Bobby Driscoll

[Ian_Rowlins]

Does anyone remember Bobby? He was a staple in the Disney films during the early days, and gave quite an exceptional performance in the controversial Song of the South. I remember when the special edition of Peter Pan was released, Scott did a story on Peter Davies, who was the inspiration for the title character. I felt sure that he would say something about Bobby since he voiced peter in the film and also died rather tragically. After Peter Pan Bobby's career went into a free fall. He was going through puberty and was quickly losing his boyish charm that Walt had found so appealing. He had also developed severe acne, which no doubt became problematic when seeking live action roles. Years of drug abuse and multiple arrests followed. Pretty much the same old habits that many child stars had fallen into. His last appearance was in the underground movie Dirt in 1965, produced by Andy Warhol. In 1968 two children were playing in an abandoned tenement building in the east village. There they discovered Bobby's corpse. He had apparently died from heart failure. He was 31. No one knew who he was at the time, and so he was buried in a potter's field where he remains to this day. It wasn't until a year after his death that a letter his mother sent to Disney studios asking for help in locating her son led to a fingerprint match that revealed Bobby's Identity. All in all a sad end to a talented young actor.

[LutherHeggs]

THANKS FOR RECAP

I still have to see Song of the South (if Disney has not destroyed all copies -ha)

I love his voice as Peter Pan --

I recall that in the film CRUMB about comic artist Robert Crumb and his eccentric brothers...Driscoll was mentioned.

One of Crumb's brothers Charles (who would later commit suicide) was a gifted artist (but his mental problems never allowed him to pursue a career) became OBSESSED as a teen with Bobby Driscoll and sketched him in scenes from Treasure Island filling entire notebooks.

[Harry in Connecticut]

THANKS FOR RECAP

I still have to see Song of the South (if Disney has not destroyed all copies -ha)

I love his voice as Peter Pan --

I recall that in the film CRUMB about comic artist Robert Crumb and his eccentric brothers...Driscoll was mentioned.

One of Crumb's brothers Charles (who would later commit suicide) was a gifted artist (but his mental problems never allowed him to pursue a career) became OBSESSED as a teen with Bobby Driscoll and sketched him in scenes from Treasure Island filling entire notebooks.

Click on this http://www.songofthesouthdvd.net/son...FQ0GQAodQ2m0yA and see what you think.

[nan]

Harry in Connecticut,

Have you purchased Song of the South through your link? I would love to have it, but I'm not sure about the security of the site, or whether the movie is pirated.

[Jaynrand]

It's kind of creepy to see Bobby play scenes with Frances Farmer in The Party Crashers, although they're both good.

[Harry in Connecticut]

Harry in Connecticut,

Have you purchased Song of the South through your link? I would love to have it, but I'm not sure about the security of the site, or whether the movie is pirated.

No I didn't buy the movie. I can't tell you anything about the site from my own experience. However it has been 20 days since I posted the link, and it still works.

[hrhdiesel]

I was surprised that bobby wasnt mentioned in the curse of peter pan.... In fact he kind of started it. Poor fella.

[leevancleef]

What a coincidence hrhdiesel, ive just written about Bobby in the Actors who died before their 35 bday thread.

[eca1094]

Sad story about his life

[Sylkyn]

Y'all are totally messing with my mind. I haven't thought about some of these people since I was a kid. I can't even believe I remember who he is! But I do!

Yes...age is a terrible thing to creep up on ya...but considering the alternative..!

[knothere]

sad story sound like mom shooda kept in touch
n ya i think walt was a dink
he screwed only the ppl that worked for him...outa credits n royalties n proper pay
the origional voice of snow white scott has on F A D n she got screwed too

[Jack Raines]

Bobby Driscoll's story is in my opinion, one of the saddest in Hollywood history. He was the voice of Peter Pan, and Walt Disney basically destroyed his life by dropping his contract early due to his bad case of acne.

I mean, he never even got a proper burial.

They should make a movie about him, but I doubt Disney would ever let that happen.

[leevancleef]

Yep, his story is the saddest of all Hollywood kids stories.
He was the cutest little boy and a very fine actor.
His story really upsets me.

[JsJunot]

I stumbled across this page at imdb.com...

Bobby Driscoll
March 3, 1937 - March 30, 1968

Bobby Driscoll was a natural-born actor, discovered just by chance at the age of five-and-a-half in a barber shop in Altadena, CAL. and then convincing in anything he ever undertook on the movie screen and on television throughout his about seventeen years spanning career (1943-1960), which includes such notable movie screen appearances like in "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 the year 1949 but even earned him his Academy Award in March 1950 as the outstanding juvenile actor of the year 1949.

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).

But all the more tragic, then, was his fruitless struggle to find a place in a pitiless adolescent world after severe acne had stalled his acting career at 16, when his face was no longer charming and his voice smooth enough to even be used for voice-over jobs, although his last big movie hit was significantly the voice of animated "Peter Pan", 1953, for which he was also the live-action model. When his contract with the Disney studios was prematurely terminated shortly after the release of Peter Pan in late March of 1953, his mother additionally took him from the talent-supporting Hollywood Professional School, which he attended by then.

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, and although he successfully continued acting on TV until at least 1957 and could even manage it to get two final screen roles, in "The Scarlet Coat", 1955 and opposite of Mark Damon and Connie Stevens in "The Party Crashers", 1958, his life became more and more a roller coaster ride that included several encounters with the law and his eventual sentencing as a drug addict in October 1961.

