According to his widow, actress Marilyn Cooper, Sabu had a complete physical
just a few days before his death, at which time his doctor told him,
"If all my patients were as healthy as you, I'd be out of business."
Thus, his sudden death of a heart attack at the age of 39 came as even
more of a shock than it would have been otherwise. His last film,
Disney's A Tiger Walks (1964), was released posthumously, to good reviews.
