Jay Garner

Jay Garner was an American actor.

He played Admiral Asimov in the series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Early Life
Born James H. Garner Jr. in 1929 in Sewanee, Tennessee, he graduated from the University of Tennessee and moved to Atlanta, where he worked in radio and began acting, he changed his first name to Jay upon entering Actors Equity as there was already a James Garner in the union.

Career
Garner was best known to theater audiences for his diverse character roles, including the "side-stepping" Governor of Texas in the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He debuted the role of the priggish anti-homosexual politician Eduord Dindon in La Cage Aux Folles and had the lead role in Red, Hot and Maddox.

He played Benjamin Franklin in the musical hit 1776, a role he reprised on tour and in various stock productions. In 1986, he took over the role of Sir John Tremayne from Tony winner George S. Irving in the original Broadway staging of Me and My Girl. His last Broadway performance was Horace Vandergelder in the 1994 revival of Hello, Dolly! with Carol Channing.

Television audiences know him as lecherous food critic Jason Defarge in Three's Company. On the big screen Garner appeared as Doctor Robinson in Silent Night, Bloody Night, and had a featured role in the Steve Martin film Pennies from Heaven, in which he played the banker who shares a dance and comic kiss with Martin.