Paul Jabara

• Name — Paul Jabara • Birth Name — Paul Frederick Jabara • Born — 31 January 1948 • Birthplace — Brooklyn, New York, U.S. • Died — 29 September 1992 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Occupation — * Actor • singer • songwriter • Years Active — 1960s–1992

Jabara was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lebanese parents Saleem and Olga Jabara. He graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in 1965, and briefly attended Long Island University in Brooklyn. His sisters, Delores and Claudette, also graduated from the same high school.

section Jabara's Broadway debut was in the original cast of the stage musical Hair. He originated the role of King Herod in the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1969, he appeared in John Schlesinger's film Midnight Cowboy, as a hippie handing out pills ("Up or Down?") at the counterculture party. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s and acted in a number of films during the decade. He took over the role of Frank-N-Furter in the Los Angeles production of The Rocky Horror Show when Tim Curry left the production to film the movie version in England. He also appeared in Schlesinger's 1975 film The Day of the Locust, where he sang a cover of the Marlene Dietrich song "Hot Voo-Doo" in drag. Jabara played the role of a lovelorn and nearsighted disco-goer named Carl in the 1978 film Thank God It's Friday. He contributed the song "Last Dance" to the film's soundtrack, which went on to win an Academy Award and a Grammy Award. He also contributed as a singer on two tracks on the original soundtrack. In 1981, Jabara starred in another John Schlesinger film, the comedy Honky Tonk Freeway, as truck driver/songwriter T. J. Tupus, hauling lions and a rhino. He also made appearances in The Lords of Flatbush (1974) and Legal Eagles (1986).

On September 29, 1992, Jabara died from complications from AIDS in Los Angeles, at the age of 44. A memorial service was held on October 4, 1992, at the Forest Lawn Cemetery, in the Hollywood Hills. Jabara is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery. He died at his Los Angeles home and was survived by his sisters, Delores Jabara and Claudette Haddad, who took care of his estate until her death in 2023. At the time of his death, major outlets, including The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, were simply told by a spokesman and Claudette, respectively, that he had died due to "a long illness". This was possibly due to stigma of AIDS. On June 14, 2014, Jabara was featured in the first gay-themed tour of Green-Wood Cemetery.

• Shut Out (Casablanca Records, 1977) • Keeping Time (Casablanca, 1978) • The Third Album (Casablanca, 1979) • Paul Jabara & Friends, with the Weather Girls, Leata Galloway, Whitney Houston (Columbia/CBS, 1983) • De La Noche: The True Story – A Poperetta with Leata Galloway (Warner Bros., 1986)

• Original Soundtrack − Thank God It's Friday • Greatest Hits... and Misses (Casablanca/PolyGram, 1989) • The Casablanca Records Story (PolyGram, 1994) • Mother, Jugs and Speed soundtrack

• "One Man Ain't Enough" (1975) • "Dance" (1976) • "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1976) • "Shut Out" duet with Donna Summer (1977) • "Slow Dancing" (1977) • "Dancin' (Lift Your Spirits Higher)" (1978) • "Pleasure Island" (1978) • "Take Good Care of My Baby" / "What's a Girl to Do", Paul Jabara & Pattie Brooks (1978) • "Trapped in a Stairway" (1978) • "Disco Queen" (1978) • "Saturday Matinee" (1978) • "Never Lose Your Sense of Humor", duet with Donna Summer (1979) • "Disco Wedding" (1979) • "Honeymoon (In Puerto Rico)" (1979) • "Disco Divorce" (1979) • "Ocho Rios" (1986) • "This Girl's Back in Town" (1986)

Paul Jabara film and television credits • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1969 — Midnight Cowboy — The Party No. 2 — Film • 1969 — Medea — Pelias — Film • 1970 — The Out-of-Towners — First Hippie (uncredited) — Film • 1970 — Necropolis — (uncredited) — Film • 1971 — Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me — Heap — Film • 1971 — The Ski Bum — Rocco — Film • 1973 — Brothers Blue — Teddy Fog — Film • 1974 — The Lords of Flatbush — Crazy Cohen — Film • 1974 — The Last Angry Man — Myron Malcom — TV movie • 1975 — The Day of the Locust — Nightclub Entertainer — Film • 1975 — Peeper — Janitor — Film • 1978 — Thank God It's Friday — Carl — Film • 1981 — Honky Tonk Freeway — T.J. Tupus — Film • 1985 — The Equalizer — Music Teacher — Episode: "China Rain" • 1986 — Legal Eagles — Taxi Driver — Film • 1987 — Les Patterson Saves the World — Leroy — Film • 1989 — Slaves of New York — Derelict — Film • 1991 — 9 1/2 Ninjas! — Mr. Ninja (voice) — Film • 1992 — Light Sleeper — Eddie — Film • 1992 — L.A. Law — Reporter No. 1 — 1 episode