I have residual warm fuzzy feelings for Canadian actor Victor Garber ever since his turn as the fatherly Thomas Andrews in Titanic. I had no idea he also sings and dances and frequently acts in stage productions! He’ll be playing a so-far unannounced role in the upcoming film Kill the Poet, which IMDB describes as, “Set during WWII when artists were being blacklisted in Communist witch-hunts, follows the star-crossed love story of a young poet and a young female painter from a wealthy family.”
There are four productions for which I can’t find images of Garber:
- Arthur in Great Performances: “Ah, Wilderness!” (1976)
- Warren in I’ll Fly Away (1991-93)
- John Dickinson in Liberty! The American Revolution (1997)
- J.J. Robinette in Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story (2002)
Beyond those, let’s run down Garber’s surprisingly many roles in frock flicks!
Marquis de Lafayette in Valley Forge (1975)
Teddy Wheeler in The Best of Families (1977)
TV miniseries: “Drama set in late 19th-century America, following the lives of three families – one wealthy, one middle-class, and a family of poor Irish immigrants” (IMDB).
Valere in Tartuffe (1978)
A filmed adaptation of a theater performance of the 1664 Molière play.
Jack Chesney in Charley’s Aunt (1983)
A TV adaptation of the 1892 farcical play.
John White in American Playhouse: “Roanoak: Part I” (1986)
A PBS anthology series featuring various plays. I assume this is a reference to the Roanoke Colony, the failed (now) North Carolina colony founded in 1585. Looks like John White led the second settlement in 1587.
Liberace in Liberace: Behind the Music (1988)
A made-for-TV biopic of the famous pianist and singer.
Ernest Hemingway in The Legendary Life of Ernest Hemingway (1989)
I think a TV? biopic about the famous American author.
Judge Keeler in Grand Larceny (1991)
“Con-artist Betsy Bigley, ruined and imprisoned by a corrupt judge, fakes her own death to escape from jail and launches an elaborate scheme of revenge against him” per IMDB.
Digby in Queen (1993)
A TV miniseries based on the life of the grandmother of Alex Haley, author of Roots; begins in 1841 and tells the life story of a biracial woman.
Lord Louis Mountbatten in Dieppe (1993)
A Canadian miniseries about a World War II battle.
Thomas Andrews in Titanic (1997)
The fictionalized take on the sinking of the famous ship in 1912. Andrews was a businessman and shipbuilder who went on the maiden voyage.
King Maximillian in Cinderella (1997)
A Disney TV adaptation of the fairy tale musical by Rogers & Hammerstein. King Maximillian is the prince’s father.
Oliver Warbucks in Annie (1999)
Another Disney TV adaptation of a musical, this one set in the 1930s. As a HUGE fan of the 1982 version, no I will not be seeing this.
Sid Luft in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001)
Luft was the third husband of Judy Garland, and this was a TV bioseries about the singer.
Robert Foster in Tuck Everlasting (2002)
An adaptation of the 1975 young adult book, about a teenage girl who falls in love with an immortal boy.
Mayor Shinn in The Music Man (2003)
A TV adaptation of the 1912-set musical.
Detective Malcolm Lamb (Retired) in Murdoch Mysteries (2008-)
A Canadian murder mystery series set in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.
Mr. Crane in Sleepy Hollow (2013-17)
He acted in one episode of this mostly modern-set, but with a time-traveling Ichabod Crane visiting from the 18th century, series. I’m assuming Mr. Crane must be Ichabod’s father?
Sol in Rebel in the Rye (2017)
A biopic about author J.D. Salinger, set post-World War II.
Which is your favorite of Victor Garber’s many frock flick roles?
I distinctly remember watching Victor Garber in The Best of Families along with William Hurt and Jill Eikenberry. I’ve had a crush on him since Godspell. I’ve been lucky enough to see him on Broadway in the original cast of Sweeney Todd.
Post-cutoff but obligatory he played a way too old version (Ken Taylor was 40 during the time of the Iran hostage crisis while Garber was 63 during the filming of Argo) of Canadian ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor in Ben Affleck’s Argo. I normally love Victor Garber but the fact he never even reached out to Taylor to get his perspective on the story was not cool.
Not flick related but he’s done a lot of Broadway including musicals – he was Anthony in the original Sweeney Todd!
Do the 60s/70s count as period from this distance? Because he’ll always be hippie Jesus to me, thanks to Godspell.
Baby face? If that’s your idea of a baby face then your babies must be hand-delivered from Mount Olympus because that dude is just annoyingly pretty.
On a more serious note, is it just me or does Mr Garber have a face that just about demands long hair? (It’s noteworthy that his best looks seem to be ‘Revolutionary War’ and ‘Three Musketeers as current events’).
Also, Ms. Sigourney Weaver looks slightly
intimidating in exactly the right Victorian-Edwardian way when she wears that costume (Not the look that suits her best, but definitely one she wears with distinction).
In the 1974-75 summer season at the Old Globe in San Diego, Victor Garber was a star in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. It was the first time I noticed him and was very impressed. I’ve followed him ever since. He was Fabulous!
Victor Garber! I take delight in always saying his name with an exclamation point. It is a personal rule that I point him out anytime I see him in anything, and he is in many, many things, especially on Canadian television. I love that he got an MCM too. :-)
Few things divide millennials and Gen X’ers more than which “Annie” they prefer! While the 1999 version is a TV movie that’s working with a different budget (and it shows, especially on Kathy Bates as you said), that cast is so STACKED with theatrical talent that I can’t help but prefer it. Although, are there two more evenly-matched pairs than Tim Curry/Bernadette Peters and Alan Cumming/Kristin Chenoweth?!
By coincidence, Mr Garber is featured as Supreme Court Justice Bora Laskin in a Canadian Heritage Minute that was just released this week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9iGFZLOuio