Born in Boston to Charles Mills Cabot and Caroline Elizabeth (née Perkins) he attended Harvard University and Caius College, Cambridge University.

[2] He studied for the theatre under Frances Robinson-Duff, Laura Elliott and Moffat Johnston.

Possessing good looks, he started on Broadway in Six Characters in Search of an Author in 1922.

He appeared in the following years in the 1920s in plays that were either based on novels or original for the stage.

Later plays include Sun-Up (1923), The Great Gatsby (1926), The Silver Cord (1926), Coquette (1927).