We collect and tell stories of people from all around the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-2lkEFwiL0. The striking force and terrifying impact of this RKO melodrama is chiefly due to Bobby's brilliant acting, for the whole effect would have been lost were there any suspicion of doubt about the credibility of this pivotal character. When they rejected me, I fought back, became belligerent and cockyand was afraid all the time. Age (2022) Update Soon. Bobby Driscoll had a great start in life, but somewhere along the line, he went off track, and according to his friend Billy Gray, it was a choice he made. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Bobby Driscoll was a natural-born actor. [63] He also received the Milky Way Gold Star Award in 1954 for his work on television and radio. In 1972, Disney re-released Song of the South, which reignited public interest in Driscoll, the smiling little boy in the film that brought Disney back from the verge of bankruptcy. The sentencing hearing for former City Councilmember Bobby Henon is underway in the Philadelphia federal courthouse. Perhaps Driscoll hoped that Rush would change him for the better, but what actually happened was far, far worse. He landed his debut role in "Lost Angels . He won awards and also befriended his castmates along the way. By early 1962, Driscolls prison sentence ended, but it utterly destroyed his chances of becoming an actor ever again. When The Window hit theaters, itand more importantly, Driscolls performancewas a hit with audiences. Hughes was not a big fan of Driscoll and Hollywood kids in general. Lets just, Song of the South (1946), Walt Disney Productions, So Dear to My Heart (1948), Walt Disney Productions, Treasure Island (1950), Walt Disney Productions, The Party Crashers (1958), Paramount Pictures, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIIIs First Wife, Scandalous Facts About Lady Caroline Lamb, The High Society Outcast, Strange Facts of Nick Adams, The Enigmatic Celebrity, Straight Up Facts About Paula Abdul, The Queen Of Reality TV, Heartbreaking Facts About Desi Arnaz, The Man Who Loved Lucy. At a very young age, Bobby Driscoll made huge waves as a part of the early, extended Disney family. As it was common practice in this business, Driscoll and Luana Patten also did promotional radio gigs (starting in late 1946 for Song of the South) and toured the country for various parades and charity events through the years. They were allowed to remain for six weeks to prepare an appeal, and director Byron Haskin hastily shot all of Driscoll's close-ups,[16] using his British stand-in to film missing location scenes after his parents and he had returned to California. Advertisement Driscoll was convicted for drug addiction and was sent to Narcotic Rehabilitation Center, at Chino, California. Driscoll was born an only child to an insulation salesman and former schoolteacher. The story of this child actor, who starred in films like Song of the South and Peter Pan, is a heart-wrenching one. Believed to be an unclaimed and homeless person, he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave on Hart Island, where he remains. Howard Hughes, who had bought RKO the previous year, considered the film unworthy of release and Driscoll not much of an actor, so delayed its release. From there, Driscoll quickly became one of Disneys biggest money-makers. Driscoll never forgot about his dream of being an actor, though. In a last-ditch attempt to distance himself from his Disney days, Driscoll began using the name Robert Driscoll when looking for acting jobs. Website about Disney child actor Bobby Driscoll. At one point, Bobby became part of The Factory, Andy Warhol's art collective in Greenwich Village, New York. Although his name appears on his father's gravestone at Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside, California, his remains are still on Hart Island. 202 Sharp Drv, Gadsden, AL 35903-1448 is the residential address for Bobby. He managed to land two television parts in 1957, and even got a film role in The Party Crashers in 1958, but it was too little, too late. He took on the double role of Danny/Josh Reed in When I Grow Upand made a brief guest appearance in Disneys first televised Christmas show, One Hour in Wonderland. He was discovered in a barbershop when he was 5 years old, and cast in films including Song of the South and So . Includes such notable movie screen appearances as The Fighting Sullivans (1944), Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1948), and The Window (1949), which was not only the sleeper of 1949 but even earned him his Academy Award in March 1950 as the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949. Disney had big plans for Driscoll too. The role was minor, but it was the start