Sabu Dastagir
| Sabu | |
|---|---|
in the trailer for Cobra Woman (1944)
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| Born |
Sabu Dastagir 27 January 1924 Karapur, Mysore, Kingdom of Mysore, British India |
| Died | 2 December 1963 (aged 39) 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 gained 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.
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.
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 said 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 where he plays a feral child whose animals are in danger by human villagers. He starred alongside Maria Montez and Jon Hall in three films for Universal Pictures: Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943) and Cobra Woman (1944).
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