Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from being a background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star in such favorites as “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has died, CBS News confirmed. She was 79.

Garr died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” publicist Heidi Schaeffer said in a statement. Garr battled other health problems in recent years and underwent an operation in January 2007 to repair an aneurysm.

Admirers took to social media Tuesday in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”

Garr, who was sometimes credited as Terri, Terry or Terry Ann during her long career, grew up in Los Angeles with two older brothers in a show business family.

Her mother, Phyllis, was a former dancer. Her dad, Eddie, was a traveling comedian and a gambler, who died when Garr was 11.

Their daughter began dance lessons at 6 and by 14 was dancing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies.

She was 16 when she joined the road company of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and as early as 1963 she began appearing in bit parts in films. She recalled in a 1988 interview how she won the “West Side Story” role. After being dropped from her first audition, she returned a day later in different clothes and was accepted.

From there, the blonde, statuesque Garr found steady work dancing in movies, and she appeared in the chorus of nine Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout” and “Clambake.”

She also appeared on numerous television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance T.A.M.I. and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”

Her big film break came as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in 1974’s Francis Ford Coppola thriller “The Conversation.” That led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who said he would hire her for the role of Gene Wilder‘s German lab assistant in 1974’s “Young Frankenstein” — if she could speak with a German accent.

“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once recalled.

The film established her as a talented comedy performer, with New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael proclaiming her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.”

Her big smile and off-center appeal helped land her roles in “Oh God!” opposite George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife) and “Tootsie” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and learns that he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career. (She also lost the supporting actress Oscar at that year’s Academy Awards to Lange.)

Although best known for comedy, Garr showed in such films as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “The Black Stallion” and “The Escape Artist” that she could handle drama equally well.

“I would like to play ‘Norma Rae’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ but I never got the chance,” she once said, adding she had become typecast as a comic actor.

She had a flair for spontaneous humor, often playing David Letterman’s foil during guest appearances on NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” early in its run.

Her appearances became so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing, that for a time rumors cropped up that they were romantically involved. Years later, Letterman credited those early appearances with helping make the show a hit.

It was also during those years that Garr began to feel “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It began in 1983 and eventually spread to her right arm as well, but she felt she could live with it. By 1999 the symptoms had become so severe that she consulted a doctor. The diagnosis: multiple sclerosis.

For three years Garr didn’t reveal her illness.

“I was afraid that I wouldn’t get work,” she explained in a 2003 interview. “People hear MS and think, ‘Oh, my God, the person has two days to live.'”

After going public, she became a spokeswoman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, making humorous speeches to gatherings in the U.S. and Canada.

“You have to find your center and roll with the punches because that’s a hard thing to do: to have people pity you,” she commented in 2005. “Just trying to explain to people that I’m OK is tiresome.”

What TV shows was Teri Garr on?

She also continued to act, appearing on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Greetings From Tucson,” “Life With Bonnie” and other TV shows. She also had a brief recurring role on “Friends” in the 1990s as Lisa Kudrow’s mother. After several failed romances, Garr married contractor John O’Neill in 1993. They adopted a daughter, Molly, before divorcing in 1996.

In her 2005 autobiography, “Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood,” Garr explained her decision not to discuss her age.

“My mother taught me that showbiz people never tell their real ages. She never revealed hers or my father’s,” she wrote. California voting registration records gave her date of birth as Dec. 11, 1947.

She said she was born in Los Angeles, although most reference books list Lakewood, Ohio. As her father’s career waned, the family, including Teri’s two older brothers, lived with relatives in the Midwest and East.

The Garrs eventually moved back to California, settling in the San Fernando Valley, where Teri graduated from North Hollywood High School and studied speech and drama for two years at California State University, Northridge.

Garr recalled in 1988 what her father had told his children about pursuing a career in Hollywood.

“Don’t be in this business,” he told them. “It’s the lowest. It’s humiliating to people.”

Garr is survived by her daughter, Molly O’Neil, and a grandson, Tyryn.

Liam Payne’s final moments revealed

Officials investigating the death of Liam Payne in Argentina said Tuesday they are trying to reconstruct the former “One Direction” star’s “final hours” as experts scour cell phones, computers, photographs and videos from security cameras.

Payne’s father, Geoff Payne, has been updated about the investigation by the head of Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office, according to a news release. Geoff Payne has been in Argentina since the weekend, when he visited the hotel where Payne fell to his death. 

