Sebastian Cabot

Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was born on 6 July 1918 in Marylebone, London, and died on 23 August 1977 in Victoria, British Columbia. A British actor, he worked across stage, film, television, and voice performance over a career spanning more than four decades. He is perhaps most widely recognized for his role as the gentleman's gentleman Giles French in the CBS sitcom Family Affair, which ran from 1966 to 1971, and for his extensive voice work in Disney animated productions.

Cabot left school at fourteen to work in an automotive garage, where he also served as chauffeur and valet to British actor Frank Pettingell. Through that association he developed an interest in theatre, eventually joining a repertory company. He later acknowledged in a 1968 interview that he had fabricated acting credits to secure early employment, and that the smoothness of his speech had been refined during his time as Pettingell's dressing room butler. He learned his craft without formal drama school training, having been dismissed on his first day in a production called On The Spot. His screen career began with a bit part in Foreign Affaires in 1935, followed by his first credited film role in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent in 1936. He served in the British Army during World War II.

His postwar British film work included Third Time Lucky, The Spider and the Fly, and Dick Barton Strikes Back, all from 1949, in which he played the villainous Fouracada. He also appeared in Ivanhoe in 1952 and The Love Lottery in 1954, as well as the international co-production Babes in Bagdad in 1952 and an Italian production of Romeo and Juliet in 1954, in which he played Lord Capulet. In 1946 he had portrayed Iago in a condensed short film version of Othello. After relocating to the United States, he appeared in Disney's Westward Ho, the Wagons! in 1956 and as the scheming landlord Jonathan Lyte in Johnny Tremain in 1957. He played the Wazir in the film Kismet in 1955, and Dr. Hillyer in George Pal's production of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine in 1960.

On Broadway, Cabot appeared in 1947, portraying Buckram in Love for Love. The database also lists a credit for Fool for Love among his Broadway appearances.

Television became a significant part of his career from the late 1950s onward. He played Dr. Carl Hyatt, one of three leads, on the CBS detective series Checkmate from 1960 to 1962. His appearances across other series included Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, The Red Skelton Show, and The Twilight Zone, in which he played an affable demon in the episode A Nice Place to Visit, which aired on 14 April 1960. He was also a regular panellist on the game show Stump the Stars and appeared on the NBC interview programme Here's Hollywood. In 1964 he hosted the television series Suspense, and in 1965 he played the billionaire entrepreneur Lucas Sebastian on The Beverly Hillbillies.

His casting as Giles French in Family Affair in 1966 proved to be the role most indelibly associated with him. The series ran until 1971, and Cabot continued other projects during its run, including hosting Journey to Midnight. After Family Affair ended, he hosted the supernatural anthology Ghost Story in 1972, which was later retitled Circle of Fear. In 1973 he played Kris Kringle in a television remake of Miracle on 34th Street, a role that required him to shave the beard he had worn since 1957. He also appeared in the 1974 television film The City That Forgot About Christmas.

Voice work formed a substantial portion of Cabot's output. In the 1950s he appeared in the 13-part radio drama Horizons West and was the voice of Noah in the first recording of Igor Stravinsky's The Flood in 1962. For Disney, he served as both narrator and Lord Ector in The Sword in the Stone in 1963, and voiced Bagheera in The Jungle Book in 1967. His most sustained voice contribution came through the Winnie the Pooh series, for which he narrated Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree in 1966, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day in 1968, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too in 1974, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1977. In 1967 he released an album of spoken recitations of Bob Dylan songs under the title Sebastian Cabot, Actor / Bob Dylan, Poet, and two tracks from that album appeared on the Rhino Records compilation Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing Off.

Cabot suffered a stroke at his home near Victoria, British Columbia, on 23 August 1977 and died in a Victoria hospital at the age of 59. He was cremated, and his ashes were interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.