Gari was born on February 13, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Joseph and Gina Garratano, who owned a store in Manhattan.
[1] In 1939 Gari enrolled and studied at the Art Students League of New York under the auspices of such renowned instructors as Will Barnet and Ethel Schwabacher.
During the 1960s and 1970s his family commitments and his art work kept him away from performing; he returned in the 1980s and subsequently could be seen in such films as I.Q., The Associate, Scent of a Woman, She Devil and One Fine Day.
[citation needed] He also had regular roles on television in the daytime soap operas Guiding Light (as Maurice the bartender) and Another World (as Alistair the butler from 1992 to 1995).
His final TV role was playing Amy Sedaris' father in a dozen episodes of the cult Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy.