Matthew Garber
| Matthew Garber | |
|---|---|
 Matthew Garber co-starring with Karen Dotrice in the 1964 trailer for Mary Poppins |
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| Born | Matthew Adam Garber 25 March 1956 Stepney, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 13 June 1977 (aged 21) Hampstead, London |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–1967 |
Matthew Adam Garber (25 March 1956[1] – 13 June 1977[2]) was a British child actor. Born in Stepney, London to parents who had both performed on stage, he attended St Paul's Primary School in Winchmore Hill and Highgate School in Highgate, North London from 1968 until 1972.[3] He enjoyed pulling practical jokes on friends, competing in sports, and reading books rich with adventure, mythology and even poetry.[4]
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[edit] Career
Garber made his screen debut at age seven in Disney's The Three Lives of Thomasina. That same year, he and Thomasina co-star Karen Dotrice were hired to play Michael and Jane, the children of George Banks (David Tomlinson), who gets more than he bargained for when he hires a nanny named Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews). Disney's live-action/animated film adaptation of the Mary Poppins book series by P. L. Travers won five Academy Awards and made its stars world-famous. Garber and Dotrice paired up again in 1967 in the The Gnome-Mobile, as the grandchildren of a rich lumber mogul (Walter Brennan) who stumble across a gnome forest and are asked to help keep the gnomes from dying off.
[edit] Death
Fergus Garber, identified as Garber's younger brother (by eight years) said in an interview that he told reporters that Garber had contracted hepatitis—probably, he said, from eating "bad meat"—while traveling in India in 1976, and it had already spread to his pancreas when their father brought Garber back to England the following year. Fergus denied any suggestion that his brother was using drugs.[5] Garber's body was later cremated at St Marylebone Crematorium (East Finchley) London on 16 June 1977.[3]
Matthew and his father got back to London only about a week before he died. Matthew was seen at Coppetts Wood Hospital and then The Royal Free Hospital. By then, he was in a coma and never recovered.[3] On 13 June 1977, Garber died at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London, of hemorrhagic necrotising pancreatitis at the age of 21, possibly drug or alcohol related.[6]
Garber was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 2004;[4] Fergus Garber accepted on his behalf. On the Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary DVD, Karen Dotrice said she regretted not keeping in touch with Garber before his death.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | The Three Lives of Thomasina | Geordie |
| 1964 | Mary Poppins | Michael Banks |
| 1967 | The Gnome-Mobile | Rodney Winthrop |
[edit] References
- ^ GRO Register of Births: JUN 1956 5d 746 STEPNEY - Matthew A Garber, mmn = Barson
- ^ GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1977 12 1869 HAMPSTEAD - Matthew Adam Garber, DoB = 25 Mar 1956
- ^ a b c Elizabeth (April 27, 1999). "About Matthew Garber (a.k.a. Michael Banks)". ReelClassics.com. http://www.reelclassics.com/Musicals/MaryPoppins/marypoppins-garber.htm. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ a b "Matther Garber". Disney Insider. 2004. http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/history/legends/Matthew-Garber. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ "Fergus Garber Interview". Mail on Sunday: pp. FB 38-39. October 24, 2004.
- ^ "Whatever Happened To: Matthew Garber". weht.net. February 2, 2010. http://www.weht.net/WEHT/Matthew_Garber.html. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
