- Johnny Weissmuller, Tarzan The Ape Man, 1931.
- John Gilbert, Queen Christina, 1933. He saved Fay Wray from King Kong and sidekicked John Wayne – and this once tested for the same role as… Laurence Olivier! Cabot was certainlythe most unlikely choice for the Swedish queen’s Spanish lover. Larry won, then Garbo changed her mind and insisted of her most famous ex- (indeed, jilted) lover.
- Neil Hamilton, What Price Hollywood? (aka Hollywood Merry-Go-Round), 1932. Constance Bennett’s waitress is discovered by drunken LA director Lowell Sherman… All future re-makes were called A Star Is Born. Cabot and Joel McCrea were in contention for her polo-playing millionaire husband.
- Clark Gable, San Francisco, 1935. The Hollywood Reporter insisted that Cabot tested for the lead, although screenwriter Anita Loos said that she wrote it with Clark Gable in mind. (Didn’t they all).
- Spencer Tracy, Riffraff, 1935. With reason, MGM had doubts about Tracy in the top role (it didn’t suit him at all) and quickly tested Cabot as a possible replacement opposite the much better cast Jean Harlow. Cabot lost out as a record number of 42 contract players were cast.
- John Wayne, Stagecoach, 1938. Stuck in The Three Mesquiteers quickies, Wayne kept nagging at John Ford: When is it my turn? “Just wait. I’ll let you know when I get the right script. » And, said Duke, he did… But hard to believe, Ford also tested the wooden Cabot for The Ringo Kid. (The first producer, David Selznick, wanted Gary Cooper and Marlen Dietrich in 1937). During Octpber-December, the classic was shot in Monument Valley which Duke always said he discovered. Ford announced the chosen 96,000-acre location by looking Wayne in the eye. “ I assure you from that moment on, Jack Ford discoveed Monument Valley!” Ford was hard on his protege from start to finish. “If he didn’t like you, he ignored you.” So, all, day, every day, it was : “Whaddyer you doing with your mouth ? You don’t act with your mouth in pictures, you act with your eyes! Doncha know how to walk? You’re as clumsy as a hippo.”
- Douglas Fowley, 20 Mule Team, 1939. Cabot was selected for Stag Roper (!), but finally Fowley journeyed to Death Valley to co-star with the debuting Anne Baxter – and Wallace Berry as Skinner Bill Bragg, aka Ambrose Murphy.
Birth year: 1904Death year: 1972Other name: Casting Calls: 7