Sabu Dastagir

 Sabu Dastagir (January 27, 1924 – December 2, 1963)

Throughout his career he was credited under the name Sabu and is primarily known for his work in films during the 1930s–1940s in Britain and the United States. Sabu is perhaps best known for his role as Abu in the 1940 fantasy adventure film The Thief of Bagdad. Director Michael Powell said that Sabu had a "wonderful grace" about him. In 1942, Sabu played another role based on a Kipling story, namely Mowgli in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book directed by Zoltan Korda. He also starred alongside Maria Montez and Jon Hall in three films for Universal Pictures: Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943) and Cobra Woman (1944). After becoming an American citizen in 1944, Sabu joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as a tail gunner and ball-turret gunner on B-24 Liberators. He flew several dozen missions with the 370th Bombardment Squadron of the 307th Bomb Group in the Pacific, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor and bravery. His career declined after World War II as he was unable to secure equivalent roles in Hollywood that British films had offered. He occasionally did gain significant parts, such as his supporting role in the British film Black Narcissus (1947). Through most of the 1950s he starred in largely unsuccessful European films. In 1952, he starred in the Harringay Circus with an elephant act.

In 1963, he made a comeback to Hollywood with a supporting role in Rampage opposite Robert Mitchum. He played another supporting role alongside Brian Keith in the Disney film A Tiger Walks. This would turn out to be his final role as he died three months before the film was released. On December 2, 1963, Sabu died suddenly in Chatsworth, California, of a heart attack, a month before his 40th birthday. Ironically, he had just been given a physical, and was deemed to be in excellent health. Sabu is buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.