Matthew Garber

Matthew Garber
Garber with Karen Dotrice in the 1964 trailer for Mary Poppins
Born	Matthew Adam Garber (1956-03-25)25 March 1956 Stepney, London, England
Died	13 June 1977(1977-06-13) (aged 21) Hampstead, London, England
Cause of death	Pancreatitis
Nationality	British
Education	St Paul's School, Winchmore Hill Highgate School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1963–1967
Known for	Michael Banks in Mary Poppins (1964)

Matthew Adam Garber (25 March 1956 – 13 June 1977) was a British child actor, best known for his role as Michael Banks in the 1964 film Mary Poppins. He also starred in two other Disney films, The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome-Mobile, all three times appearing alongside actress Karen Dotrice.

Ten years after his retirement, Garber contracted hepatitis, which later affected his pancreas. He died of pancreatitis at the age of 21.

Born in Stepney, London, to parents who had both performed on stage, Garber attended St Paul's Primary School in Winchmore Hill and Highgate School in Highgate, North London, from September 1968 until July 1972. He had a younger brother, Fergus Garber, who was born in 1964, the year Matthew played Michael Banks. His father's name was recorded by the school he had attended as L. L. Garber. Matthew Garber was considered a spirited and bright boy in a 1967 Disney press release that noted his enjoyment of pulling practical jokes on his friends, playing sports, and reading adventure, mythology and poetry books.

As a friend of the Garber family, Karen Dotrice's father, Shakespearian actor Roy Dotrice, called Garber to the attention of Disney Casting, where his use of "artful dodges, like squinting, screwing up his nose, and brushing his hair back with one hand" led to his screen debut at age seven in Disney's The Three Lives of Thomasina (1963).