Just a Minute With: Teri Garr on new film "Expired"

By Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - Actress Teri Garr, the Oscar-nominated star of movies like "Tootsie," "Young Frankenstein" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," has been a mainstay of Hollywood films and television since being cast in a string of Elvis Presley movies in the early 1960s.

Health problems, including multiple sclerosis and a 2006 brain aneurysm, have kept Garr largely out of the spotlight in recent years. But she has a new film, "Expired," in theaters in which she plays both the twin mother and aunt of a lonely meter maid (Samantha Morton), who is in a troubled romance.

Garr talked to Reuters about "Expired," her recovery from what she calls "the brain burst," and how her sense of humor keeps her going.

Q:What appealed to you about this latest film?

A:"I loved the idea of playing twins, and when I read the script I was fascinated by it and how it portrayed the way men treat women. The mother was in a wheelchair and couldn't speak and had a stroke. I'm familiar with that. I had to go audition for it twice. I can't just pick up and go 'I want this movie.' It doesn't work like that. And, it was made for $1.80 so there's no close-ups."

Q: Did you identify with the character because of your own health battles?

A: I don't particularly like being in a wheelchair, but I was after I had my aneurysm. But now I've made a 98 percent recovery. I haven't been in a wheelchair in six months. I swim and I do an exercise bike an hour a day. I had to learn to walk again, to talk again and to think again, which I'm not even sure is necessary in Hollywood.

Q: So are you thinking about trying to become more active about getting work now?

A:"I don't think anyone will hire me. I hope they do, but they will have to be generous and kind. I want to do more writing. I'm going to write a book called 'One Foot in the Grave and Another On a Banana Peel.' My story, it's unbelievable, isn't it? Most people die from aneurysms."

Q: What kept you going during your recovery?

A: Indomitable spirit I guess. I didn't believe in that before. God, if she is up there, is holding onto me. She's got another plan.

I am really lucky that I have kept my spirit and my hope alive. That's why I'm so grateful I was in show business. When you start out you get a lot of rejection, but you always keep hope. Now that's what I do with this. Although I hate to blow my own horn.

Q: You have certainly kept your sense of humor. How important has that been?

A: It's absolutely critical. A sense of humor and attitude is the most important thing in everything. I went to a party the other day at Phyllis Diller's house and she had all comedy women there. There was lots of swearing and lots of martinis. Oh God, it was crazy. She is 90 years-old and she is very optimistic. Maybe comedy women learn how to face the horrors and get along better.

Q: What younger female actresses do you like to watch?