Joel Fabiani

Background

Fabiani was born in Watsonville, California, as the youngest of three children to parents whose backgrounds were a mix of Italian, Austrian, Irish and Native American roots. The family moved a lot, so young Joel attended a total of no less than 17 different schools. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army, then went to college, where he earned a degree in English and became interested in acting. After graduation, he studied at the Actors Workshop in San Francisco for two years.

Early years in theater

At the San Francisco Actors Workshop, he learned acting, as well as stagecraft, and appeared in plays such as "The Alchemist" (Cf. The Alchemist (play) ) (in 1960, as Kastril), "Saint's Day" and "Twinkling of an Eye", as well as classics such as Shakespeare's "King Lear". After two years at the Workshop, he moved to New York, where he started out playing in summer stock and Off-Broadway productions. He appeared in "One Way Pendulum" (1961), was an understudy for Robert Shaw and Alan Bates in a Broadway production of " The Caretaker " (1961), had his Broadway debut in "The Affair" (1962), and played in "A Thousand Clowns", "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and others, plus more Shakespeare, such as "Romeo and Juliet", "Richard II", and "Henry IV, Part 1", as well as the U.S. tour of "Beyond The Fringe" (1965) – in which he faked a British accent so well that people couldn't believe he wasn't actually English – and many other plays, such as "A Doll's House" and "Hedda Gabler", in which he played opposite Claire Bloom, while he also worked on television commercials.

Television

He became the star of a series of commercials for a cigarette, in which he played what Fabiani himself described as a "watered-down James Bond character", usually wearing a tuxedo and being surrounded by beautiful girls while smoking that particular brand of cigarette. His first small roles on television shows were in "Love of Life" and The Doctors (in 1963, and later again in 1968), "Look Up and Live" (1964) and the cult classic Dark Shadows (1966). Afterwards he played Dr. Schley in the pilot episode of Ironside (1967).

Department S

Ultimately the cigarette commercials earned him a role in the British cult show Department S, which was in pre-production in England at the time:

" 'They [ITC producers Frankel and Berman] asked me if I had any film to show them,' Fabiani recalls. 'I hadn't done that much except a very splashy commercial for a cigarette, and I was dressed in a tuxedo […] and I was around these gorgeous models. So they looked that over and said, "Yeah, that's kinda what we were looking for." Fabiani was then invited to England for tests. 'They shot some footage of me jumping over boxes and being very athletic. And then I went back to New York and a week later they said, "You've got the job." So I flew back and within a couple of weeks began shooting the show."

Fabiani and his wife moved to the United Kingdom, where he co-starred in Department S. The show is considered to be a forerunner of The X-Files and was about a special branch of Interpol dealing with particularly baffling cases that other agencies had failed to solve. Fabiani played the field team leader Stewart Sullivan, a pragmatic man of action and determination and a bit of a temper to go with it. In episode 2, "The Trojan Tanker", Fabiani was once more in a tuxedo, gambling in a casino, and looking very Bond-ish; and there were several episodes in which he wore the tuxedo at least for one scene, usually whenever he was meeting the head of the Department, Sir Curtis, for a briefing during some gala, opera or exclusive party. Like most SpyFi shows of the 1960s, Department S did have elements of Bond. Episode 7 for instance, "Handicap – Dead", where Sullivan attends a golf tournament in Scotland and ends up investigating the suspicious death of one of the golfers, was inspired by Goldfinger.

Fabiani was highly esteemed and appreciated by his fellow cast members. Guest star Kate O'Mara described him as "most charming" and a "perfect American gentleman". His co-star Rosemary Nicols called him "a very sweet guy, and extremely professional. He always came prepared, and he knew exactly what he was doing." And Peter Wyngarde declared, "Joel was wonderful!"

The show ran successfully in the UK and was syndicated worldwide, including the US, where it ran for its full season-length. At one point in the early 1970s it was voted the most popular series in the world. However, the producers set their sights on other projects, such as the equally short-lived spin-off "Jason King" and the Roger Moore/Tony Curtis-show "The Persuaders!", which also only ran for one season.