But released in early 1962, rehabilitated and eager to make a comeback, Bobby was ignored by the very industry that once had raised and nurtured him, - just because of his record as a convict and former drug addict. First famous... now infamous. Hoping to revive his career on the stage after his parole had expired in 1964, he eventually traveled to New York, only to learn that his reputation had preceded him, and no one wanted to hire him there, either.

After a final appearance in Piero Heliczer's Underground movie "Dirt", in 1965 and a short art-period at Andy Warhol's so-called Factory, he disappeared into the underground, thoroughly dispirited, and his funds depleted, where on March 30, 1968, two playing children found his dead body in an abandoned East Village tenement. Believed to be an unclaimed and homeless person, he was then buried in an unmarked pauper's grave on Hart Island, where he remains till this day.

TRIVIA

Was the first actor to sign long-term deal with Walt Disney's animation dept. When found dead, his identity was unknown and he was buried as a "John Doe" in pauper's grave. A year later, fingerprints finally revealed his identity.

Driscoll's body was discovered in an abandoned Greenwich Village tenement by two children playing there on March 30, 1968.

His voice was used for Walt Disney's feature Peter Pan (1953) and an actual "acting" performance was filmed, then rotoscoped for the animated character.

One of cinema's most critically acclaimed boy actors, he won a special Academy Award at age 12 as the "outstanding juvenile actor" of 1949 for his excellent work in the films So Dear to My Heart (1948) and The Window (1949).

Even though his character was animated he was the first boy ever to play Peter Pan. Before then only women played Peter Pan.

Buried in a mass grave on New York's Hart Island, better known as Potter's Field.

Even though he was the studio's first contract player, Disney terminated Driscoll's second long-term contract (covering seven years) three years early, in 1953, weeks after the theatrical release of Peter Pan. It is generally believed that his severe acne was the reason. This prevented him from playing other feature roles for the studio that would seem to be tailor-made for him, like Johnny Tremain and The Light in the Forest.
Personal Quotes

(on his rise and fall in Hollywood) "I have found that memories are not very useful. I was carried on a silver platter and then dumped into the garbage can."

(Standing before a California judge in 1961 on his drug addiction) I had everything. I was earning more than $50,000 a year, working steadily with good parts. Then I started putting all my spare time in my arm. I'm not really sure why I started using narcotics. I was 17 when I first experimented with the stuff. In no time at all I was using whatever was available, mostly heroin, because I had the money to pay for it.
A child lives in a world of its own, so, logically, a successful story for children must strike a chord in that world; possibly involve something he would like to do if he had the chance, like fly with his own wings or go down a rabbit hole, but above all, it must be something he can understand. Anything a child understands, chances are he will enjoy. However, everyone seems to enjoy these successful, so-called children's stories. For instance, you'll never meet a truthful person who says he doesn't like movie cartoons, especially a man. Someone said that women were always women, and men were always children. - in the Humboldt Guardian, June 24, 1954

[Nicki]

JS....there is another thread on Bobby Driscoll:

http://www.findadeath.com/forum/show...Bobby+Driscoll

[MorbidMolly]

Cenotaph only. Bobby Driscoll is actually buried in a pauper's grave in New York state.

[tamiele]

I loved that voice of Peter Pan. As a little girl I was quit taken with the flirtiness of it and thought the cartoon boy was cute. Neat to see his real picture.

[RubySlippers]

kinda cute. too bad about his demise.

[spring]

Any last photos of bobby?

[deanfan]

About six months before his death.

[Town Without Pity]

I agree, sad story. Seems there alot of children actors that went through similiar problems. I mean if Disney can't be good for kids, just what is wrong with that picture...Kids get acne...they grow up they shouldn't be cast aside....so goes the entertainment circle....round and round you go where it stops nobody knows.

[spring]

Thanks

[Dangitbawb]

As sad as his story is, he could have survived it. Acne doesn't last forever, and no one forces you to do drugs. He was young, he had his whole life ahead of him, getting fired by Walt didn't mean the end of his career. He made the decicion to dump himself into a garbage can, how can he blame Hollywood? Maybe he just needed to sit it out a while until better things came along. He could have been the country's best washing machine repairman for all I care, he didn't have to waste his entire life and end it being an addict. I just wish he had found a better avenue to channel his talents...

[Dave62]

So ... is he still buried in the Potters' Field ? If so, do they have any records of where he was buried, so that his relatives (if any) could have his remains exhumed and buried in the family plot ?

[Mintgiver]

As far as I can remember, the potters' fields were used as group type burials. They would keep track of what remains were buried in each "trench" on cards in the office, but wouldn't make markers. They would be unable to account for each body exactly, which is why he has a cenotaph.

[deathhaghun]

I read a book about death in Hollywood recently. He was such a huge child star in his day. I didn't know he had voiced Peter Pan. It was sad that he couldn't make the transition to adult film star. You read about so many child stars getting into drugs and worse because when they were big they had everything and as soon as they grow out of fashion they are just dropped like that.

[Skiddledy Gumbo]

So is anyone ever going to write a book about Bobby? I understand that his kids are very adamant about obstructing any attempt to do that, although they have no legal or moral right to do that.

[Poo Bah MCGee]

Outstanding performance in "Treasure Island", probably capturing the role as much as Robert Newton captured Long John Silver.

Heroin is a tough master/mistress. With its reputation so well known, you have to wonder why people turn to the opiate.