All rights reserved. 3,489, This story has been shared 2,872 times. ", While hanging out on Los Angeles beaches, Driscoll befriended a group of young Hollywood turks like Gray, Robert Blake (Baretta), Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap), and Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story). Unfortunately, he started putting that money into his veins. Get the best viral stories straight into your inbox! According to biographer Marc Eliot, who wrote about Driscoll in his 1993 book Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince, it was more due to the general hatred of child actors from RKO head Howard Hughes. In 1965, a year after his parole expired, he relocated to New York, hoping to revive his career on the Broadway stage, but was unsuccessful. 2,872, This story has been shared 2,789 times. [35] He said later, "The other kids didn't accept me. I made lots of money, so I recruited other toons to star in more movies. There were no signs of foul play. Bobby died penniless and alone in an abandoned East Village, New York City tenement and is buried in Potter's Field on nearby Hart Island. And while Williams sadly is no longer with us, Pam Dawber is still alive and well. 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. Discover at 5, while getting a haircut, Bobby Driscoll is the son of an insulation salesman and former schoolteacher. Prison sentences were the kiss of death for Hollywood actors in those days, so after briefly working as a carpenter, Driscoll left his young children behind and moved to New York City in 1965, where he forged an unlikely relationship with, of all people, Andy Warhol. January 19, 2022, 6:17 pm, by (LMPC via Getty Images), "He had a drug problem," said Gray. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Despite the lengths they go to in order to protect their wholesome image, its no secret that Disney has a dark side. "He didn't really recover from being abandoned by Hollywood," reflects actor Billy Gray, who played Bud Anderson on the classic sitcom Father Knows Best and later befriended Driscoll. Driscoll and Luana Patten were the first two actors Walt Disney placed under contract. ", "He really was a sweet guy," Gray shared. He died at the age of thirty-one from drugs and misery. [43], Driscoll began using the name "Robert Driscoll"[44] to distance himself from his youthful roles as "Bobby" (since 1951, he had been known to friends and family as "Bob",[45] and in Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Early Space Conquerors, 1952, was credited as "Bob Driscoll"[46]). He was just 31 years of age. It is a common side effect of habitual heroin abuse. What more could you ask for? "He sounds like a baseball player to me," offers a patrolling police officer with a shrug. 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). Viewers of the movie pointed out the reference on Twitter, calling out the film for making a joke in poor taste, with one user calling the joke disgusting., So the fact that in Disneys reference heavy we dont give care if this is self promo youll watch it anyways film they make a grown Peter Pan the villain with his motivation being that he was fired from Disney due to acne, is fucking disgusting (this pic is from the credits) pic.twitter.com/gfugvAvd7O, Bobby Driscoll was the voice of Peter pan and one of Disney poster child before they basically threw him to the street when he reached puberty. I called it Flying Bedroom Boy. (Wallace Berman died in 1976). The director was impressed by the boy's curiosity and intelligence and chose him over 40 applicants.[2][3]. [30], After Driscoll left the Disney studios, his parents withdrew him from the Hollywood Professional School, which served child movie actors,[31][32][33][34] and sent him to the public West Los Angeles University High School, instead. I talked to a priest at the prison that he was in, and I got Bobby's prison records. CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER REMEMBERED BY SOUND OF MUSIC CO-STAR JULIE ANDREWS: I HAVE LOST A CHERISHED FRIEND, Bobby Driscoll with pen in mouth in a scene from the film 'When I Grow Up', 1951.
Bobby Driscoll - NNDB He was a heroin addict. (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.) If it weren't for the fact that the Walk of Fame isn't known for honoring athletic achievement, it would be a good enough guess. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. And it wouldnt be until four years later that the public learned of Driscolls grim fate in 1972 when his Disney film "Song of the South" was re-released. In this case, that boy's twisted road to manhood ultimately detoured into (and out of) jail, through multiple marriages (and divorces) to the same woman, and finally winding through Andy Warhol's Factory to a tragic end. His agent took me out to a part.". "If we weren't at Disneyland, we were at collectible stores looking for vintage antiques," says Allender of himself and his dad, who used to write for Tomart's Disneyana Update magazine. He was only 31 years old. "The way I understand it, it was a rather rude dismissal," says Gray. A post mortem examination determined that he had died from heart failure caused by advanced atherosclerosis[57] from his drug use. But Warhol loved having him as part of his scene. His own mother didnt know he had died until a year-and-a-half after he was found, and the public wasnt alerted to his death until the re-release of Song of the South in 1972. Alcohol abuse, drug overdose, violent fits, and severe depression. Driscoll also engaged in a more dangerous form of recreationheroin. Some theorists even [] More, Are you a fan of sitcom My Three Sons? "I had no residence. But the adulation is only one part of it. Other kids prove themselves once, but I had to prove myself twice with everyone. In that same article, Driscoll described his marriage dissolving and becoming virtually homeless. Bobby Driscolls journey from child star to troubles adult includes a stint in jail. A child actor's childhood is not a normal one. 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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. "What Disney saw in Driscoll was the perfect, wholesome, all-American kid who dreams of being with pirates and all that," explains Hollywood biographer Marc Eliot, author of Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. If youre as captivated by his story as we are, be sure to like the video and subscribe to our channel for more videos! It is a common side effect of habitual heroin abuse. Thanks for watching The Shocking Life & Death of Bobby Driscoll. The cause of the death was determined as heart failure due to advanced hardening of arteries, resulted from long-term drug abuse. I got cast in the biggest movie in the world as the boy who wouldnt grow up: Peter Pan, Sweet Pete (voiced by Will Arnett) explains to the chipmunks. Driscoll's last major success, Peter Pan (1953), was produced largely between May 1949 and mid-1951. "We were buddies," said Gray. In 1968, Driscoll's body was discovered in Greenwich Village by children playing in an abandoned tenement building.
Even if the main character is the star in one of the favorite Disney movies of all time. [1] Scala is interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. "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. View final resting place and family links here.
Luana Patten (1938-1996) - Find a Grave Memorial No one takes notice beneath their feet, though a little girl pops a bubble that a street vendor just blew her way right on top of the star. 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. That was Warhol's perversity in full playyou know, dissipated Hollywood.". 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. He was just another sullen teen with pimples. says the actress. A child actors childhood is not a normal one. [56], On March 30, 1968, two boys playing in a deserted East Village tenement at 371 East 10th St. found Driscoll's body lying on a cot, with two empty beer bottles and religious pamphlets scattered on the ground. A household name at the age of 9. Today, Gray remembers Driscoll not as the fallen child star, but simply as his friend. Bobby Driscoll wasnt really part of the hip New York City underground crowd. He had no identification. He performs in nine films in just three years, before landing the role of Johnny. ", Bobby Driscoll, circa 1950. Let us know in the comments.
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