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Joel Fabiani | |
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| Born | (1936-09-28)September 28, 1936 (age 89) Watsonville, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Spouses | |
Joel Fabiani (born September 28, 1936) is an American film, television and theater actor. Known for his leading role in the British TV seriesDepartment S, Fabiani has guest starred inThe FBI,Barnaby Jones,The Streets of San Francisco,Banacek,Cannon,The Rockford Files andStarsky and Hutch.
His film appearances includeLooking for Mr. Goodbar (1977);Reuben, Reuben (1983) andTune In Tomorrow (1990), and he has also had recurring roles in soap operas such asDallas,Dynasty,As the World Turns, andAll My Children.
Fabiani was born inWatsonville, California, as the youngest of three children to parents whose backgrounds were a mix of Italian, Austrian, Irish and Native American roots.[citation needed] The family moved a lot, so young Joel attended a total of no less than 17 different schools. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army, then went to college, where he earned a degree in English and became interested in acting. After graduation, he studied atthe Actors Workshop inSan Francisco for two years.[3]
At the San Francisco Actors Workshop, he learned acting, as well asstagecraft, and appeared in plays such asThe Alchemist (1960, as Kastril),[4]Saint's Day andTwinkling of an Eye, as well as classics such asKing Lear.[5]
After two years at the Workshop, he moved to New York, where he started out playing insummer stock andOff-Broadway productions. He appeared inOne Way Pendulum (1961), was anunderstudy forRobert Shaw andAlan Bates in aBroadway production ofThe Caretaker (1961),[6] had his Broadway debut in "The Affair" (1962), and played inA Thousand Clowns,A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and others, plus more Shakespeare, such asRomeo and Juliet,Richard II, andHenry IV, Part 1, as well as the U.S. tour ofBeyond The Fringe (1965).[citation needed]
He became the star of a series of commercials for a cigarette, in which he played what Fabiani himself described as a "watered-down James Bond character", usually wearing a tuxedo and being surrounded by beautiful girls while smoking that particular brand of cigarette. His first small roles on television shows were inLove of Life,The Doctors,Look Up and Live,Dark Shadows, andIronside
Fabiani and his wife moved to theUnited Kingdom, where he co-starred inDepartment S, first screened in 1969 and 1970. The show features a fictional branch ofInterpol dealing with particularly baffling cases that other agencies had failed to solve. Fabiani played the field team leader Stewart Sullivan.
In episode 2, "The Trojan Tanker", Fabiani was once more in a tuxedo, gambling in a casino, and looking very Bond-ish; and there were several episodes in which he wore the tuxedo at least for one scene, usually whenever he was meeting the head of the department Sir Curtis Seretse, played byDennis Alaba Peters, for a briefing during some gala, opera or exclusive party. Like most SpyFi shows of the 1960s,Department S did have elements of Bond. Episode 7 for instance, "Handicap – Dead", where Sullivan attends agolf tournament inScotland and ends up investigating the suspicious death of one of the golfers, was inspired byGoldfinger.
Fabiani was highly esteemed and appreciated by his fellow cast members. Guest starKate O'Mara described him as "most charming" and a "perfect American gentleman". His co-starRosemary Nicols called him "a very sweet guy, and extremely professional. He always came prepared, and he knew exactly what he was doing." AndPeter Wyngarde declared, "Joel was wonderful!"
The show was syndicated worldwide, including the US. At one point in the early 1970s it was voted the most popular series in the world.[7] "For his part, Fabiani wasn't too disappointed that no more episodes were commissioned. 'When I came back to the States from England, I […] wanted to go out and conquer Hollywood, which is what I immediately set out to do – and didn't – but I had an awful lot of fun trying.' "[8]
Fabiani returned to television work, at first still very much in line with hisDepartment S character, such as playing the FBI agent Barris in the TV movieThe Longest Night (1972) oppositeDavid Janssen. Then he went on to guest star in many other television shows, includingThe FBI,Banacek,Barnaby Jones,Cannon,The Streets of San Francisco,The Rockford Files,Matt Helm,S.W.A.T.,Starsky & Hutch,Columbo andBlack Sheep Squadron, playing good guys and villains alike, from lawyers, prosecutors and doctors to pilots, P.I.s and gangsters.
He also appeared in numerous TV movies, includingBrenda Starr (1976) withJill St. John, thrillers like theEdgar Allan Poe Award–nominatedOne of My Wives Is Missing (1976) withJack Klugman andThe President's Mistress (1978) withBeau Bridges andLarry Hagman, and the prison movieAttica (1980) withMorgan Freeman, which was nominated for several Emmys and won one.