The prosecutor’s office told Geoff Payne that toxicology reports are still pending. Another study to see if Payne was ill at the time of his death is also being conducted. Those tests, done as part of Payne’s autopsy, must be completed before the singer’s body can be released, officials said. 

The investigation into the hours before Payne’s death remains ongoing, the prosecutor’s office said. CBS News previously reported that police were dispatched to Payne’s hotel in response to an emergency call about an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol” who had “thrown himself from the balcony of his room.” Officials have not confirmed if Payne intentionally jumped or fell by accident. Investigators have said his room was a mess, with what appeared to be narcotics and alcohol among broken objects and furniture. 

ABC News and TMZ, citing anonymous sources familiar with the preliminary tests, reported a cocktail of drugs called “pink cocaine” — which contains methamphetamine and ketamine — had been found during a partial autopsy, but officials have not released any results from preliminary tests.

The prosecutor’s office said it is conducting analysis on electronic devices from the scene, and that “numerous statements” have been taken from hotel workers, medical professionals, and others to “reconstruct the victim’s final hours.”   

The prosecutor’s office noted in the press release that any information about Payne’s death will only be released through its official channels. 

Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.

Liam Payne’s family said they’re heartbroken after the musician fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Payne, who belonged to the wildly successful band One Direction before its members split up to pursue solo careers in 2016, was 31.

“We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul,” the family said in a statement to PA Media, the U.K. and Ireland’s national news agency. “We are supporting each other the best we can as a family and ask for privacy and space at this awful time.”

Other tributes poured in from the music and entertainment world. Musician Charlie Puth shared a photo of himself and Payne on Instagram, writing that he was “in shock” after hearing about Payne’s death. Puth contributed to Payne’s 2017 song “Bedroom Floor.”

“Liam was always so kind to me,” Puth wrote. “He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I can not believe he is gone.” 

Former One Direction guitarist Dan Richards said on Instagram that Payne’s death “feels so surreal” and that he is “still trying to wrap my head around it all.” 

Payne had been spotted in Argentina attending a concert of former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan on Oct. 2. Horan and other One Direction members Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik have not yet released a statement about Payne’s death. 

A spokesperson for the Buenos Aires police told CBS News that officers responded to the Casasur Palermo Hotel after reports of an “aggressive man” who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol on Wednesday night. Argentina’s National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office said that it seized “a series of substances” from Payne’s room.

Argentine Director of Emergency Medical Services Alberto Crescenti told CBS News that an ambulance arrived about seven minutes after Payne fell from a third-floor balcony. His body was found in a hotel courtyard, local police said. 

An autopsy was conducted late Wednesday night. It found that Payne died of “multiple trauma” and “internal and external hemorrhage,” according to the prosecutor’s office.

Crescenti declined to answer questions about the incident, including whether Payne jumped from the balcony or fell by accident, The Associated Press reported. The Buenos Aires police spokesperson said that Payne “had thrown himself from the balcony of his room.”

Payne is survived by his 7-year-old son.

Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, has died, CBS News confirmed. She was 91.

Houston died Monday morning in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston said in a statement. The acclaimed gospel singer was surrounded by her family.

“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness,” Pat Houston said in the statement, calling her mother-in-law “the matriarch of our family.” She said Cissy Houston’s contributions to popular music and culture are “unparalleled.”

“Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts.”

A church performer from an early age, Houston was part of a family gospel act before breaking through in popular music in the 1960s as a member of the prominent backing group The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warwick. The group sang backup for a variety of soul singers including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, The Drifters and Dionne Warwick.

Houston’s many credits included Franklin’s “Think” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.” The Sweet Inspirations also sang on stage with Presley, whom Houston would remember fondly for singing gospel during rehearsal breaks and telling her that she was “squirrelly.”

“At the end of our engagement with him, he gave me a bracelet inscribed with my name on the outside,” she wrote in her memoir “How Sweet the Sound,” published in 1998. “On the inside of the bracelet he had inscribed his nickname for me: Squirrelly.”

The Sweet Inspirations had their own top 20 single with the soul-rock “Sweet Inspiration,” made in the Memphis studio where Franklin and Springfield among others recorded hits and released four albums just in the late ’60s. The group appeared on Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the song “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” in 1967.

