Born in 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri, Cabanne (pronounced CAB-a-nay) was educated at the
Culver Military Academy and finished his education at the
Annapolis Naval Academy. After serving in the
U. S. Navy, he started his career on stage in 1908, as an actor and director. He entered the motion picture field in 1910, directing
Douglas Fairbanks, and becoming an assistant to pioneer director
D. W. Griffith. He appeared on-screen in dozens of short films from 1911 to 1915. He became one of the more prolific directors of his time. Actress
Miriam Cooper credited him with discovering her as an extra in 1912. Cabanne established his own studio, but gave up independent production to accept freelance jobs. For the next three decades he worked for many studios, including
Goldwyn,
MGM,
FBO,
Columbia,
RKO,
Universal, and
Monogram. Cabanne directed child actress
Shirley Temple in
The Red-Haired Alibi (1932), her first credited role in a feature film. Cabanne earned a reputation for efficiency, capable of making feature films very quickly, often on rugged locations. Like fellow silent-era directors
William Beaudine,
Elmer Clifton,
Harry Fraser,
Lambert Hillyer, and
Noel M. Smith, Cabanne was resourceful, and he worked for both major and minor studios through the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1940s, Cabanne was usually given low-budget action fare at
Universal Pictures, and like Noel Smith he was often assigned to direct the last film in a studio series, finishing the studio's commitment quickly and cheaply. Cabanne ended his career making lower-budget westerns for
Monogram Pictures. ==Personal life==