Actor, (stage, radio, film and television), librettist, playwright.
The eldest son of English-born violinist and composer Albert Cazabon (1883–1970), and his Australian-born actress wife Nora (nee Delaney), John Cazabon was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He came to Australia in 1927 with his parents and siblings and in the early 1930s became associated with the Pickwick Theatre Group. Although largely known as an actor in legitimate theatre and television, he nevertheless occasionally dabbled in variety-type entertainment, particularly during the early-1930s. This included appearing in several revues (notably Snappy Sydney, 1933 and Now and Then, 1934).
In 1933 Cazabon's playlet, Hearts to Mend, was staged at Sydney's Theatre Royal as part of a fundraiser for the Institute for the Blind. He and his sister, Norah, appeared in the sketch. Early the following year his musical comedy collaboration with George English (Jnr), Good Catch, played a two night season at the Savoy Theatre under the direction of Norah Cazabon. The siblings soon afterwards joined Doris Fitton's company at the Independent Theatre, North Sydney. They were also later associated with Beryl Bryant's theatre group throughout much of the 1930s. For Bryant he wrote the three act comedy Stranger Walk In (1935).
Cazabon's radio career saw him engaged as an actor in numerous dramas and serials, among them Sleeping Clergyman, for which he won the 1948 Macquarie Award for Best actor in a radio play, and The First Gentleman (1949), co-starring alongside Robert Morley and Queenie Ashton. His credits in radio serials included Mary Livingstone MD (as Russ Livingstone).
Cazabon returned to Britain in the early 1950s and went on to carve out a long career in television, with occasional film films as well. His few Australian film and television credits were in Harry Watt's Eureka Stockade (1949), starring Chips Rafferty, the 1954 documentary The Queen in Australia, (as himself), and The Flying Doctor (1959), which was made in both Great Britain and Australia (2nd unit location filming).