In between, he still worked in the theatre, appearing in Broadway plays such asLove for Love (1974) andLuigi Pirandello'sThe Rules of the Game (1975, as Barelli) – a show that was also featured in the PBSGreat Performances series – as well as "Ashes" (1977, as Colin), the original run of the musicalI'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road (1978, as Joe Epstein), the courtroom dramaAs To The Meaning of Words (1981, as Alexander Thomas), and more.
In addition he appeared in several feature films, including high-profile movies such asLooking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), the Oscar-nominatedReuben, Reuben (1983), andTune In Tomorrow (1990). Others were the independent movieDark Echoes (1977), which, ahead of its time, was a kind of forerunner of John Carpenter'sThe Fog (1980), and mainstream movies likeSnake Eyes (1998).
From the 1980s on, he had several recurring roles in prime time soaps, where he appeared as publisher Alex Ward inDallas[9] and played the role ofKing Galen of Moldavia onDynasty,[10] where his son's wedding, unceremoniously interrupted by terrorists shooting at the gathered crowd, provided the famous season 5 cliffhanger finale. The viewers then had to wait quite a while until it was finally revealed that most of the characters, including King Galen, had – despite initial rumors to the contrary – indeed survived the attack. Fabiani also guest starred inHotel, and had the somewhat difficult task of assessing Jane Wyman's mental capacities as Dr. Quentin King inFalcon Crest.[11] Later he moved back to New York, and also played in day time dramas, where he served as temporary replacement forMichael Zaslow as Roger Thorpe four times onGuiding Light in February 1991, August 1992, early 1994 and late May to June 1995 while Zaslow was on personal leave,[12] played a major part inThe City as Jared Chase in 1996, had a recurring role inAs the World Turns as Winston Lowe/"Mr. Smith" in 2000 and a long run onAll My Children (from 1999 to 2010) as Barry Shire (whom a soap magazine labelled a "bona fide scene stealer"[13]), a lawyer who never seemed to run out of work trying to get either Chandler Enterprises or various members of the Chandler clan out of trouble, out of court, or out of jail... or all of the above. (Or, as the magazine put it, "Adam's crazy antics on AMC keep Barry - and Fabiani - busy!"[14] )
He continued to guest star in other shows too, includingMurder, She Wrote (in 1992 and 1994),Third Watch (2000),Law & Order (2004) andLaw and Order: Criminal Intent (2004). The latter's episode meant a reunion withClaire Bloom - with whom he had worked over thirty years before in the theater - and centered around the events at a fundraiser. In between he had occasional parts in TV comedy series, such asThe Cosby Show (1988),Strangers With Candy (2000) andEd (2003), and also kept appearing in plays in the theater.[15]
Apart from that, he appeared as presenter in theater documentaries, such as "Ghosts of Glory" about Eugene O"Neill and his plays, which was hosted by Joanne Woodward, and as narrator on several Barbara Walters Specials. Fabiani, who "has an uncanny ability to imitate numerous voices, moods, and inflections"[16] also narrates audio books, including Norman McLean's "A River Runs Through It", Conrad Richter's "The Light in the Forest" and Loren D. Estleman's award-winning "Aces and Eights".
In 2008, whenThe Smiths released their album "Singles Box" (Cf.The Smiths Singles Box),Morrissey personally chose a PR picture of Joel Fabiani (from 1970, forDepartment S) as the cover for the album.
At the very beginning of his career, he was married toKatharine Ross. (They first met and started dating at Santa Rosa Junior College in 1957, then later resumed dating when studying at the San Francisco Actors Workshop together.) They married on February 28, 1960, and later divorced after about two and a half years of marriage, in 1962.
Fabiani then married actress Audree Rae, whom he also met while they were doing a stage play together. This proved to be a long-lasting relationship (until her death in 2009), while Ross went on to have four more husbands. While Fabiani and Ross had appeared on stage together, they never had any screen appearances together. (The closest they came was in 1985/86, when Ross appeared on theDynasty spinoffThe Colbys, while Fabiani appeared onDynasty.[17])He lives inDelray Beach, Florida with his current wife Charna.
Joel was also the voice-over for dozens of Sony television and radio commercials in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the New York advertising agency McCann-Erickson had the account.
Fabiani started out at the San FranciscoActor's Workshop[18] and afterwards worked with several theater companies over the years, including the National Touring Company, Phoenix Theater Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, and the American Shakespeare Festival, appearing in numerous plays both on and off Broadway, including:
Fabiani appeared in many television shows in either starring, recurring, or guest starring roles, as well as numerous television movies and half a dozen feature films. Overview:
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