- Born
- Died
- Birth nameHarriet Pearl Shapiro
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- Susan Cabot was born in Boston and raised in a series of eight foster homes. She attended high school in Manhattan, where she took an interest in dramatics and joined the school dramatic club. Later, while trying to decide between a career in music or art, she illustrated children's books during the day and sang at Manhattan's Village Barn at night. It was at this same time that she made her film debut as an extra in Fox's New York-made Kiss of Death (1947) and worked in New York-based television. Maxwell Arnow, a casting director for Columbia Pictures, spotted Cabot at the Village Barn, and a co-starring role in that studio's B-grade South Seas drama On the Isle of Samoa (1950) resulted. While in Hollywood Cabot was also signed for the role of an Indian maiden in Universal's Tomahawk (1951) with Van Heflin. Subsequently signed to an exclusive contract by Universal, Cabot co-starred in a long string of films opposite leading men like John Lund, Tony Curtis and Audie Murphy. Inevitably, she became fed up with the succession of western and Arabian Nights roles, asked for a release from her Universal pact and accepted an offer from Harold Robbins to star in his play "A Stone for Danny Fisher" in New York. Roger Corman lured her back to Hollywood to play the lead in the melodramatic rock-'n-'roller Carnival Rock (1957) and she stayed on to star in five more films for the enterprising young producer-director. After a highly publicized 1959 fling with Jordan's King Hussein, Cabot divided her time between TV work and roles in stage plays and musicals.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
- SpousesMichael Roman(June 17, 1968 - 1983) (divorced)Marten (Martin) Eden Sacker(July 30, 1944 - 1951) (divorced)
- ChildrenTimothy Scott Roman
- Her personal life included a well publicized relationship with King Hussein of Jordan in 1959, which ended when he found out that she was Jewish.
- In 1964 she gave birth to her son, Timothy, who suffered from dwarfism. In December, 1986, he bludgeoned her to death with a weightlifting bar while she slept in the bedroom of her Encino (CA) home. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter but cited years of mental and physical abuse by her as his defense. He received a three-year suspended sentence and was placed on probation for the crime.
- In 1957 Susan returned to films after signing an exclusive contract with producer Roger Corman. The two briefly dated as well.
- The paternity of Cabot's son Timothy Scott (b. January 27, 1964, d. January 22, 2003) is now confirmed to be that of King Hussein of Jordan. Before January 2018, the general public did not know who was actually Timothy Roman's father. Cabot herself said to friends that he was fathered by an English diplomat to whom she had been married for a short time, but she told her friends this to hide the fact that he was born out of wedlock.
Actor Christopher Jones was also regarded as a possible father, though King Hussein of Jordan was the main discussed candidate, a fact that Timothy's lawyers used to ask for his removal of Tim from the regular jail population due to his status as the king's son.
Michael Roman adopted Timothy after he married Susan Cabot in 1968. - Married at the age of 17 in order to escape her sad and transient childhood, which included eight different foster homes.
- [about Roger Corman] He gave me a lot of freedom, and also a chance to play a lot of parts that Universal would never have given me. Oddball, wacko parts, like the very disturbed girl in Sorority Girl (1957) and things like that. I had a chance to do moments and scenes that I didn't get before.
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