| Sebastian Cabot | |
|---|---|
Cabot as Mr. French on Family Affair. |
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| Born | 6 July 1918 London, England, UK |
| Died | 22 August 1977 (aged 59) North Saanich, British Columbia, Canada |
| Years active | 1936–1977 |
Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot (6 July 1918 – 22 August 1977) was an English film and television actor, best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, "Giles French," opposite Brian Keith's character, in the 1960s sitcom Family Affair. He was also known for playing Dr. Carl Hyatt in the series Checkmate and for doing the voice of Bagheera in The Jungle Book.
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Cabot was born in London, England. As a young man, he employed his burly frame and theatrical flair for three years as a professional wrestler, "Pierre Sauvage, the eighteen stone champion of Belgium".[1] His formal acting career began with a bit part in Foreign Affaires (1935); his first screen credit was in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936). Other British films such as Love on the Dole, Pimpernel Smith, Old Mother Riley: Detective, and Old Mother Riley: Overseas followed. In 1946, he portrayed Iago in a short film version of Othello. By 1947, Cabot had relocated to Hollywood, and landed roles in such films as They Made Me A Fugitive, Third Time Lucky, The Spider and the Fly, the 1952 version of Ivanhoe, Babes in Baghdad, The Love Lottery, Westward Ho, the Wagons!, and the 1954 Italian version of Romeo and Juliet as Lord Capulet. In 1957 he played the scheming landlord Jonathan Lyte in Disney's Johnny Tremain and in 1960 he appeared in George Pal's production of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine as Dr. Hillyer.
He was the voice of Noah in the first recording of Igor Stravinsky's biblical "musical play" The Flood (1962). He also did voice parts for animated films such as Disney's Jungle Book (1967) as Bagheera, The Sword In The Stone (1963) as Sir Ector, and the narrator of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966)
At about this time Cabot began taking on television work, appearing in such series as Along the Oregon Trail, The Adventures of Hiram Holliday, The Beachcomber, on Frank Lovejoy's detective series, Meet McGraw, and an appearance in The Twilight Zone episode "A Nice Place to Visit", as the white-suited, courtly provider of a vain but disillusioned man's every wish. Cabot had a two-year stint as one of the three leads as college professor Dr. Carl Hyatt on Eric Ambler's 1960 detective show Checkmate, which co-starred Anthony George and Doug McClure. He appeared with James Best in the 1959–1960 western series Pony Express in the episode entitled "The Story of Julesburg". Cabot was also a regular panelist on the TV game show Stump the Stars. He also appeared on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood. In 1964, Cabot hosted the short-lived television series, Suspense, and voiced or narrated a few other film and television projects, before he was cast as Giles French in the CBS series Family Affair with Brian Keith and Kathy Garver. He also appeared in an episode of Bonanza circa 1960.
He also did some radio work in the early 1950s; he was featured in a show called Horizons West,[2] a 13-part radio drama which followed the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Cabot did not halt his other film and television work during the run of Family Affair; in fact, he took a leave of absence from the series at one point—(his stand-in, an actor often typecast as a butler or a detective, was veteran British character actor John Williams, who played French's brother Nigel in Family Affair) and he worked well in voice roles (Bagheera in The Jungle Book; the narrator of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day; the above mentioned Stravinsky recording; host of Journey to Midnight as well as the voice of Sir Ector in The Sword in the Stone (1963). But he was so vividly etched as French in viewers' minds that he never shook the image even after Family Affair finally ended production in 1971. He received another role as the host (Winston Essex) of Ghost Story, (retitled Circle of Fear after he left the series, a supernatural anthology). Perhaps Cabot's most memorable role following the series' demise was as Kris Kringle in the 1973 television remake of Miracle on 34th Street.
Cabot appeared in another Christmas project, the television film The City That Forgot About Christmas (1974), and narrated two more Pooh projects, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too! and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also released an album of spoken recitations of songs by Bob Dylan, as Sebastian Cabot, actor/Bob Dylan, poet., in 1967. Two tracks from this album appear on the Rhino Records compilation Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing Off.
He lived his final years in Deep Cove, in the Victoria suburb of North Saanich, near Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. In 1977, in his modest home, Cabot suffered a stroke, his second in three years. Cabot was taken to a Victoria hospital, where he died on August 22, 1977 at the age of 59. He was survived by his wife Kathleen; his two daughters, Annette and Yvonne; and his son, Christopher Cabot. Sebastian Cabot's cremated remains are buried in the urn garden in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, interred within yards of TV co-star Brian Keith.