Perhaps someday Driscolls story will be told on the big screen, and not in the background of a meta-verse kids movie. 30S STAR ELISSA LANDI LEFT HOLLYWOOD FOR THIS REASON, BOOK REVEALS: I WASTED 7 GOOD YEARS OF MY LIFE THERE, Bobby Driscoll was the voice of Peter Pan in the 1953 film. [35] He said later, "The other kids didn't accept me. "A barber in Pasadena told me I should be in the movies, so one Sunday he invited us out to his home and his son was there," recalled Driscoll during a 1946 radio interview. This resulted in a fingerprint match at the New York City Police Department, which located his burial on Hart Island. 2023 Oscars predictions: See who will win at the 95th Academy Awards. Unintentional or not, someone over there had to realize this was in terrible taste. Bobby Driscoll was boy who reached success in the movie industry at a very early age. It was planned as Disney's first all-live-action movie, with production beginning immediately after Song of the South,[9] but its release was delayed until late 1948 to meet the demands of Disney's co-producer and longtime distributor RKO Radio Pictures for animated content in the film. View final resting place and family links here. "We were buddies," said Gray. His voice had also suddenly deepened. My clothes were at my parents' [house] but I didn't live anywhere. March 29, 2021, 4:49 am, Way back in 1980, Dolly Parton sat down with Chet Flippo of Rolling Stone magazine for what she thought was just going to be a typical interview. I tried desperately to be one of the gang. I was 17 when I first experimented with the stuff. When he died of natural causes at age 93 in 2014, he had only $18,000 as well as medical bills and back taxes. 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. In today's world, it's a familiar and predictable narrativea star who began his or her career on the Disney lot grows up and out of the squeaky-clean confines of the studio. Filmography. He thought they were trying too hard, werent real, and found them to be grating. For Bobby Driscoll, an actor that never got a chance to grow old, that seems like a resting place right out of a Hollywood movie. 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. He wasn't really part of the crowd," says Eliot, who remembers seeing Driscoll in the '60s in a Greenwich Village club. Later, critics describe the films portrayal of African Americans as racist and offensive, maintaining that it propagated negative racial stereotypes. 6,086, This story has been shared 5,366 times. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. (Even the Oscarthe ultimate sign of professional success in the industrythat Driscoll won was lost at some point in a house fire, while Song of the South has been practically disowned by the studio, having never been released in the U.S. on home video due to its racial content.) And they threw me away like I was nothing. I was scared, desperate, and all alone, says Sweet Pete. Afterward, he was crying all the time. Bach was my guy, that was it for me. They bury him in a mass, unmark paupers grave on Hart Island in The Bronx, New York. Fifty years after his death, it's a question that continues to trouble some of his oldest friends. No one knows exactly how the then 31-year-old Driscoll spent his final days in New York City and why he ended up in the slum where his body was found. Though his movie career fizzled, Bobby Driscoll eventually found fairly steady work on television shows like Dragnet and Rawhide. By the time Bobby Driscoll voiced Peter Pan at 16, however, he no longer had the adorable looks that kept him in demand. Driscoll made nine films in a three-year span before his breakout role as Johnny, a 7-year-old boy who visits his grandfather's plantation in Song of the South. All rights reserved. He had normal experiences with his peer groupjust as I did.". Bobby Driscoll died 27 days after his 31st birthday. When it comes time to declare Bobby Driscoll's cause of death, authorities mention the hardening of the arteries. The cast and crew of the crime drama were understandably "devastated" by his death, releasing a statement. Bobby Driscoll Biography Bobby Driscoll Networth Bobby Driscoll American actor was born on 3 March 1937. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, In New York City apartment discovers a young man lying dead, with empty bottles. He controlled the money and he hated Bobby Driscoll. This was a popular American sitcom that ran over 12 seasons and 380 episodes from 1960 to 1972. "[36][37] At his request, Driscoll's parents returned him the next year to Hollywood Professional School, where in May 1955 he graduated.[38]. Actress. Family, friends and fans were left wondering how a star that could shine so bright would burn out so quickly, and fall so far. He hated Hollywood kids. While on a tour across the studio lot, five-year-old Driscoll noticed a mock-up ship and asked where the water was. Fairly recent Disney stars like Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears were able to leave Disney on their own terms Bobby Driscoll had no such choice when the studio unexpectedly dropped him in 1953. Bobby Driscoll's body was found on March 30, 1968 in an abandoned building, his body was unclaimed and buried in Potter's Field on Hart Island, New York City. 1,316, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), What Time Is Chris Rock's Netflix Special On Tonight? "We used to play pool together," remembers Tamblyn of their days living and carousing in Pacific Palisades. 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. 4,151, This story has been shared 3,489 times. [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. