Matthew Garber, best known to Disney fans as the “extremely stubborn and suspicious” young Michael Banks in Mary Poppins, was born in England on this day in 1956. Matthew made his film debut as Geordie in Disney’s The Three Lives of Thomasina, which also featured a young actress named Karen Dotrice, who went on to play Garber’s sister Jane in Mary Poppins. Together, they appeared in a third film for Disney, but despite being the youngest in the cast they were not the littlest people in the film. Thanks to Disney magic, they shared the screen with tiny gnomes in The Gnome-Mobile, Matthew’s last film. Sadly, Matthew passed away in 1977 due to pancreatitis at the age of 21.
