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David Gardner was born in 1928 in Toronto. He attended Lawrence Park Collegiate and made his professional debut on CBC Radio at just 18 years of age. From high school, Gardner entered the University of Toronto, which was then a magnet for actors thanks to the Hart House Theatre, often considered the cradle of Canadian theatre. It was into this world that Gardner began to learn his craft. Under the direction of the legendary Robert Gill, he played Othello, Macbeth and Marc Anthony. He was also active in the adminstrative side of theatre: in 1960, he chaired the committee that founded the National Theatre School in Montreal. Gardner went back to school in his mid-life, obtaining a Masters degree and then a Ph.D. in Canadian Theatre History from the University of Toronto. He has also written extensively about theatre in Canada for the Oxford Companion, the Canadian Encyclopedia, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and Theatre Research in Canada, all the while continuing to both act and direct.