of many movies that capitalized on Driscoll's features, including his pert nose and freckled face. According to one Hollywood biographer, Warhol loved having Bobby Driscoll as part of his scene. In particular, Warhol loved the idea of having a bitter, Hollywood ex-actor as a part of his crew. Ironically, critics of the film thought that Driscolls portrayal was a huge step up, as the original Peter Pan book portrayed the character as a complete sociopath. Films: Song of the South, Treasure Island For his role as Jim Hawkins in Walt Disney's Treasure Island (1950), he eventually received his Hollywood Star on 1560 Vine Street, and in 1954 he was chosen in a nation-wide poll for a Milky Way Gold Star Award (for his work on TV and radio). On his new School, the public Westwood University High School, on which he graduated in 1955, all of a sudden his former stardom became more burden than advantage. After his release, he focused his attention on the avant-garde art scene. He had no identification, so the body was marked as unknown and went unclaimed until it was buried in an unmarked grave on Hart Island, where he remains. On March 30, 1968, two boys playing in a deserted East Village apartment stumbled upon a gruesome discovery. "[41] In 1957, he had only two television parts, as the loyal brother of a criminal immigrant in M Squad, a long-running crime series starring Lee Marvin, and as an officer aboard the submarine S-38 in an episode of the World War II docudrama series The Silent Service. [10] Patten and he appeared with Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers in the live-action teaser for the Pecos Bill segment of Disney's cartoon compilation Melody Time (also 1948). )", "Bobby Driscoll Hopes To Rebuild Film Life", "Bobby Driscoll Freed On Bail After Fracas", "Bobby Driscoll Won't Be Around For Reissue Of "Song Of The South" (last column)", "Bobby Driscoll sitting on a couch (on portfolio, page 38, third row it's the last known photograph of him, ca. The first film they needed Driscoll for was If You Knew Susie, a comedy musical that was right up Driscolls alley. AmoMama creates engaging, meaningful content for women. Although Peter Pan was largely successful, Walt Disney himself didnt like the film. After Disney turned its back on him, the budding actor was left to fend for himself, and it led to his early and tragic end. In 1965, a year after his parole expired, Driscoll made the decision to relocate to New York City. Driscoll was loaned to RKO Studios for the 1949 suspense film, The Window. The film became a hit and Driscolls work was applauded. After that, Driscoll started having run-ins with the law. The short and tragic life of Disney child star Bobby Driscoll is explored in the new documentary Lost Boy: The Bobby Driscoll Story. Driscoll and Patten once again worked together in Disneys first all-live-action film, So Dear to My Heart. In RKO Studios (Disneys co-producers) 1948 musical comedy, If You Knew Susie, he played the part of Eddie Cantors son. Website about Disney child actor Bobby Driscoll. The Fighting Sullivans (1944), 20th Century Fox. Other studios quickly saw Driscolls potential too, and the boy soon had more roles than he knew what to do with. Driscoll was born on March 3, 1937, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Isabelle (ne Kratz), a former school teacher, and Cletus, an insulation salesman. Driscoll's salary at Disney had been raised to $1,750 per week[26] and compared to his salary, Driscoll had little work from 1952 on. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. His parents had normal, respectable jobs. [54][55], In 1965, early in his tenure at the Factory, Driscoll gave his last known film performance, in experimental filmmaker Piero Heliczer's underground movie Dirt. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. This was the final nail in the coffin for Driscolls life and career. Bobby Driscoll's full name is Robert Cletus Driscoll and his nickname is Bobby Driscoll. Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. We know that Angie D Parrish, Paul Wing, and three other persons also lived at this address, perhaps within a different time frame. Bobby Driscoll was born on the 3rd of March, 1937. As a result, Driscoll received very little work from 1952 onwards. The young boy had it all, but unfortunately, his snafu with the British authorities had a bigger impact on his career than Driscoll couldve imagined. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. Hughes dismissed Driscoll later in 1953, and he did so in a terrible manner by denying Driscoll entry into the studio. His last known appearances on TV were small roles in two single-season series: The Best of the Post, a syndicated anthology series adapted from stories published in The Saturday Evening Post magazine, and The Brothers Brannagan, an unsuccessful crime series starring Stephen Dunne and Mark Roberts. They managed to identify Driscoll through his fingerprints, which led them to Hart Island. