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David Letterman calls the late Teri Garr the show's “favorite guest” following her death

David Letterman calls the late Teri Garr the show's “favorite guest” following her death

After decades of hosting guests on his talk show, David Letterman admits that Teri Garr stands out among the rest.

Hours after news of Garr's death at age 79, the legendary talk show host, 77, celebrated the late actress by sharing one of his favorite moments with her on his eponymous talk show on Instagram.

“I remember one of our all-time favorite guests, Teri Garr #RIP,” he captioned a throwback video of his interview with Garr before the 1983 Academy Awards. The actress was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tootsie.

“Congratulations on your success, it's well-deserved and I hope you enjoy it,” Letterman told Garr in the video.

When asked if she had any words for her big moment, the actress admitted that she “haven't thought about it until you mention it right now.”

“I guess you're right, I must have something to say,” she mused. “It's embarrassing, but I've been thinking about something. If I won, and I figure I have a one in five chance of getting up there, I would have to say something, so I started thinking about all the people I have. “I would say thank you and stuff like that, you feel stupid when you think about it.

Teri Garr and David Letterman in 1979.

Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty


“It's something you expect might not happen, and then what am I supposed to do with all this information if I don't win?” Garr joked. “I would store everything in my brain.”

Instead of thanking those who helped her find her path, Garr laughed and admitted that she had thought about “some of the people I wouldn't thank.”

“I know you're not supposed to do that, you're supposed to be merciful and stuff,” she added. “I am human.”

On Tuesday, October 29, the late actress' publicist, Heidi Schaeffer, told PEOPLE that Garr died of multiple sclerosis “with family and friends surrounded.”

Teri Garr.

Joseph Del Valle/NBC via Getty


In 2002, Garr publicly revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1990s. She first noticed symptoms while filming One from the heart And Tootsie.

She published a memoir, Speedbumps: On the ground through Hollywoodin 2006, where she spoke openly about her illness. “MS is an insidious disease,” she wrote in an excerpt published by PEOPLE. “Like some of my friends, it tends to appear at the most uncomfortable moments and then disappear completely. It would take over 20 years for doctors to figure out what was wrong. Sometimes they mentioned MS, but all tests gave a clear result. Then the symptoms went away and I sort of forgot about it.”

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Garr became a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and national chair of the society's Women Against MS program. She limited the number of her appearances in projects and retired from acting in 2011.

“It’s not in my nature to slow down, but I have to,” she said Brain & Life Magazine in 2005. “Stress and anxiety and all that tension is not good for MS.”

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