He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
Gardner was on staff of The New York Times for seven years as a writer-critic and assistant editor of Sunday Arts & Leisure.
He published a William Faulkner portrait published in A Faulkner Perspective for the Franklin Library; Lynn,[4][5] the memoirs of Royal Ballet star Lynn Seymour; Brooklyn: People and Places, Past and Present, a socio-cultural history of the famous borough; and Louise Bourgeois, a personal journey into the life of the acclaimed sculptor.
Writing for a variety of periodicals, Gardner interviewed subjects as diverse as the Beatles (on their first visit to the U.S.A.), Howard Hawks in Palm Springs, and Leni Riefenstahl in Pöcking, Bayern.
The films have been shown at festivals in Toronto, Montréal, Paris, and Naples, as well as at art museums throughout the world.