Star Trek: The Original Series actress, Teri Garr, passes away at 79

Teri Garr, who portrayed Roberta Lincoln, Gary Seven's assistant on the final episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series, has passed away at 79. "Assignment Earth" was originally meant to be a backdoor pilot for a series with Roberta and an a time-traveling Seven [Robert Lansing] working together. That pilot wasn't picked up, and the series was scrapped. Not that Garr would have wanted to participate anyway as the experience wasn't pleasant for her, and she didn't even want to talk about Star Trek or be associated with the series afterwards.

Though "Assignment Earth" was Garr's first major role, she went on to achieve further success with her Oscar-nominated role in "Tootsie." She also starred in "Young Frankenstein" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" after being a back-up dancer in six of Elvis Presley's movies as she'd trained for many years as a dancer with a focus on ballet.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Garr continued to act, with her last project, according to IMDB, being on the television series "How to Marry a Billionaire." Though she had been diagnosed with the disease in the nineties, she didn't reveal it until 2002. Four years later, she suffered a brain aneurysm that affected her acting career. She officially retired from acting in 2011, and, according to her family, she died from MS on Tuesday, October 29th. [via People]

Garr was married to John O'Neill from 1993-1996, and together, they adopted a daughter, Molly. Along with Molly, Garr is survived by her grandson, Tyryn.

Red Shirts Always Die extends our deepest condolences to Teri Garr's family. She was a gifted actress whose talent made Hollywood a better place. And Star Trek fans will always remember her as Roberta Lincoln in "Assignment Earth."