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from Life to Compact Cars and Trucks to A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius. Well get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics youre interested in. Discovered by chance at the age of five-and-a-half in a barber shop in Altadena, CA. . [35] He said later, "The other kids didn't accept me. 1957 - m. 1957 - div. Although the charges were dismissed, this event marked the beginning of Driscolls many future encounters with the law. [11], Driscoll was lent to RKO[12] to star in The Window, based on Cornell Woolrich's short story "The Boy Cried Murder". On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Billy Gray, who also got an early start in showbiz, said that "he was devastated and didn't take the news well.". He starred in . Unfortunate circumstances made it difficult to keep Driscolls memory alive, however. His role for the production was enormously important: not only did he voice the titular Peter, but he also served as the reference model for the films close-ups. In his biography on Disney, Marc Elliot described Driscoll as the producer's favorite "live action" child star: "Walt often referred to Driscoll with great affection as the living embodiment of his own youth". It mustve felt like one huge adventure for Driscoll, but a huge issue ended Driscolls journey almost as soon as it began. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure. One day in 1953, Driscoll drove up to the entrance of Disney Studios as usual, only to find his way blocked. The other film RKO had in mind for Driscoll, however, presented a whole new challenge for the child actor. When his contract with the Disney studios was prematurely terminated shortly after the release of Peter Pan (1953) in late March 1953, his mother additionally took him from the talent-supporting Hollywood Professional School, which he attended by then. Bobby Driscoll starred in Song of the South, Melody Time, Treasure Island, and most notably was the voice and reference model for Peter Pan. Bobby Driscoll was Disney's first fallen child star whose rejection and eventual self-sabotage led him to a bizarre and unfortunate early death. Occasionally, the director overdoes things a bit in striving for shock effectsBut "The Window" is Bobby Driscoll's picture, make no mistake about that. He starred in some of the Walt Disney Studios' best-known live-action pictures of that period, such as Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1949), The Window (1949), and Treasure Island (1950). Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. Driscoll encountered increasing indifference from the other Hollywood studios. After taking one look at Driscolls adorable little freckled face, the barbers son got Driscoll an acting agent. Cast with Charles Boyer, Marsha Hunt, Louis Jourdan, and Kurt Kasznar, he played the juvenile offspring of a patriarch in Quebec of the 1920s, the character upon whom the plot centered. The young actors days of taking on small movie roles were officially overbut this new life would eventually lead him down a dark and dangerous path. As Driscolls personality deteriorated, his marriage suffered. [18] He was at the perfect age for the role, but because of a story rights ownership dispute with Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, who had previously produced the property in 1938, Disney ultimately had to cancel the entire project. Films: Song of the South, Treasure Island. View the profiles of people named Bobby Driscoll. For his TV and radio work, he earned a Milky Way Gold Star Award in 1954. Here are details about the life he lived. One that his friend, Gray, thinks was caused by his inability to deal with getting abandoned by Hollywood. Now nicknamed by the American press as Walt Disney's "Sweetheart Team",[8] Driscoll and Patten starred together in So Dear to My Heart (1948) with Burl Ives and Beulah Bondi. It was clear that Driscolls drug addiction was destroying his life, and in 1961, everything came to a head when the authorities finally sentenced him as a drug addict. A severe case of acne accompanying the onset of puberty,[27] explaining why it was necessary for Driscoll to use heavy makeup for his performances on dozens of TV shows, was officially provided as the final reason for the termination of his connection with the Disney Studios. The part for Driscoll was a tiny onehe would only be on screen for a grand total of two minutesbut the competition was fierce. This was already sad enough, but it wasnt even the most tragic fact about his end. Driscoll needed to