In a 1961 magazine article titled The Nightmare Life of an Ex-Child Star, an adult Driscoll wrote, I was lonely most of the time. Mork, of course, played by the late Robin Williams. Rock stars are infamous for their insatiable appetites for all things in excess. Thanks for watching The Shocking Life & Death of Bobby Driscoll. The body was unknown and went unclaimed. Additional screen portrayals included the boy who could blow his whistle while standing on his head in Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, the "child brother" of Richard Arlen in The Big Bonanza (both 1944), and young Percy Maxim in So Goes My Love (1946),[5] with Don Ameche and Myrna Loy. A household name at the age of 9. So how to explain a former child star who worked alongside Tinseltown greats like Charles Boyer, Alan Ladd, Roy Rogers, and Joan Fontaine falling so far from a life of klieg lights and Academy awards to become just another indigent in an unmarked grave on Hart Island, where his body remains today? When Howard Hughes bought RKO, he essentially became head of Disney. So for Bobby Driscoll, it's the perfect place to be buried. Multiple marriages to the same woman, also the wild world of Andy Warhols Factory scene, and a tragic end. Meanwhile, according to Entertainment Weekly, the cause of death of Driscoll was a hardening of the arteries, a common collateral effect of long-term heroin use. Bobby Driscoll: Date of birth: 3 March 1937 Cedar Rapids Robert Cletus Driscoll: Date of death: 30 March 1968 East Village: Manner of death: natural causes; Cause of death: heart failure; Place of burial: Hart Island; Work period (start) 1943; Work period (end) 1965; Country of citizenship: The (1949) -- (Movie Clip) The Boy Cried Wolf On location in New York, Bobby Driscoll as "Tommy," loaned out from Disney, terrific opening by cinematographer-turned-director Ted Tetzlaff, Academy Award-nominated editing by Frederic Knudtson, from The Window, . Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com. Talking Hart Island: Bobby Driscoll with Dave Bossert on Apple Podcasts Today I visit the famous gravesites of Disney actor Bobby Driscoll, NFL football player Junior Seau, Glenn Miller Band musician Paul Tanner and Sergeant Pres. He wasn't really part of the crowd," says Eliot, who remembers seeing Driscoll in the '60s in a Greenwich Village club. From a money pit 100 feet deep to Shakespearean manuscripts, the legendary finds on Oak Island have kept it in the news for centuries. "People make mistakes. Some say a severe case of puberty-induced acne prompted Disney to sever its contract with Driscoll in 1953. Bobby Driscoll American actor (1937-1968) . Tragic Child Star Gets a Surprise Spotlight in - Vanity Fair At one point, Bobby became part of The Factory, Andy Warhol's art collective in Greenwich Village, New York. Filmography. 4,151, This story has been shared 3,489 times. Driscoll attempted to maintain steady work in several TV shows and guest appearances over the years, but he never achieved the same stardom he once had as a sought-after actor. From Austin Butler and Cate Blanchett to a potential Best Supporting Actress toss-up, see who EW thinks will win at the 2023 Oscars. The cause of his death was later determined to have been brought on by his addiction to heroin. Today, Gray remembers Driscoll not as the fallen child star, but simply as his friend. Still perceived as "Disney's kid actor",[28] he was unable to get movie roles as a serious character actor. 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. The agent starts working, landing Bobby Driscoll a bit role opposite Margaret OBrien in the 1943 film Lost Angel. Theirs was clearly a complicated and volatile relationship, as they split up three years, two marriages, and two divorces later! Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers is facing criticism for a Peter Pan joke that appears to allude to the poor treatment of one of Disneys first big child stars. I'm not really sure why I started using narcotics. No one seems to know how the then 31-year-old Driscoll spent his final days in New York City and why he ended up in an abandoned apartment where those kids found his body. The Shocking Life & Death of Bobby Driscoll - YouTube Bobby Driscoll. And that was the end of it. That's why I'll never watch this shitty movie. He was just another sullen teen with pimples. [1] Scala is interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. First he headed east to New York City to study acting. The boy on a silver platter thrown out like trash indeed https://t.co/EeBap3xbOQ, Bad Opinions Red Ranger in Another World (@SirBadOpinions) May 21, 2022. 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. "I have this Forrest Gump-ian way of touching something and it becomes a hit!" Market data provided by Factset. He had an extremely high I.Q., but the narcotics affected his brain. Some people can't get out of it. But trouble was never far away. 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. by So in 1965, after briefly working as a carpenter, Driscoll left his children with his now ex-wife and moved to New York City permanently. Then I started putting all my spare time in my arm. It would take the re-release of Song of the South four years later in 1972, for the general public to discover the former Disney stars demise. 