Never a Dull Moment: Susan Cabot

Terry Alexander

SHE WAS BORN AS Harriet Shapiro on July 9th, 1929 to a Russian-Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother was institutionalized for emotional problems and her father disappeared. During her early life, she lived in eight different foster homes and completed her formal education in New York City. She found work as an illustrator for children’s books and supplemented her income by working in theatre and as a singer.

She made her film debut in a bit part in 1947 in Kiss of Death filmed in New York City. She took the stage name of Susan Cabot and expanded into television and commercials. She was noticed by Maxwell Arnow, who convinced her to go to Hollywood to work for Columbia Pictures. She played Moana in her first film On the Isle of Samoa, released in 1950 and directed by William Berke. She became unhappy at Columbia and moved to Universal Studios and was cast in several B-movie westerns and other productions.

She married Martin Sacker in 1944. They divorced in 1951. Susan had a relationship with King Hussein of Jordan in 1961, supposedly he ended the relationship when he found out she was Jewish. It was rumored that Timothy Scott, born on January 27th, 1964, was the illegitimate child of the king. In 1968, she married Michael Roman and he adopted the child. Timothy suffered from Dwarfism and a pituitary gland problem. The marriage to Roman ended in divorce in early 1983 due to Susan’s increasing mental instability and paranoia.

Susan’s first western film was in 1951, Tomahawk, directed by George Sherman and starring Van Heflin, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Jack Oakie. Rock Hudson had a small part in the movie. When the U. S. Army discovered gold on Sioux land, they constructed a road and a fort. Susan played Monahseetah in the version of the build up to the Battle of Greasy Grass.

In 1952 she played Nona in The Battle of Apache Pass, also directed by George Sherman. The movie starred John Lund, Jeff Chandler, Jay Silverheels, Jack Elam and Hugh O’Brian. New Mexico had a fragile peace between the settlers and the Indians during the Civil War. The peace was threatened when a new government agent and a dishonest scout were assigned to the territory. This was the second movie that Jeff Chandler played Cochise and Jay Silverheels played Geronimo,

SUSAN CABOT AND RICHARD EGAN STAR IN1952’S THE BATTLE FOR APACHE PASS.

Don Siegel directed Susan in her first movie with Audie Murphy in 1952. She played Dusty Fargo in Duel at Silver Creek. The movie also starred Steven McNally and Faith Domergue. Lee Marvin appeared as Tinhorn Burgess. Luke Cromwell’s (Murphy) father was murdered by claim jumpers. He was deputized by the local marshal and worked to bring the killers to justice.

Her second appearance with Audie Murphy happened in 1953, in the Nathan Juran directed film, Gunsmoke. Susan played Rita Saxon, the film also starred Paul Kelly and Jack Kelly. Reb Kittridge (Murphy) a wandering gunfighter was hired to get the deed to Dan Saxon’s ranch.

Her final appearance with Audie Murphy happened in 1954. Ride Clear of Diablo was directed by Jesse Hibbs. Dan Duryea, Russell Johnson, Jack Elam, and Denver Pyle also appeared in the movie. Susan portrayed Laurie Kenyon. A corrupt sheriff and a lawyer murdered a father and son and rustled all their cattle. The last surviving son, Clay O’Mara (Murphy) returned home and asked to be a deputy to find his father and brother’s killer. After he was hired, the sheriff sent him to Diablo, to arrest a gunfighter who didn’t commit the crime in the hopes he would be a victim to the fast gun.

Her final western was Fort Massacre, filmed in 1958 and directed by Joseph M. Newman. Susan was billed as Piute girl. The movie also starred Joel McCrea, Forrest Tucker, John Russell and Denver Pyle. It was the final film of bit actor Irving Bacons. A sergeant assumed command of a cavalry detail after the Captain and Lieutenant were wounded by Apaches. He must lead the troop to water, which was controlled by the Apaches and find a way to continue their mission.

Susan also appeared in two episodes of Have Gun- Will Travel. She played Angela Demarco in the 1958 episode “The High Graders.” Paladin investigated the death of his tailor, who mysteriously died in his own gold mine. She played Becky Gray Carver in the 1959-episode “Comanche.” Paladin was hired by a mysterious woman to find a U.S. Army deserter who was the son of a general.

In 1954, she became dissatisfied with her contract and the lack of good roles and asked to be released from her contract. She returned to New York and tried to resume her stage career. Susan accepted an offer from Harold Robbins to star in his play A Stone for Danny Fisher. She was enticed back to Hollywood by Roger Corman to star in his 1957 film Carnival Rock. Her final movie appearance was as Janice Starlin in the Roger Corman film The Wasp Woman. Her final tv appearance was in 1970 as Henrietta in the episode “One, Two, Three…Cry” of the series Brackens World.

On the night of December 10th, 1986, emergency services received a call from Susan Cabot’s home at 4601 Charmion Lane in Encino, California. Her son Timothy waited for the officers on the steps and escorted them inside. Trash bags lay scattered in every room, Newspapers and magazines were stacked in tall toppling piles in the hallway, rotting food lay everywhere. Furniture was overturned and drawers hung open.

The body of Susan Cabot was found lying in her bed wearing a purple nightgown. Blood covered the floor, ceiling and walls. The killer had covered her face with bed linen, and human hair, blood and brain matter stuck to the linen. Timothy told the police that he heard a sound from his mother’s room about 9:30 and went to investigate. He said a Mexican man wearing a ninja outfit was attacking his mother and came after him. After being questioned, several inconsistencies began to appear in Timothy’s story. When he accompanied the police back to his home, he led police to the place where he hid the murder weapon. A blood-encrusted weight bar.

His legal team used his dwarfism in his defense. In 1958, an experiment began for children suffering from Growth Hormone Deficiency. Cadaver-derived pituitary was provided free of charge for children suffering with the disease. The experiment lasted for eight years and around 700 children received treatment. It was even hinted that Susan took the drug to hold off the signs of aging.

In a bizarre way, her life mimicked her final movie, in The Wasp Woman. Janice Starling used an elixir made from wasp venom. It pushed back the signs of aging, but more and more had to be used each time.

Timothy’s attorneys argued that a batch of growth hormone was contaminated with Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (Mad Cow Disease) which accounted for what occurred on that fateful night. Timothy stated that he was attacked by his mother around 9:30 pm. Susan was screaming her mother’s name and went after Timothy with a scalpel and the weight-lifting bar. He took the bar away from her and struck her in the head and kept hitting her until she was dead. They attorneys stated that Timothy kept hitting his mother with the bar due to years of physical abuse and he feared being punished by her.

His charge was originally first-degree murder, which was changed to voluntary manslaughter, then involuntary manslaughter. Despite testimony that Susan was attacked in her bed while sleeping. The trial ended after two and a half years, in the end Timothy was sentenced to three years-probation on November 28th, 1989. Susan Cabot is buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Timothy Scott Roman died on January 22nd, 2003 he was 38.

—Terry Alexander is a western, science fiction and horror writer with a vast number of publishing credits to his name. He’s also a connoisseur of all things related to the Hollywood Western. He and his wife, Phyllis, live on a small farm near Porum, Oklahoma.