stand out to get the part, so he ended up doing something that completely won the director over. Ex-husband of Marilyn Verna Driscoll Still determined to become an actor, Driscoll left his parents home at 16. He wanted Driscoll gone, and sadly the boy's morphing features were enough grounds. Bobby Driscoll is best known as TV Actor who has born on March 03, 1937 in Cedar Rapids, IA. Driscoll's brief, two-minute debut[4] helped him win the role of young Al Sullivan, the youngest of the five Sullivan brothers, in the 20th Century Fox's World War II drama The Fighting Sullivans (1944) with Thomas Mitchell and Anne Baxter. On the surface, this sounded like an enormously successful marriage, but for Driscoll, this wasnt the case. Robert Cletus Driscoll (March 3, 1937 c. March 30, 1968) was an American actor who performed on film and television from 1943 to 1960. It didn't end there; the man also invited Driscoll and his family to his home. His parents had normal, respectable jobs. As a result, Driscoll was unable to work on the two major pictures that Disney planned for him. Copyright 2023 by Factinate.com. Geni requires JavaScript! 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Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Driscoll portrayed Robert "Bibi" Bonnard in Richard Fleischer's comedy The Happy Time (1952), which was based on a Broadway play of the same name by Samuel A. Taylor. He had been getting a trim in a barber's shop in Pasadena when one barber told him he should be in the movies. top of page. [19] Driscoll also was scheduled to portray a youthful follower of Robin Hood following Treasure Island, again with Robert Newton, who would play Friar Tuck,[20] but Driscoll's run-in with British immigration made this impossible.[21]. This decision kept Driscolls career alivefor now. David Derks. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Des Moines, where they stayed until early 1943. At the same time, Driscoll was working on another projectand it defined his entire career. The live-action/animated musical eventually became an embarrassing project for Disney because of its offensive stereotypes and less than a candid depiction of slavery; however, it meant more for Driscoll. Outside of his career, Driscolls private life was going just as poorly. At the end of his six weeks, the authorities booted Driscoll and his family out of the country, and Disney filmed the rest of Driscolls scenes with a stand-in. Hughes probably didnt expect much of a reaction, but he couldnt have been more wrong. Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. "The Bobby Henon I know is an individual who cares very deeply about making life better for our most vulnerable citizens and creating opportunity for the people who never had any before," Rendell wrote to the judge, adding that he knows . An examination revealed that Driscoll passed from heart failure directly related to his drug usage. He also gave education a try, enrolling at institutions like Stanford and UCLA but ultimately dropped out. [29], In 1947, he recorded a special version of "So Dear to My Heart" at Capitol Records. An acquaintance helped the 5 year-old Driscoll with an audition at MGM for a minor role in 1943s Lost Angel. He overcame 40 aspirants to bag the role. Bobby Driscoll: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more. Driscoll appeared in The Scarlet Coat in 1955, and then The Party Crashers (1958). You see, Hughes really had it out for child actors like Driscoll; he thought that kids like Driscoll were incredibly annoying. As Driscolls acne grew worse, Hughes used his influence over Disney to get rid of Driscoll in the most mortifying fashion possible. He became addicted to narcotics, and was sentenced to prison for illicit drug use. The director was impressed by the boy's curiosity and intelligence and chose him over 40 applicants.[2][3]. After his release, he focused his attention on the avant-garde art scene. When his face was no longer charming and his voice not smooth enough to be used for voice-over jobs, his last big movie hit was the voice of animated Peter Pan (1953), for which he was also the live-action model. Get rid of Driscoll and his nickname is Bobby Driscoll 1937 in Cedar Rapids, IA of child... That completely won the director over addicted to narcotics, and then the Party Crashers ( 1958.! Extended Disney family the Fighting Sullivans ( 1944 ), 20th Century.. Of Eddie Cantors son to relocate to new York City an audition MGM... The better, but for Driscoll was unable to work on the topics youre interested in March. The story of this child actor and Patten once again worked together in Disneys all-live-action... An enormously successful marriage, but it wasnt even the most commanding in... 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