MovieChat Forums > Family Affair (1966) Discussion > How many Mr French are there?

How many Mr French are there?


..What ever happened to Sebastian Cabot? I startet DVD 4 of Season 1 and he was not there! Somebody else was and I just could not enjoy it as much. I was wondering if Sebastian Cabot just took a break and is in later episodes or if we have this other new actor all the way through the end. If this were the case, why did he quit? I thought the chemestry was great among them.

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Sebastion Cabot became Ill for a short time and had to take a leave of absence from the show. He was gone for 8 episodes and returned for the last four episodes from the 1st season and never left again until the series ended in 1971. John williams("Dial M for Murder")did a fine job as his replacement during cabot's absence.

It was a situation that Cabot had no control over.

"If GOD is for us, who can be against us? JESUS is my rock and my fortress"

Jay

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Thanks for that. I also have watched a couple of more episodes and thought that John Williams did a good job. He was a great actor but I got used to Sebastian Cabot as Mr. French and find him very humorous.

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I agree-Sebastion Cabot was a great actor-he was truly a "Gentleman's Gentleman" in every sense of the word. John Williams was also believable in the role since he was also brittish.

While Williams was good at plying the role, no one could ever outdo Cabot-the role as a valet or Gentleman's gentleman fitted him perfectly.

"If GOD is for us, who can be against us? JESUS is my rock and my fortress"

Jay

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Sebastian Cabot was one of those rare supporting cast members who could really make it appear as tho he were always the main character.I love this show and it makes me wish I was able to go back in time to a very enjoyable and comfortable place in history...

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yeah same here, back in the days where manners and family virutes used to matter more than emo songs and apple products. : )

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You are right about Cabot. He was terrific.



Let God be God in your life

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Sebastian Cabot died sometime back in the 1970's or 1980's. I don't remember how he died, though.

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Sebastian Cabot died of a stroke in Victoria, BC Canada on 22 August, 1977...6 days short of the first anniversary of Anissa "Buffy" Jones' death.

"Gimme a bottle of anything and a glazed donut. To go!"

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John williams("Dial M for Murder")did a fine job as his replacement during cabot's absence.


I just stumbled upon one of these Cabot-less reruns and now that I've seen what they did I must disagree with the quoted statement here.

They had the replacement playing Mr. French as the same character that Cabot played, but the replacement actor looks nothing like Cabot! The replacement actor looks and acts almost exactly like John Cleese.

They should have either had an in-show reason for French being gone, or replaced his character with another character.

Come to think of it, they also had an episode with Cabot in it where French leaves his job as nanny to pursue something else in life. But first he hires another nanny who looks like him, only this guy is a strict disciplinarian who doesn't believe in any fun for children at all. French realizes by the end of the episode that leaving the kids to be raised like that is wrong and comes and takes his job back.

They could have hired that guy to replace Cabot if they really insisted on going that route. That guy looked a million times more similar to Cabot than the John Cleese looking actor does.

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I remember this show from years ago during it’s first run – became a great fan of Sebastian Cabot thanks to it. I too remember the episodes where he was missing and agree that they simply were not the same. (Nobody has ever been able to tell the story of Winnie the Pooh quite like Cabot could either.)

I just noticed though - and vaguely recalled it actually many years ago. I hope my memory stands the test on this one. But…the character portrayed by John Williams wasn’t Mr. Giles French at all – wasn’t meant to be. If you’ll examine the credits closely, Williams’ character is given as ‘Nigel French.’ Nigel was ‘Mr. French’ alright – but he was actually Mr. Giles French’s brother, if I recall right.

There may even have been an episode that addressed the change with a dialogue between Bill Davis and the youngsters that ran something like this –
Well, what do we call him?
Oh…Well, you call him ‘Mr. French’ –
But that isn’t Mr. French!
Well, you see…yes, it is. That’s Mr. French’s brother, Nigel. -
But he isn’t our Mr. French!

Anybody else remember this bit? I swear I'm not imagining it!

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Ah, that could very well be the case then and if so I stand corrected. I didn't see the transitional episode, I just stumbled upon a rerun at mid-episode.

I thought he was playing the same character as Cabot because Uncle Bill still hollers "French!" at him whenever he needs something. Then I suddenly saw a French there who was definitely not Cabot. I apologize for jumping to that conclusion incorrectly of them being the same French.

I do give the John Cleese looking actor credit for emulating Cabot's voice style very well. He sounded very simlilar to Cabot in terms of articulation and intonation. Like when Uncle Bill asks him how the kids are doing and he replies "Swimmingly, sir." in exactly the same way as how Cabot's French would reply.

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eh...no harm done, nor apology needed so far as I'm concerned. It's an easy mistake to make. I'm just surprised that I remembered that after thirty-odd years! The irony is (if memory serves correctly) the Davis children reacted to the French swap at first in much the same way as we are now in discussing it. But that's not our Mr. French!

