Bruce Cabot (April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor. He is best known as Jack Driscoll in King Kong (1933). Born Etienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad, New Mexico to French Colonel Etienne de Bujac and Julia Armandine Graves, who died shortly after giving birth to him. Cabot made his film debut in 1931 and during the course of his career appeared in almost one hundred features, including The Bad Man of Brimstone (1937) with Wallace Beery. He met John Wayne on the set of Angel and the Badman (1947) and the two hit it off and became drinking buddies and later in his career Cabot became first choice for supporting roles in John Wayne movies. The twelve later Wayne films in which they appeared together were The Best of the Badmen (1951), The Comancheros (1961), Hatari! (1962), McLintock! (1963), In Harm's Way (1965), The War Wagon (1967), The Green Berets (1968), Hellfighters (1968), The Undefeated (1969), Chisum (1970), and Big Jake (1971). Cabot's final film appearance was in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971). He was married twice, to the actresses Adrienne Ames and Francesca De Scaffa. He died in Woodland Hills, California from lung cancer and throat cancer.
Trivia
- The character of "Bruce Baxter" in the 2005 remake of King Kong was based on Cabot.
- The 2005 remake includes a dedication to the other two lead actors in the 1933 original, but not to Cabot.
