Sabu Dastagir

Sabu
in the trailer for Cobra Woman (1944)
Born	Sabu Dastagir (1924-01-27)27 January 1924 Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, British India
Died	Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Other names	Selar Shaik Sabu
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1937–1963
Spouse(s)	Marilyn Cooper (1948–1963) (his death) 2 children
Children	Paul Sabu, Jasmine Sabu

Sabu Dastagir (27 January 1924 – 2 December 1963) was an Indian film actor who later obtained American citizenship. He was normally credited only by his first name, Sabu, and is primarily known for his work in film during the 1930s–1940s in Britain and America.

Early life

Born in 1924 in Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, then a Princely State of British India, and raised as a Muslim, Sabu was the son of an Indian mahout (elephant rider). While most reference books have his full name as "Sabu Dastagir," research by journalist Philip Leibfried suggests that was his brother's name, and that Sabu was in fact Selar Shaik Sabu or Sabu Francis. His brother managed his career. His brother was killed in a robbery of his furniture store, a failing business jointly owned by the two men.

Career

When he was 13, Sabu was discovered by documentary film-maker Robert Flaherty who cast him in the role of an elephant driver in the 1937 British film Elephant Boy, based on "Toomai of the Elephants", a story by Rudyard Kipling. In 1938 producer Alexander Korda commissioned A. E. W. Mason to script The Drum as a starring vehicle for the young actor. Sabu is perhaps best known for his role as Abu in the 1940 British film The Thief of Bagdad. Director Michael Powell has stated that he had a "wonderful grace" about him. In 1942 he once again played a role based on a Kipling story, namely Mowgli in Jungle Book directed by Zoltán Korda. He starred alongside Maria Montez and Jon Hall in three films for Universal Pictures: Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943) and Cobra Woman (1944).

After becoming an American citizen in 1944, Sabu joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a tail gunner and ball turret gunner on B-24 Liberators. He flew several dozen missions with the 370th Bomb Squadron of the 307th Bomb Group in the Pacific, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor and bravery.

His career declined after World War II as he was unable to secure equivalent roles in Hollywood that British films had offered. He occasionally did get significant parts, such as his supporting role in the classic British film Black Narcissus (1947). Through most of the 1950s he starred in largely unsuccessful European films. In 1952, he starred in the Harringay Circus with an elephant act.

His last completed film, A Tiger Walks, was released in March 1964, three months after his death.

Personal life

On 19 October 1948, Sabu married little-known actress Marilyn Cooper, (whose only movie part, as Princess Tara in Song of India in 1949, was not credited), with whom he had two children. Their marriage lasted until his death.

Their son Paul Sabu established the rock band Sabu in the 1980s, and their daughter Jasmine Sabu was an animal trainer on various films; she died in 2001.

Sabu was the subject of a noted paternity suit that resulted in a published opinion by the California Court of Appeal, Dastagir v. Dastagir, 241 P.2d 656 (Cal. App. 1952). Sabu was sued by an infant girl born in 1948, through her mother, an unnamed, unmarried English actress, who claimed to have had an affair with Sabu, and that he was the infant's father. The suit was tried by a jury, which returned a nine to three verdict in favor of Sabu.

Death

On 2 December 1963, Sabu suddenly died in Chatsworth, California, of a heart attack at the age of 39. He is interred at the Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery. His wife said in a television interview that two days before his death, during a routine medical check, his doctor told him: "If all my patients were as healthy as you, I would be out of a job."

In popular culture

• "Sabu the Elephant Boy" was featured in story and song, "Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone", by folk singer John Prine, and also in the teen novel The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror, by Daniel M. Pinkwater.
• ECW wrestler Sabu was given his ring name at an early age by his uncle Ed Farhat, who was a big fan of The Jungle Book and Dastagir.
• Mel Brooks' The Producers features a character called Sabu, based on the real Sabu, as one of Roger De Bris' entourage.
• In The Odd Couple Season 5 Episode 3, Felix Unger says to Oscar Madison (referring to his son's frog, as Oscar lost it in their apartment, Oscar quips "It's just a frog") "That's like saying Sabu is just an actor".

In the film Caddyshack Rodney Dangerfield asks bartender Scott Colomby "Hey, Sabu do you know how to make a bull shot?".

Filmography

Sabu in Hello Elephant (1952)

Year	Title	Role
1937	Elephant Boy	Toomai
1938	The Drum	Prince Azim
1940	The Thief of Bagdad	Abu
1942	Jungle Book	Mowgli
	Arabian Nights	Ali Ben Ali
1943	White Savage	Orano
1944	Cobra Woman	Kado
1946	Tangier	Pepe
1947	Black Narcissus	The Young General
	The End of the River	Manoel
1948	Man-Eater of Kumaon	Narain
1949	Song of India	Ramdar
1951	Savage Drums	Tipo Tairu
1952	Bagdad
	Hello Elephant	Sultan of Nagore
1954	The Treasure of Bengal	Ainur
1956	The Black Panther	Sabu the Jungle Boy
	Jungle Hell	Sabu the Jungle Boy
	Jaguar	Juano
1957	Sabu and the Magic Ring	Sabu, the stable boy
1960	Mistress of the World	Dr. Lin-Chor
1963	Rampage	Talib
1964	A Tiger Walks	Ram Singh

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Leibfried, Philip. Star of India: The Life and Films of Sabu. Oklahoma; BearManor Media, 2010.

External links

• Sabu at the Internet Movie Database
• Powell and Pressburger Pages article
• Criterion Collection Essay