Produced in 1964, combining live action and cartoons, Mary Poppins is one of the latest classics from Disney studios, overseen by Walt himself! The film, broadcast this Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at 9:05 p.m., on W9, is also an opportunity to look into the fate of the protagonists of this work apart. If the talented Mary-Julie Andrews, after having accomplished a prestigious career, celebrated her 87th birthday, she does not win the prize for longevity. Dick Van Dyke, his partner who plays the touching role of Bert and was also prolific on screen, has reached the venerable age of 97! As for Karen Dotrice, 67 years old today and who plays the role of little Jane Banks, she stopped playing in 1984 to take care of her family. It is not the same for the one who interpreted the role of his brother, Michael Banks.
child star
With his round face, his freckles and his eyes in the shape of marbles, Matthew Garber was, at the time of the filming of Mary Poppins, the little boy that all parents would have liked to have had. Himself the son of actors, hired by Disney a year earlier, he was, according to his partners, lively and full of spirit. Under contract with the studios of “Uncle Walt”, the interpreter of Michael Banks had to find his “sister” of Mary Poppins, Karen Dotrice, in The Gnome-Mobilemade in 1967. The latter remembers Garber, whom she adored, as “a little demon, loving to have fun and take risks. he could have become a racing driver.”
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The Fatal Journey
Fate, or fate, would decide otherwise. Matthew was 21, in 1977, when he chose to travel around the world. While staying in India, the young man contracts hepatitis. His condition worsening rapidly, Garber was rushed back to London. But the doctors are unable to stop this overwhelming evil and, on June 13, Matthew Garber dies of necrotizing hemorrhagic pancreatitis at the Royal Free Hospital. Three days later, the body of the former Disney child star was cremated at St. Marylebone Crematorium, Finchley. A quarter of a century after that sad end, in 2004, Matthew was named a posthumous “Disney Legend”. The actor, he will not cease to live again for all those who will continue to discover, amazed, Mary Poppins and to have fun with his antics of a child who thought he had his life ahead of him…
