Early life

Born Harriet Shapiro to a Russian Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts, Cabot's early life was one of turmoil, and she was raised in eight different foster homes. She completed her education in New York, New York, and found employment as an illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

. She supplemented her income by working as a singer, and also worked in theater.

Career

She made her film debut in 1947, by chance when Kiss of Death

Kiss of Death (1947 film)

Kiss of Death is a 1947 film noir movie directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer from a story by Eleazar Lipsky. The story revolves around the film's protagonist, a former robber, and the antagonist, the ruthless, violent Tommy Udo...

was filmed in New York, and she played a bit part. She expanded her acting work into television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and was seen by a Hollywood talent scout who took her to Hollywood to work for Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

. This brief period was not successful, and she moved to Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 where she was signed to an exclusive contract. After a series of roles which Cabot played mainly in "B

B-movie

A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

" western films, she grew frustrated and asked to be released from her contract. She moved back to New York, where she resumed her stage career with a role in A Stone for Danny Fisher

A Stone for Danny Fisher

A Stone For Danny Fisher is a very serious, early novel by Harold Robbins that looks at the effect of the Great Depression on a lower-middle class Jewish family. Written in 1952 it is actually set in the period up to 1944.-Plot summary:...

. She was invited to return to Hollywood and appeared in a few more films, including The Wasp Woman

The Wasp Woman

The Wasp Woman is a science fiction film produced and directed by Roger Corman which was completed in 1959...

in 1960, her final film role.

Personal life

Cabot first married in 1944 to Martin Sacker. They divorced in 1951. In 1959, she began a relationship with King Hussein of Jordan. The couple was engaged, but broke up after King Hussein discovered that Cabot was Jewish.

In 1968, she married second husband Michael Roman with whom she had one son, Timothy Scott Roman, before divorcing in 1983. Another contemporary actor, Christopher Jones

Christopher Jones (actor)

William "Billy" Frank Jones, better known as Christopher Jones, is an American character actor, born August 18, 1941 in Jackson, Tennessee....

, also claims paternity of her son.

Death

On December 10, 1986, Cabot's son, Timothy Scott Roman, who suffered from dwarfism

Dwarfism

Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches  , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....

 and psychological problems, bludgeoned her to death in her home in Encino, California with a weight lifting bar. He was subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter and received a three-year suspended sentence.

In popular culture

Director Stephan Elliott

Stephan Elliott

Stephan Elliott is an Australian film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Elliott began his career as an assistant director working in the boom of the Australian film industry of the 1980s....

 is in development to make a biopic about Cabot entitled Black Oasis with actress Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan

Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...

 portraying her.

Filmography

List of film and television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	Kiss of Death	Restaurant extra	Uncredited
1950	On the Isle of Samoa	Moana
1951		Nina Lombardo	Uncredited Alternative title: Murder, Inc.
1951	Tomahawk Tomahawk (film) Tomahawk is a 1951 western film directed by George Sherman and starring Van Heflin and Yvonne De Carlo. The film is loosely based on events that took place in Montana in 1876 at The Battle of Powder River. The film was released as The Battle of Powder River in the UK.-Plot synopsis:In 1866 gold is...	Monahseetah	Alternative title: Battle of Powder River
1951		Girl	Uncredited
1951	Flame of Araby	Clio	Alternative title: Flame of the Desert
1952		Nona
1952		Jane "Dusty" Fargo	Alternative title: Claim Jumpers
1952	Son of Ali Baba	Tala
1953	Gunsmoke	Rita Saxon	Alternative titles: A Man's Country Roughshod
1954	Ride Clear of Diablo Ride Clear of Diablo Ride Clear of Diablo is a 1954 Technicolor Western. It is the first collaboration between Audie Murphy and Jesse Hibbs, and the last film Susan Cabot made for Universal Pictures.-Plot:...	Laurie Kenyon	Alternative title: The Breckenridge Story
1957	Carnival Rock	Natalie Cook
1957	Sorority Girl Sorority Girl Sorority Girl is a 1957 exploitation film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Susan Cabot as Sabra, a sociopath who plays a very disruptive role in a sorority, with Barboura Morris as Rita, and Dick Miller and June Kenney.The film was remade in 1994 as Confessions of a Sorority Girl.-External...	Sabra Tanner	Alternate titles: The Bad One Sorority House
1957		Enger	Alternative titles: The Saga of the Viking Undersea Monster Viking Women The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
1958	War of the Satellites	Sybil Carrington
1958	Machine-Gun Kelly	Florence "Flo" Becker
1958	Fort Massacre	Piute Girl
1958	Houseboat Houseboat (film) Houseboat is a 1958 romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer, Paul Petersen, Charles Herbert and Mimi Gibson. The movie was directed by Melville Shavelson, who also directed the original 1968 version of Yours, Mine and Ours....	Mrs. Eleanor Wilson	Uncredited
1958–1959	Have Gun - Will Travel	Angela Becky Carver	2 episodes
1959	Surrender – Hell!	Delia Guerrero	Alternative titles: Blackburn's Guerrillas Blackburn's Headhunters
1959		Janice Starlin	Alternative titles: The Bee Girl Insect Woman
1970	Bracken's World Bracken's World Bracken's World is an American drama series broadcast on NBC from September 19, 1969 to December 25, 1970. The series was created and produced by Dorothy Kingsley.-Synopsis:...	Henrietta	Episode: "One, Two, Three... Cry"

External links