Houston’s last performance with the Sweet Inspirations came after the group hit the stage with Presley in a Las Vegas show in 1969. Her final recording session with the group turned into their biggest R&B hit “(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover,” a composition by the production team of Gamble & Huff, who appeared on the group’s fifth album, “Sweet Sweet Soul.”

During that time, the group occasionally performed live concert dates with Franklin. After the group’s success and four albums together, Houston left The Sweet Inspirations to pursue a solo career where she flourished.

Houston became an in-demand session singer and recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres throughout her career. Her vocals can heard on tracks alongside a wide range of artists including Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Beyoncé, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and her daughter.

Houston went on to complete several records, including “Presenting Cissy Houston,” the disco-era “Think It Over” and the Grammy-winning gospel albums “Face to Face” and “He Leadeth Me.”

In 1971, Houston’s signature vocals were featured on Burt Bacharach‘s solo album, which includes “Mexican Divorce,” “All Kinds of People” and “One Less Bell to Answer.” She performed various standards including Barbra Streisand’s hit song, “Evergreen.”

Never far from her native New Jersey or musical origins, Houston presided for decades over the 200-member Youth Inspirational Choir at Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church, where Whitney Houston sang as a child.

Cissy Houston would say that she had discouraged her daughter from show business, but they were joined in music for much of Whitney’s life, from church to stage performances to television and film and the recording studio. Whitney’s rise seemed inevitable, not only because of her obvious talents, but because of her background: Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick were cousins, Leontyne Price a cousin once removed, Franklin a close family friend.

Whitney Houston made her debut on national television when she and Cissy Houston sang a medley of Franklin hits on “The Merv Griffin Show.” Cissy Houston sang backup on Whitney’s eponymous, multiplatinum first album, and the two shared the lead on “I Know Him So Well,” from the 1987 megaseller “Whitney.”

They would sing together often in concert and appeared in the 1996 film “The Preacher’s Wife.” Their most indelible moments likely came from the video for one of Whitney’s biggest hits from the mid-1980s, “Greatest Love of All.” It was filmed as a mother-daughter homage, ending with a joyous Whitney exiting the stage of Harlem’s Apollo Theater and embracing Cissy Houston, who stood in the wings.

On Feb. 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found dead — from what was ruled as an accidental drowning — in a Beverly Hills bathtub. Cissy Houston would write about her daughter in the memoir “Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss and The Night The Music Stopped.”

In 2015, Cissy Houston was grieving again when granddaughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, the only child of Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston, was found unconscious in a bathtub, spent months in a coma and died at age 22. The family was back in the news in 2018 with the release of the documentary “Whitney,” which included allegations that Dee Dee Warwick (who died in 2008) had molested Whitney when she was a girl.

Cissy Houston was briefly married to Freddie Garland in the 1950s; their son, Gary Garland, was a guard for the Denver Nuggets and later sang on many of Whitney Houston’s tours. Cissy Houston was married to Whitney’s father, entertainment executive John Russell Houston, from 1959-1990. In addition to Whitney, the Houstons also had a son, Michael.

Cissy Houston was born Emily Drinkard in Newark, the youngest of eight children of a factory worker and a housewife. She was just 5 when she and three siblings founded the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group that lasted 30 years, performing on the same bill as Mahalia Jackson among others and releasing the 1959 album “A Joyful Noise.”

She later said she would have been happy to remain in gospel, but John Houston encouraged her to take on studio work. When rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins (along with drummer Levon Helm and other future members of The Band) needed an extra voice, Cissy Houston stepped in.

“I wanted to get my work done, and get it done quickly. I was there, but I didn’t have to be part of them. I was in the world, but I wasn’t of the world, as St. Paul put it,” Houston wrote in “How Sweet the Sound,” remembering how she soon began working with the Drifters and other singers.

“At least in the recording studio we were living together as God intended us to. Some days, we spent 12 or 15 hours together there,” she wrote. “The skin-deep barriers of race seemed to fall away as we toiled side by side creating our little pop masterpieces.”

Pat Houston said she is thankful for the many valuable lessons learned from her mother-in-law. She said the family feels “blessed and grateful” that God allowed Cissy to spend so many years with them.

“We are touched by your generous support, and your outpouring of love during our profound time of grief,” Houston said on behalf of the family. “We respectfully request our privacy during this difficult time.”