Lisa Kudrow Remembers Her 'Friend' Teri Garr's Mother After Her Death (Exclusive)

Lisa Kudrow pays tribute to her TV mother Teri Garr.

Shortly after news of Garr's death broke on October 29, the Friends alum, 61, remembered the actress in a heartfelt statement to PEOPLE.

“Teri Garr was a comedic acting genius who had and continues to have a huge influence on me, and I know I'm not alone,” she said. “I am so happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Teri Garr.”

Garr debuted on Friends as Phoebe Abbott, the estranged biological mother of Kudrow's Phoebe Buffay and Ursula Buffay, in Season 3, Episode 25. She appeared in three episodes of the hit NBC sitcom.

Garr first appeared in the 1997 third season finale entitled “The One at the Beach”, in which Phoebe broke off from the friend group's trip to contact a woman who knew her parents. Phoebe later discovered that the woman, Phoebe Abbott (Garr), was not only a friend of her parents, but her biological mother. Realizing this, the two also noticed that they had the same bizarre behaviors.

Garr's final two episodes came in Season 4, with “The One with the Jellyfish” and “The One with Phoebe's Uterus”, both airing in 1998.

“The One with the Jellyfish” (the season four premiere) saw Phoebe move on in shock after learning her mother's identity and telling her she never wanted to see her again. However, it was short-lived as Abbott tracked down Phoebe at Central Perk and the two officially reconciled.

In “The One with Phoebe's Uterus,” Abbott helped Phoebe as she debated whether or not to act as a surrogate for her brother Frank (Giovanni Ribisi) and sister-in-law Alice (Debra Jo Rupp). To achieve this, Abbott gave Phoebe a puppy to care for for three days to see how she would feel if she had to give it up. But things changed when Phoebe wanted to keep the puppy, which turned out to be Abbott's pet.

Garr, best known for her comedic work in films such as 1974's Young Frankenstein and 1982 TootsieHe died on Tuesday, October 29, of multiple sclerosis.

Her publicist Heidi Schaeffer told PEOPLE that Garr died “surrounded by family and friends.”

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The late actress first revealed in 2002 that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late '90s. She first noticed symptoms while filming One from the heart And Tootsie.

She later 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.”

Throughout her career, Garr has been known for her comedic roles in films such as Tootsie And Young Frankensteinand appeared on television shows such as McCloud, MASH, The Bob Newhart Show, The odd couple, Maud And Barnaby Jones. She was also a hostess Saturday Night Live three times, in 1980, 1983 and 1985, and had roles in Casper meets WendyThe women design Spinoff series women of the house, Thick And Spirit world.

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.”