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no one can ever replace sebastian cabot as mr. french. honest to god.

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I remember this show from years ago during it’s first run – became a great fan of Sebastian Cabot thanks to it. I too remember the episodes where he was missing and agree that they simply were not the same. (Nobody has ever been able to tell the story of Winnie the Pooh quite like Cabot could either.)

I just noticed though - and vaguely recalled it actually many years ago. I hope my memory stands the test on this one. But…the character portrayed by John Williams wasn’t Mr. Giles French at all – wasn’t meant to be. If you’ll examine the credits closely, Williams’ character is given as ‘Nigel French.’ Nigel was ‘Mr. French’ alright – but he was actually Mr. Giles French’s brother, if I recall right.

There may even have been an episode that addressed the change with a dialogue between Bill Davis and the youngsters that ran something like this –
Well, what do we call him?
Oh…Well, you call him ‘Mr. French’ –
But that isn’t Mr. French! –
Well, you see…yes, it is. That’s Mr. French’s brother, Nigel. -
But he isn’t our Mr. French!

Anybody else remember this bit? I swear I'm not imagining it!


Yes, this is how I remember it too, but its been a very very long time.

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I do appreciate the fact that they did not just replace "Mr French" like we would not notice They said from the get go it was his brother. I too missed the beginning of that episode when I turned on the TV I saw the "new" Mr French and was confused. I thought they were trying to fool us too. Later I saw the episode from the beginning and realized it was his brother because "Giles" French was summoned to work for the Queen or something.
Before I realized this and knew it was only temporary I did not like the "new Mr French" either
Was really happy to see a few episodes later tho that he was back.

I don't think u are imagining that dialog Doug "not OUR Mr French" I think I remember it too and its definitely something that sounds like what the kids would say.


I was sad to read in the trivia tho that Mr Cabot did not like playing that character. He was sooo good at it and I really loved him in that role. He did a great job doing something he didn't really like doing.

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Didn't care for it, but was excellent in playing it!

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I am just now watching the season 1 DVD. It shows in one episode Mr.Giles French reading a letter from the Queen. He leaves a note for Mr.Davis that he was called to serve the Queen for six weeks and his brother Nigel will fill in for that time.

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I don't have an FA DVD's (yet), but I do remember that the excuse for Giles French's absence, and his brother as a replacement (quite convenient), was because of a special duty to which he was called in service of 'her majesty.' I suppose Bill Davis trusted G.French enough that he didn't waver about his brother being his replacement, probably without 'Uncle Bill' even meeting him first; because he knew French was from a family in service to the nobility of the UK for generations, so his brother in the same 'profession' would presumably be the same bland, obsequious, perfectionist manservant, and of course he was right.

But I did find it interesting even at the time of the first airings of these episodes (I was about 7) that the 'new' Mr. French seemed to always be the focus of eps in which he appeared... whether he was too harsh with the children, B & J trying to matchmake him with Miss Faversham, him repeatedly insulting the Chinese girl trying to speak her language; and my favorite, where his nephew, David, arrives in New York on his way to the west coast as an exchange student. He and Cissy start to have fun together, to Mr. N. French's dismay as a violation of the class-based ethics he has always followed-- the family of the 'master' and the family of the 'servant' do not socialize as equals. At the end the older French is able to convince his nephew that he should at least accept some of the rules of propriety and to cancel his invitation to Cissy to accompany him to the airport. But Uncle Bill steps in and reminds him that he follows these old rules because he agrees with them, and if David does not, he still must lead his own life. So Mr N.French does relent and reinvites Cissy to see David off at the airport. The final act of this episode can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXWh3N1x9lc

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>>But I did find it interesting even at the time of the first airings of these episodes (I was about 7) that the 'new' Mr. French seemed to always be the focus of eps in which he appeared.<<

Yeah, but you have to remember that these scripts were written before Sebastian Cabot become unexpectedly ill, so these stories were originally intended for Giles French.

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sjbradford said:
"Yeah, but you have to remember that these scripts were written before Sebastian Cabot become unexpectedly ill, so these stories were originally intended for Giles French."

WOw..that's news to me and a lot of us.....in the world...I just thought that Giles was invented due to Sebastian Cabot's illness......

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Hi,one can never be too rich or have too many friends. I thought the story was Mr. French was called to the queen's service so his relative,the other Mr. french took his place.

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Sebastian Cabot had become ill awhile making the show. I am not sure, I believe he had a heart attack, once, he was well, he was able to return on the show mean time, he had his brother or cousin filling in for him.

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[deleted]

Catch a clue..John Williams was Mr French's (Cabot's) brother who took over while Cabot's French was serving the Queen of England. Also both French's were Gentleman's Gentleman and not nannys...

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