Born Joseph Garland Moore Jr, he was known throughout his career as Gar Moore. His mother was part Cherokee Indian and his father was a local Pharmacist in Chelsea, Oklahoma and a distant cousin of Will Rogers. He attended the University of Oklahoma on a Music Scholarship graduating in 1943. He was appearing on stage in New York as a scout for Italian Director Roberto Rossellini discovered him. His initial work in film was in Italy, but he soon found his way to Hollywood. Initial American acting credits include Païsa (1946), Vivre en paix (1947), Deux nigauds chez les tueurs (1949), eventually transitioning to Television in Fireside Theatre (1949) and Chevron Theatre (1952). Roles were drying up for him and he retired in 1959 to Palm Springs where wrote and painted portraits. He was engaged to Magda Gabor, the eldest of the Gabor Sisters, but later married Marge Sinek, a member of the Oscar Meyer Company. His ashes were sprinkled in the Palm Spring Desert that he so adored.