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.[citation needed] 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.[3]
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 (1960, as Kastril),[4]Saint's Day and Twinkling of an Eye, as well as classics such as King Lear.[5]
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, The Doctors, Look Up and Live, Dark Shadows, and Ironside
Department S
Fabiani and his wife moved to the United Kingdom, where he co-starred in Department S, first screened in 1969 and 1970. The show features a fictional branch of Interpol dealing with particularly baffling cases that other agencies had failed to solve. Fabiani played the field team leader Stewart Sullivan.
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 Seretse played by Dennis Alaba Peters, 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 was syndicated worldwide, including the US. At one point in the early 1970s it was voted the most popular series in the world.[7] "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.' " [8]
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 (1980), 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[9] and played the role of King Galen of Moldavia on Dynasty,[10] 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.[11] 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 four times on Guiding Light in February 1991, August 1992, early 1994 and late May to June 1995 while Zaslow was on personal leave,[12] 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" in 2000 and a long run on All My Children (from 1999 to 2010) as Barry Shire (whom a soap magazine labelled a "bona fide scene stealer" [13]), 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!" [14] )
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. In between he had occasional parts in TV comedy series, such as The Cosby Show (1988), Strangers With Candy (2000) and Ed (2003), and also kept appearing in plays in the theater.[15]
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" [16] 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".
At the very beginning of his career, he was married to Katharine Ross. (They first met and started dating at Santa Rosa Junior College in 1957, then later resumed dating when studying at the San Francisco Actors Workshop together.) They married on February 28, 1960, and later divorced after about two and a half years of marriage, in 1962.
Fabiani then married actress Audree Rae, whom he also met while they were doing a stage play together. This proved to be a long-lasting relationship (until her death in 2009), while Ross went on to have four more husbands. While Fabiani and Ross had appeared on stage together, they never had any screen appearances together. (The closest they came was in 1985/86, when Ross appeared on the Dynasty spinoff The Colbys, while Fabiani appeared on Dynasty.[17]) He lives in Delray Beach, Florida with his current wife Charna.
Joel was also the voice-over for dozens of Sony television and radio commercials in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the New York advertising agency McCann-Erickson had the account.
Stage
Fabiani started out at the San Francisco Actor's Workshop[18] 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:
Fabiani appeared in many television shows in either starring, recurring, or guest starring roles, as well as numerous television movies and half a dozen feature films. Overview:
2008 Wanna Watch a Television Series – Ch.1: Variations on a Theme (documentary) as Himself
2008 Wanna Watch a Television Series – Ch.2: A Fish Out of Water (documentary) as Himself
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