Gary Gardner, longtime UCLA playwriting and musical theater professor, dies at 69

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Gary Gardner, a playwriting and musical theater professor at UCLA for the past 40 years, died June 15 of natural causes. He was 69.

Gardner’s colleagues and friends knew him as a kindhearted man who was passionate about musical theater and teaching.

He often directed student plays and taught students their roles by dancing, singing and cracking jokes, said Sarah Ellis, a UCLA alumna and one of Gardner’s former teaching assistants.

“It was like you were watching a musical in the class while he taught,” Ellis said. ”You were entertained while learning.”

His productions were vivid and full of emotions, said Edit Villarreal, a playwriting professor and the chair of the playwriting program at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Gardner directed at least 30 productions at UCLA, said Michael Hackett, chair of the department of theater, who has known Gardner for more than 30 years.

The last play he directed at UCLA, “Desire Under the Elms” by Eugene O’Neill, spanned from comedy to tragedy, Villarreal said. The play ran a for a week in early June and explored themes of Greek tragedy in a New England setting.

“The humorous moments Gardner brought in (made) for a good space to explore dark themes,” said third-year theater student Dyson Posey during the production on the play.

Gardner always encouraged his students to pursue their interest in theater, Ellis said.

“He helped students find their voice and gave them support even when they felt they could not act, sing or dance,” Hackett said.

Gardner became invested in his students and took the time to get to know them on a personal level, Ellis said.

“He played the grandfather in a musical I music directed, and played that role whenever students needed him,” she said.

Villarreal said she thinks Gardner will be remembered for his vintage-looking suits as well as his teaching style. He would stand out at his performances and plays in pastel-colored suits with bright yellow and blue ties, she said.

Villarreal said Gardner went out of his way to compliment people and had a rare personality that made the people he encountered feel good about themselves.

“(Gardner) would call me ‘gorgeous’ and ‘sunshine’ everyday. It was sincere and I loved it,” she said.

Gardner influenced Ellis’s career in theater by simply listening to her concerns as a friend, she said.

“He was not just a professor; he was a mentor and friend you could sit on the benches with and talk about your problems and dreams,” Ellis said.

Gardner is survived by his sister, Gloria Tapp; his two nephews, Todd and Timothy; his niece, Tracy; and seven grand-nephews and nieces.

A closed funeral will be held in August at his hometown in Danville, Illinois. An open memorial will take place sometime in October in the Freud Playhouse at UCLA.

Email Crane at jcrane@media.ucla.edu.

Correction: Sarah Ellis was the composer and music director of the musical “Thank You, Mr. Falker,” in which Gary Gardner played the character of the grandfather. Gardner’s hometown is Danville, Illinois.