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IMDbPro

Bruce Cabot(1904-1972)

  • Actor
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Bruce Cabot in "My Son Is Guilty" 1939 Columbia Pictures
Public Domain
Play trailer2:13
Fancy Pants (1950)
7 Videos
99+ Photos
Hollywood stalwart Bruce Cabot's main claim to fame, other than rescuing Fay Wray from King Kong (1933), is that he tested for the lead role of The Ringo Kid in John Ford's Western masterpiece Stagecoach (1939). John Wayne got the role and became the most durable star in Hollywood history, while Cabot (eventually) found himself a new drinking partner when the two co-starred in Angel and the Badman (1947). In the latter stages of his career, Cabot could rely on Wayne for a supporting part in one of the Duke's movies.

It wasn't always so. In the 1930s Cabot's star shone bright. He was born with the unlikely name Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad, New Mexico, the son of French Col. Etienne de Bujac and Julia Armandine Graves, who died shortly after giving birth to the future Bruce Cabot. After leaving the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, the future thespian hit the road, working a wide variety of jobs including sailor and insurance salesman, and doing a stint in a knacker's yard. In 1931 he wound up in Hollywood and appeared in several films in bit parts.

The young Monsieur de Bujac met David O. Selznick, then RKO's central producer (a job akin to Irving Thalberg's at MGM), at a Hollywood party, which led to an uncredited bit part as a dancer in Lady with a Past (1932) and a supporting role in The Roadhouse Murder (1932). On a parallel career track at the time, Marion Morrison (John Wayne) had failed to follow up on his audacious debut in Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail (1930) (the Duke had appeared in 18 movies previously but had only been billed in one, as "Duke Morrison" in the unlikely John Wayne vehicle Words and Music (1929)). Cabot and Wayne eventually appeared in 11 films together.

Although Cabot was prominently featured in the blockbuster "King Kong" in 1933, he never did make the step to stardom, though he enjoyed a thriving career as a supporting player. He was a heavy in the 1930s, playing a gangster boss in Let 'em Have It (1935) and the revenge-minded Native American brave Magua after Randolph Scott's scalp in The Last of the Mohicans (1936); over at MGM, he ably supported Spencer Tracy as the instigator of a lynch mob in Fritz Lang's indictment of domestic fascism, Fury (1936). A freelancer, he appeared in movies at many studios before leaving Hollywood for military service. Cabot worked for Army intelligence overseas during World War II; after the war, he continued to work steadily, with and without his friend and frequent co-star, the Duke.

Bruce Cabot died in 1972 of lung and throat cancer. He was 68 years old.
BornApril 20, 1904
DiedMay 3, 1972(68)
BornApril 20, 1904
DiedMay 3, 1972(68)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos226

Charles Bickford and Bruce Cabot in Fallen Angel (1945)
Dana Andrews, Charles Bickford, Dorothy Adams, and Bruce Cabot in Fallen Angel (1945)
Bruce Cabot, Jack Ingram, and Joe Kirk in Lost in Alaska (1952)
Bruce Cabot, Jack Ingram, and Joe Kirk in Lost in Alaska (1952)
Bruce Cabot and Mitzi Green in Lost in Alaska (1952)
Bruce Cabot and Mitzi Green in Lost in Alaska (1952)
Bruce Cabot, Mike Lally, and Emory Parnell in Lost in Alaska (1952)
Bruce Cabot, Tom Ewell, and Mitzi Green in Lost in Alaska (1952)
Laurence Harvey, Robert Quarry, Bruce Cabot, and Pat Hingle in WUSA (1970)
Bruce Cabot in The War Wagon (1967)
Bruce Cabot, Don Collier, and Hal Needham in The War Wagon (1967)
Bruce Cabot in The War Wagon (1967)

Known for:

King Kong (1933)
King Kong
7.9
  • Jack Driscoll
  • 1933
Big Jake (1971)
Big Jake
7.1
  • Sam Sharpnose
  • 1971
Giorgia Moll in The Quiet American (1958)
The Quiet American
6.6
  • Bill Granger
  • 1958
Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Stefanie Powers, and Patrick Wayne in McLintock! (1963)
McLintock!
7.1
  • Ben Sage
  • 1963

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Sean Connery, Jill St. John, and Lana Wood in Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
    Diamonds Are Forever
    • Albert R. Saxby
    • 1971
  • Big Jake (1971)
    Big Jake
    • Sam Sharpnose
    • 1971
  • Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in WUSA (1970)
    WUSA
    • King Wolyoe
    • 1970
  • John Wayne in Chisum (1970)
    Chisum
    • Sheriff Brady
    • 1970
  • John Wayne, Rock Hudson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Antonio Aguilar, Bruce Cabot, Roman Gabriel, Big John Hamilton, Ben Johnson, Lee Meriwether, Melissa Newman, and Merlin Olsen in The Undefeated (1969)
    The Undefeated
    • Confederate Sgt. Jeff Newby
    • 1969
  • John Wayne, Jim Hutton, Katharine Ross, Bruce Cabot, Jay C. Flippen, and Vera Miles in Hellfighters (1968)
    Hellfighters
    • Joe Horn
    • 1968
  • John Wayne and David Janssen in The Green Berets (1968)
    The Green Berets
    • Col. Morgan
    • 1968
  • Kirk Douglas and John Wayne in The War Wagon (1967)
    The War Wagon
    • Frank Pierce
    • 1967
  • Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Angie Dickinson, James Fox, and E.G. Marshall in The Chase (1966)
    The Chase
    • Sol
    • 1966
  • Choque de Sentimentos
    • 1965
  • Dana Andrews and Terry Moore in Town Tamer (1965)
    Town Tamer
    • Riley Condor
    • 1965
  • Lon Chaney Jr., Linda Darnell, Rory Calhoun, Richard Arlen, and Terry Moore in Black Spurs (1965)
    Black Spurs
    • Bill Henderson
    • 1965
  • Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan, Nat 'King' Cole, Dwayne Hickman, Stubby Kaye, and Tom Nardini in Cat Ballou (1965)
    Cat Ballou
    • Sheriff Maledon
    • 1965
  • In Harm's Way (1965)
    In Harm's Way
    • Quartermaster Quoddy
    • 1965
  • Fess Parker in Daniel Boone (1964)
    Daniel Boone
    • Simon Bullard
    • TV Series
    • 1965

Soundtrack

  • Warner Baxter in Robin Hood of El Dorado (1936)
    Robin Hood of El Dorado
    • performer: "Oh Susanna" (1846) (uncredited)
    • 1936

Videos7

Trailer
Trailer 0:32
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:18
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:15
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:25
Trailer
Fury (1936)
Trailer 2:12
Fury (1936)
Fallen Angel (1945)
Trailer 2:26
Fallen Angel (1945)
Fancy Pants
Trailer 2:13
Fancy Pants

Personal details

Edit
  • Height
    • 6′ 1½″ (1.87 m)
  • Born
    • April 20, 1904
    • Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA
  • Died
    • May 3, 1972
    • Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(lung and throat cancer)
  • Spouses
      Francesca De ScaffaSeptember 17, 1950 - February 1, 1957 (divorced, 1 child)
  • Parents
      Etienne de Bujac
  • Publicity listings
    • 4 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Was part of a group of actors that John Wayne regularly used in his films, and was variously known as both "The John Wayne Stock Company," and "The John Ford Stock Company".
  • Quotes
    [in 1970, about Errol Flynn] He was a better actor than his publicity gave him credit for. I shared his house, his fights, his liquor and his girls. He was a real man with terrific looks. What happened to him, of course, was that he took to the dope--in fact, he was registered over here in England as an addict--and that destroyed him. God, if he were alive today do you realize that he would be 61--and probably still be a star.

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