"For his part, Fabiani wasn't too disappointed that no more episodes were commissioned. 'When I came back to the States from England, I […] wanted to go out and conquer Hollywood, which is what I immediately set out to do – and didn't – but I had an awful lot of fun trying.' "

Hollywood

Fabiani returned to television work, at first still very much in line with his Department S character, such as playing the FBI agent Barris in the TV movie The Longest Night (1972) opposite David Janssen. Then he went on to guest star in many other television shows, including The FBI, Banacek, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, Matt Helm, S.W.A.T., Starsky & Hutch, Columbo and Black Sheep Squadron, playing good guys and villains alike, from lawyers, prosecutors and doctors to pilots, P.I.s and gangsters.

He also appeared in numerous TV movies, including Brenda Starr (1976) with Jill St. John, thrillers like the Edgar-Allan-Poe-Award-nominated One of My Wives Is Missing (1976) with Jack Klugman and The President's Mistress (1978) with Beau Bridges and Larry Hagman, and the prison movie Attica (1980) with Morgan Freeman, which was nominated for several Emmys and won one.

In between, he still worked in the theatre, appearing in Broadway plays such as Love for Love (1974) and Luigi Pirandello's The Rules of the Game (1975, as Barelli) – a show that was also featured in the PBS Great Performances series – as well as "Ashes" (1977, as Colin), the original run of " I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road " (1978, as Joe Epstein), the courtroom drama "As to the Meaning of Words" (Cf. As To The Meaning of Words (play)) (1981, as Alexander Thomas), and more.

In addition he appeared in several feature films, including high-profile movies such as Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), the Oscar-nominated Reuben, Reuben (1983), and Tune In Tomorrow (1990). Others were the independent movie Dark Echoes (1977), which, ahead of its time, was a kind of forerunner of John Carpenter's The Fog, and mainstream movies like Snake Eyes (1998).

Prime time dramas

From the 1980s on, he had several recurring roles in prime time soaps, where he appeared as publisher Alex Ward in Dallas and played the role of King Galen of Moldavia on Dynasty, where his son's wedding, unceremoniously interrupted by terrorists shooting at the gathered crowd, provided the famous season 5 cliffhanger finale. The viewers then had to wait quite a while until it was finally revealed that most of the characters, including King Galen, had – despite initial rumors to the contrary – indeed survived the attack. Fabiani also guest starred in Hotel, and had the somewhat difficult task of assessing Jane Wyman's mental capacities as Dr. Quentin King in "Falcon Crest". Later he moved back to New York, and also played in day time dramas, where he served as temporary replacement for Michael Zaslow as Roger Thorpe on Guiding Light from late May to June 1995 while Zaslow was on personal leave, played a major part in "The City" as Jared Chase in 1996, had a recurring role in As the World Turns as Winston Lowe/"Mr. Smith" and a long run on All My Children (from 1999-2010) as Barry Shire (whom a soap magazine labelled a 'bona fide scene stealer' ), a lawyer who never seemed to run out of work trying to get either Chandler Enterprises or various members of the Chandler clan out of trouble, out of court, or out of jail... or all of the above. (Or, as the magazine put it, "Adam's crazy antics on AMC keep Barry - and Fabiani - busy!" )

He continued to guest star in other shows too, including Murder, She Wrote (in 1992 and 1994), Third Watch (2000), Law & Order (2004) and Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2004). The latter's episode meant a reunion with Claire Bloom - with whom he had worked over thirty years before in the theater - and centered around the events at a fundraiser – and Fabiani still looked great in a tuxedo. In between he had occasional parts in comedy shows, such as The Cosby Show (1988), "Strangers With Candy" (2000) and "Ed" (2005), and also kept appearing in plays in the theater.

Other projects

Apart from that, he appeared as presenter in theater documentaries, such as "Ghosts of Glory" about Eugene O"Neill and his plays, which was hosted by Joanne Woodward, and as narrator on several Barbara Walters Specials. Fabiani, who "has an uncanny ability to imitate numerous voices, moods, and inflections" also narrates audio books, including Norman McLean's "A River Runs Through It", Conrad Richter's "The Light in the Forest" and Loren D. Estleman's award-winning "Aces and Eights".

Stage

Fabiani started out at the San Francisco Actor's Workshop and afterwards worked with several theater companies over the years, including the National Touring Company, Phoenix Theater Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, and the American Shakespeare Festival, appearing in numerous plays both on and off Broadway, including: