American juvenile actress from age six who won a special Oscar for “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” A talented juvenile, her major theatrical career took place before she was 20, after which her career waned.
She was the daughter of an English-born attorney, William H. Garner and his wife Virginia, her dad a U.S. Army officer during WW II. Her parents later were estranged. Garner’s mother got her into summer stock and modeling before she was six. They moved to Hollywood where her film career began. She was the veteran of eight films by 1945 when she gained fame as Francie Nolan in “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
After 1952 she left Hollywood for New York, studying with the Actors Studio, where she did TV and four Broadway shows, returning occasionally for a film. In 1966, she made her last movie, “The Cat.” Other films include “Little Miss Thoroughbred,” 1938, “Blondie Brings Up Baby,” 1939, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” 1940 and “Jane Eyre” 1944. She tried real estate and from 1970, worked for General Motors as a fleet car executive and sales rep.
Garner had three marriages. A daughter, Katherine, was born during her second marriage to actor Albert Salmi.
Garner became depressed over the lack of work in the entertainment industry. She died of stomach cancer 10/16/1984 in the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
Link to Wikipedia biography