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Joel Anthony Fabiani experienced a turbulent childhood, with his family frequently relocating. The youngest of three brothers, he was born to Ernest Fabiani (1902–1988), an Italian-Austrian father, and Bessie Fabiani (née Holcomb, 1903–1992), his mother of Irish and Native American descent. Throughout his youth, he attended seventeen different schools before enlisting in the army and later studying English at Santa Rosa Junior College. It was there that he discovered his passion for acting, which led to a two-year tenure at the Actor's Workshop in San Francisco, where he honed his stagecraft skills. Subsequently, he moved to New York to pursue a professional career in summer stock and off-Broadway productions. One of his early roles was as a court clerk in One Way Pendulum at the now-defunct East 74th Street Theatre, where he met his second wife, actress Audree Rae. His first marriage to fellow workshop alumnus Katharine Ross ended in divorce in 1962 after two and a half years. Fabiani made his Broadway debut in the 1965 revival of Beyond the Fringe.
Beginning his on-screen career in 1964, he appeared in the pilot episode of Ironside (1967) and had a small recurring role on the medical soap The Doctors (1963). He also starred in a series of cigarette commercials portraying a debonair, tuxedo-clad James Bond-like character. This image caught the attention of ITC producer Monty Berman, who was searching in the U.S. for an American actor to lead a British-filmed espionage/crime series. Fabiani and his wife soon moved to the U.K., where he gained fame in a defining role as Stewart Sullivan, leader of the three-member team in the fictional Interpol sub-branch Department S (1969). The show featured him alongside Peter Wyngarde as the flamboyant crime writer Jason King and Rosemary Nicols as the pragmatic computer expert Annabelle Hurst. Sullivan, an ex-FBI agent, was skilled in combat and was the only team member to receive assignments directly from the department head, a cultured diplomat with extensive contacts, played by Dennis Alaba Peters. Department S was a polished production with global syndication and has since achieved cult status, despite its brief run of just one season with 28 episodes. Its sequel, Jason King (1971), was less successful.
After returning to the U.S., Fabiani aimed to "conquer Hollywood," a goal he admitted he did not fully achieve but enjoyed pursuing. Maintaining his suave Stewart Sullivan persona, he guest-starred in numerous prime-time shows, often produced by Quinn Martin Productions. His roles varied widely, portraying murder victims, priests, military officers, spies, attorneys, politicians, murderers, private detectives, and psychiatrists. He held recurring roles in the soaps Dallas (1978) as publisher Alex Ward, Dynasty (1981) as the scheming King Galen of Moldavia, and All My Children (1970) as lawyer Barry Shire for a decade. Though occasionally appearing in mainstream films such as Reuben, Reuben (1983), Tune in Tomorrow... (1990), and Snake Eyes (1998), he was better known for made-for-TV movies, notably the suspense thriller One of My Wives Is Missing (1976) and the Emmy Award-winning prison drama Attica (1980), co-starring Henry Darrow and Morgan Freeman.
During much of the 1970s, Fabiani continued to act on the New York stage and appeared in TV and radio commercials for Sony. From the mid-1980s onward, he expanded into audiobook narration, lending his voice to titles such as A River Runs Through It, The Light in the Forest, and Aces and Eights, and worked as an announcer on Barbara Walters specials until 2003. He retired from acting about a decade later and currently lives in New York with his wife, Charna Greenburg.
