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1939 - 2016

BORN

1939

DIED

2016

Gary Menteer Obituary

November 21, 1939 - January 18, 2016 Peacefully in hospital on Monday, January 18, 2016, Gary (Gars) Menteer, of Rancho Mirage, passed away with family and friends by his side. Beloved son of the late William and Francis Menteer. Predeceased by his brother David and his sister Sandy. Beloved husband and soulmate of Joseph (Joe) Cvar. Special companion to Jack Twist, his beloved dog. Special uncle to David, Lisa, Diana, Lauri and Tara. At the age of 16, Gary left Texas and moved to New York City where his exceptional talents landed him a role in the original production of The Music Man on Broadway. After that, Gary was chosen by Desilu Studios to train in Hollywood. In the following years, Gary found a lot of work, not only in television, but in film. He appeared in many great musical films, including: The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Funny Lady, Bye Bye Birdie, Finian's Rainbow, Inside Daisy Clover, Hello Dolly, and Mary Poppins. Gary also performed in many musical variety shows such as: The Judy Garland Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Dean Martin Show and The Julie Andrews Hour. Through the following decades, Gary enjoyed a fulfilling career as a choreographer, writer, director, and producer to distinguished acclaim in Hollywood and New York. Some notable television shows he worked on include: Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Punky Brewster, and Family Matters. But above all, Gary was a wonderful, kind, generous man full of great humor and fun. A man of great integrity who was loved and will be missed by many people. We are all blessed to have known him. His husband Joe, family and friends would like to thank the incredible doctors and nurses at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital in Rancho Mirage for all their compassionate care. Funeral arrangements provided by Forest Lawn, Cathedral City will beprivate, per Gary's request. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. Bring your thoughts, prayers and fondest memories of Gary. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Palm Springs Animal Shelter or to Eisenhower Medical Center Hospital of Rancho Mirage. Condolences and tributes may be made at tributes.com.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Los Angeles Times on Jan. 26, 2016.

Memories and Condolences
for Gary Menteer

19 Entries

Sheila Harrison

November 4, 2022

Gary was a guest dance teacher at the Edwina Banta Dance Studio in La Porte, TX and I was one of his students. He was maybe 15-year-old and we were in our early teens. He was brilliant even then. Later when we heard of his success in New York none of us were surprised. We followed his career and saw that his accomplishments just grew even greater, one success after another. I just found this Memories site and wanted to say thank you, Gary.

John Whitehouse

May 31, 2022

Miss you Uncle Gary. Rest well. Loved visiting with you and checking out Family Matters

Deborah Duclon

January 17, 2022

❤

Deborah Duclon

January 17, 2021

Gary, Still loving you. Joey is doing well. Rest well. Love Deborah

Deborah Duclon

January 17, 2019

Gary, hope you enjoying your place in heaven. I'm sure you are meeting up with friends. ❤

Deborah Duclon

January 17, 2018

I love you Gary. Think of you often. I'll check on Joey ❤

Lori Tan Chinn

January 18, 2017

When I first arrived in NYC, hoping to land a show as a dancer, I was cast in "Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen", a musical based on "Teahouse of the August Moon", a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The choreographer's assistant was this marvelous, gorgeous blonde, Gary Menteer. He was so personable and so helpful in teaching all of us cast members the choreography for all the numbers. When the show closed, we all went our separate ways. Years later, as I was leaving the theater of my 2nd Broadway show, there was Gary, now, wearing the hat of Television Producer. Since then, I have been asking around for the past 25 years, trying to find him, until now...

To my dearest Gary in Heaven, I send up love. I know that you are spreading your sweetness, your goodness to all of the colleagues in Heaven. Although I didn't find you, we will meet again in Heaven. Your style, grace, talent will always be the barometer of how it should always be, with whomever we meet in this life. Until then, my friend...

Prince Lennon

January 17, 2017

I can't believe how time has flown by!

Jerry Strealy

December 10, 2016

I knew Gary in 1992 for a short time and he was a caring Loving person, we went to the Equestrian center for the love of horses, Joey I am so glad to see you were still with him after all these years. Love Forever, Jerry Lee Strealy

Prince

May 21, 2016

I've known Joey and Gary for years - but as life goes - we all get busy with life and we go in separate directions. My memories of them are extremely fond and I was saddened to hear of Gary's passing today as I read it in the SAG magazine. For some reason - we all never think of of old friends passing as we only remember them as we last saw them. Gary was always more than generous with his time, often giving advice about the industry. I hope his passing was peaceful and I pray for Joey's strength through this sad time and next step through his journey. Rest in peace Gary - God speed!

Lori Higgins

May 21, 2016

Condolences to family and friends of Gary Menteer. I worked on Family Matters for nine years and didn't know about his passing. May you rest in eternal peace.

Ellen Schuff

January 25, 2016

Gary I will miss and love you always. We always' had fun when we were in Palm Springs. I know will be together one day. Love Ellen

LInda and Louis Marino

January 26, 2016

Gary I will always Love you and miss you dearly. We had the best of times and so many laughs when we were together. You were so hospitable whenever I came to visit. I will never forget you, I'll be seeing you. Love, Linda and Louis

Jerry Trent and Audrey Trent

January 21, 2016

Danced with Gary on many productions including Hello Dolly, Julie Andrews Show and The Dean MartinShow.
Lost contact, but kept the good memories.

Jerry Trent

January 21, 2016

Danced with Gary on many productions including Hello Dolly, Julie Andrews Show and The Dean MartinShow.
Lost contact, but kept the good memories.

Nat Bocking

February 27, 2016

Rest in peace Gary. It was a real pleasure to work for you at Warner Bros. and benefit from all your experience and integrity.

Shea New

February 11, 2016

Thank you for sharing of yourself, your time and your friendship- for myself and for The Choreography Festival. You are cherished.

I miss you daddy..........Jack

Jerry Stewart

January 27, 2016

For so many years I watched you suffer physically as well as mentally and you never asked for anythng. I was grateful to be there for you. I was always thankful for you being there for me through with my health and the loss of my partner. Please say hi to him when you see him. Thank you for introducing me to tennis a game you loved so much. It was so hard for me when I knew you could not play anymore. You're now in a better place and the pain is gone and I'm sure they have plenty of tennis courts. We will all be together again some day and I will always be so grateful Gary for your phone call. I will miss you my dear friend. Jerry

Joseph Berziga

January 25, 2016

My Deepest condolences and prayers to Mr. Menteer's family and friends.

Showing 1 - 19 of 19 results