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Beginning in 1953 and for most of the next three years, the bulk of his work was on television, on such anthology and drama series as Fireside Theater, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Front Row Center, Navy Log, TV Reader's Digest, Climax!, Ford Theatre, Studio One, Dragnet, Medic, and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. On March 30, 1968, his body was discovered in the East Village, New York. View cenotaph here. He said his childhood wasnt a happy one, and that he was lonely most of the time. It's the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and a family is busy setting up chairs on the 1500 block of Vine Street in Hollywood. (United Artists/Getty Images). There were no signs of foul play. "[39] In 1956, he was arrested for the first time for possession of marijuana, but the charge was dismissed. Moves from Des Monies, Iowa to Los Angeles. Family, friends, and fans were left to ponder how a boy who seemingly had it all could fall so far. He died alone on a cot in NYC with no one to claim his body.. Keep watching to learn more about Bobby Driscolls untimely death. Market data provided by Factset. Let us know in the comments. And I never listened to any other music after that. He also had smaller roles in movies such as Identity Unknown (1945) and Miss Susie Slagle's, From This Day Forward, and O.S.S. "He got into heroin. 1,400, This story has been shared 1,316 times. September 14, 2021, 5:02 am, by [30], For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Driscoll received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street in 1960. 2,066, This story has been shared 1,686 times. 2.9k Views. 30/30 1 /30 14 Ratings 8,604 Views 5 Comments 1 Favorites Flag It was tragic and there wasn't much you could do about it. And then I immersed myself into his extensive collection of work. While Robert Urich was famous for doing battle with tough foes on the screen. In Driscoll's later years, he was arrested multiple times for drug possession, assault, burglary and check-kiting before he was committed for drug rehabilitationin 1961. He starred in some of The Walt Disney Company's most popular live-action pictures of that period, such as Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart, and Treasure Island.He served as animation model and provided the voice for the title role in Peter Pan. Then I got older. Facts Verse "You know, pimples and all that kind of stuff. Four years later, a 31-year-old Driscoll was found dead on a New York City park bench, surrounded by beer bottles. He spent most of his time hanging out on Los Angeles beaches, where he befriended a group of young Hollywood actors like Robert Blake (Baretta), Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap), and Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story). Popular, by Market data provided by Factset. But according to the New York Daily News, the 29-year-old died by suicide in August 2013. "Like many adolescents, he developed a rough complexion," explained the former "Father Knows Best" star. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment. I later heard he was discovered overdosed in an abandoned building. The tv actor Bobby Driscoll died at the age of 31. Bobby Driscoll pictured in 1949. She was 12. The cause of death for the penniless 31-year-old was hardening of the arteries, a common side effect of longtime heroin use, Entertainment Weekly reported. And somewherealthough nobody is sure exactly whereon that island that once housed a woman's psychiatric asylum, a men's prison, and patients quarantined during an outbreak of yellow fever in the 1870s, is the final resting place of Peter Pan. It is a common side effect of habitual heroin abuse. The famed Disney animator Mary Blair, for instance, reportedly died from complications related to alcoholism, but that did not stop her from being inducted in 1991. It was at this time that Bobby Driscolls heroin addiction became much more obvious he did little to hide his use. A post mortem examination determined that he had died from heart failure caused by advanced atherosclerosis[57] from his drug use. Just in case you might think that this was all a coincidencethat writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand werent aware of Driscoll when they wrote this particular meta-joke in a movie made out of meta-jokesas Sweet Pete is talking, a film clip rolls of a teenage Peter Pan looking in the mirror at a budding mustache, and, yes, some acne spots on his chin. Get the best of Fox News' entertainment coverage, right in your inbox. It should be noted that all four of these men were all former child actors. 1 Year-Later She Realizes Her Huge Mistake, Bebe Buell Reveals Everything About Her Rock Star Romances, The Real Reason Peter Lawford Got Kicked Out of the Rat Pack, Pam Dawber is Unrecognizable Today (Try Not to Gasp), Why Jan Smithers DISAPPEARED After WKRP in Cincinnati, Celebrities Who Died Due to Medical Malpractice, The ONE Time Dolly Parton Got Naked in Public, Rare Photos of Lynda Carter Not Suitable for All Ages, The Tragic Death of Robert Urich & His Wife, The Tragic Life and Demise of Angie Dickinson, How Each Gilligans Island Cast Member Died. Driscoll and Luana Patten were the first two actors Walt Disney placed under contract. On April 7, 1974, Bobby went to visit a friend when his car slid off the bridge and plunged into the water. The former Disney child star who rose to fame at age 9 as "the first human being signed for Disney Productions," won a Juvenile Oscar at age 12 and then went on to voice the title role in 1953's animated film "Peter Pan" at age 16, met a tragic end. When Howard Hughes bought RKO, he essentially became head of Disney. [60][61][62], Driscoll received an Academy Juvenile Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 22nd Academy Awards presentation in 1950. He had an extremely high I.Q., but the narcotics affected his brain. The director was impressed by the boy's curiosity and intelligence and chose him over 40 applicants.[2][3].