

Some of the biggest names in music – including Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead – have urged the government to honour a pledge to cap ticket resale prices and shutout touts.

They have joined artists including The Cure’s Robert Smith, New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey and this year’s Mercury Prize winner Sam Fender to sign a statement calling for a cap to “restore faith in the ticketing system” and “help democratise public access to the arts”.

Other signatories include the watchdog Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2, the Football Supporters’ Association and organisations representing the music and theatre industries, venues, managers, and ticket retailers.

In the statement, the coalition says new protections are needed to “help fix elements of the extortionate and pernicious secondary ticketing market that serve the interests of touts, whose exploitative practices are preventing genuine fans from accessing the music, theatre, and sports they love”.

Labour had promised in its manifesto to put a stop to concert-goers being scammed or priced out of events by touts using bots to buy tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale, which they can then sell on for huge mark-ups on secondary ticketing websites.

In government, the party again made that promise – but more than a year after it vowed action, and seven months since its consultation on the issue closed, there has been no clear indication of when new laws will be introduced.

The campaign comes as a new investigation from Which? found prolific sellers in locations including Brazil, Dubai, Singapore, Spain, and the US hoovering up tickets for popular events in the UK before relisting them at vastly inflated prices on StubHub and Viagogo.

How much?!

Which? found Oasis tickets for Wembley shows listed for £3,498.85 on StubHub and £4,442 on Viagogo.

A seat for the Minnesota Vikings vs Cleveland Browns NFL clash at Tottenham Hotspur was listed for £3,568.39 on StubHub, while a Coldplay ticket, also for Wembley, was £814.52 on StubHub.

And a ticket for the All Points East festival in London’s Victoria Park, headlined by Raye, for £114,666 on Viagogo.

The watchdog found it was often difficult for buyers to establish the seller’s identity or to contact them – despite the Competition and Markets Authority securing a court order in 2018 requiring Viagogo to outline the identity of traders.

And there’s more…

Which? also found evidence of speculative selling – when tickets are listed on secondary sites even though the seller has not bought them yet.

Tickets for a Busted vs McFly show in Glasgow, which were available through Ticketmaster – the original seller – were simultaneously being listed on StubHub and Viagogo at double the price.

Government to set out plans ‘shortly’

Which? consumer law expert Lisa Webb urged Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer to commit to legislation.

A government spokeswoman said it is “fully committed to clamping down on touts,” had listened to comments in response to the consultation earlier this year, and would set out its plans “shortly”.

Entertainment

Police take no further action over Bob Vylan’s London performance

Published

1 day ago

November 12, 2025

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Police take no further action over Bob Vylan's London performance

Police will take no further action over alleged chants at a Bob Vylan concert in London.

Met Police had launched an investigation after allegations the singer, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, was heard in footage saying “death to the IDF (Israel Defence League)”.

The footage was filmed at a performance supporting Iggy Pop, 78, at Alexandra Palace in May.

In a video, Mr Robinson-Foster is also alleged to have said: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel.”

But the Met Police confirmed they are closing the investigation following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

‘No further action will be taken’

A spokesperson for the force said: “On Wednesday 2 July, officers became aware of footage that appeared to have been filmed at Alexandra Palace in London on 28 May. An investigation was launched into the language used in the footage.

“Early investigative advice was sought from the Crown Prosecution Service who considered a number of potential offences but determined that, based on the information and material available, there would likely be insufficient evidence to take the case forward.

“As a result, officers have decided that no further action will be taken. We recognise the concerns that the footage caused, particularly among many in London’s Jewish communities.

“It emerged during a period where we have seen a concerning rise in antisemitic hate crime.

“We continue to work closely with community representatives to understand those concerns, to ensure the safety and security of Jewish Londoners and to provide reassurance moving forward.”

It followed footage of Mr Robinson-Foster allegedly leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF” during a BBC live-streamed performance at Glastonbury Festival, in June earlier this year, leading to an investigation from Avon and Somerset Police.

A man, in his 30s, understood to be Mr Robinson-Foster, had voluntarily attended an interview on Monday in relation to the band’s Glastonbury performance, the force said.

Police added the individual was not arrested but an investigation is ongoing.

After the Glastonbury appearance, the group were dropped from a number of festivals.