kennedys

Imagine that you are born in 1924, in the tiny town of Mysore, India, where your father is an elephant driver for the Maharajah… then your father dies when you are just 9, and a location crew discovers you at 12, and they take you to England to star in 1937′s “Elephant Boy,” and by the early 1940s, you are one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood! That’s how it was for Sabu!

He was placed under contract by filmmaker Alexander Korda, with whom he made numerous pictures. He was nearly 20 by the time he became a US citizen, and he enlisted in the Army Air Force in 1944, becoming a tail gunner. He earned a Distinguished Service Cross and other medals.

Sabu married his co-star from “Song of India,” actress Marilyn Cooper, and had two children, Paul and Jasmine. Below is a comic book that is now quite valuable.

His real name was Selar Shaik Sabu. He starred in the memorable “Thief of Baghdad” with its dazzling special effects, and “Jungle Boy.”

Sabu dropped dead of a heart attack at age 39 at his home in Chatsworth, Calif. on December 2, 1963, 11 days after President Kennedy was killed.  Sabu’s widow said he underwent a complete physical just a few days before he died. His doctor said, “If all my patients were as healthy as you, I’d be out of business.”

His son, Paul Sabu, became a successful songwriter. His daughter, Jasmine, became a noted horse trainer. She died at age 44 in 2001.

Sabu is resting at Forest Lawn.

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