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. Former Child Stars Who Met Tragic Fates - NickiSwift.com Driscoll's remains were unclaimed. He said his childhood wasnt a happy one, and that he was lonely most of the time. Stars Who Died Penniless | Cheapism.com Discover at 5, while getting a haircut, Bobby Driscoll is the son of an insulation salesman and former schoolteacher. Driscoll was arrested multiple times for drug possession, assault, burglary, and check kiting before he was finally committed for drug rehabilitation at Chino Men's Prison in 1961. According to Entertainment Weekly, he left home at age 16 and headed to New York City to study acting. | Photo: Getty Images In March 1953, the additional two-year option Driscoll had been extended (which would have kept him at Disney into 1956) was cancelled, just weeks after Peter Pan was released theatrically. . 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. Moves from Des Monies, Iowa to Los Angeles. Tragic Accident That Took the Life of 'Hazel' Actor Bobby Buntrock 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". Perhaps someday Driscolls story will be told on the big screen, and not in the background of a meta-verse kids movie. Driscoll's second long-run Disney contract allowed him to be lent to independent Horizon Pictures for the double role of Danny/Josh Reed in When I Grow Up (1951). "Bobby was a curiosity. Bobby Driscoll suffered a tragic life after Disney dropped him. Afterward, he was crying all the time. 1,400, This story has been shared 1,316 times. He was strong(smart) and he should have known better. [6] Driscoll then played the lead character in Song of the South (1946), which introduced live action into the producer's films in conjunction with extensive animated footage. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Robert Cletus Driscoll (March 3, 1937 c. March 30, 1968) was an American actor who performed on film and television from 1943 to 1960. January 27, 2023, 7:28 pm, by "He said later that Bobby just didn't want to be a 'good little boy' anymore. [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. Driscoll and Luana Patten were the first two actors Walt Disney placed under contract. When it was released in May 1949, it became a surprise hit. He eventually dropped out of both, failing to get the same fulfillment out of college life as he did from the bright lights of Hollywood. And as time went on, the body went unclaimed. All rights reserved. [5] Film and television credits [ edit] When Driscoll left Chino in early 1962, he was unable to find acting work. They bury him in a mass, unmark paupers grave on Hart Island in The Bronx, New York. He was still earning $50,000 a year good money in those days, working steadily with good parts. When his mother attempted to contact Bobby Driscoll before his father died, she learned of his death. Embittered by this, he said, "I have found that memories are not very useful. Fifty years after his death, it's a question that continues to trouble some of his oldest friends. Date Of Death: March 30, 1968 Cause Of Death: N/A Ethnicity: White Nationality: American Bobby Driscoll was born on the 3rd of March, 1937. The apparent cause was heart failure, brought on by his drug abuse. Their barber's son, an actor, got Bobby an audition at MGM for a role in the family drama Lost Angel (1943), which starred Margaret O'Brien. If youre as captivated by his story as we are, be sure to like the video and subscribe to our channel for more videos! "He turned me on to Bach when I was 15," he chuckled. ), For his part, Allender just wants to see Driscoll remembered for his achievements, not his shortcomings. Soon after, Driscoll started to spend time a bit inland, up in Topanga Canyon dabbling in poetry, songwriting and art. ", Bobby Driscoll, circa 1950. I still thank [Bobby] for that. The award was presented as a special miniature Oscar statuette for "the outstanding juvenile actor of 1949" for his roles in So Dear to My Heart and The Window, both released that year. As a child, starting at the age of 10, he was one of the first child actors to land a Disney contract. And unlike todays celebrity obsessed social media, Bobby Driscolls death was barely noticed by the many. The cast and crew of the crime drama were understandably "devastated" by his death, releasing a statement. Oscars flashback: The tragic life and death of Disney star Bobby While on a tour across the studio lot, five-year-old Driscoll noticed a mock-up ship and asked where the water was. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. In 1968, Driscoll's body was discovered in Greenwich Village by children playing in an abandoned tenement building. So, it shouldnt really be that big of a surprise that, with numbers like those, celebrities would face the same risk of dying [] More, The Shocking Life & Death of Bobby Driscoll, Judge Judy is Quitting Heres Her New Show, Scientists Discovered Evidence That Exposes An Ancient Lie About Woolly Mammoths, Handlers Thought This Owl Was Male For 23 Years Then He Laid An Egg, This Baby Elephant Decided To Spend His Last Days Alongside This Creature, Woman Adpots Tiny, Adorable Puppy. The reason for Bobby Driscoll death was stated that Bobby Driscoll died due to Heart failure. ", KIM NOVAK EXPLAINS WHY SHE LEFT HOLLYWOOD: 'I FELT LIKE I WAS LOSING MYSELF', Bobby Driscoll (left) with Hedda Hopper (right) and Luana Patten (center), circa 1947. How can a former child star who works with Hollywood greats like Alan Ladd, Roy Rogers, and Joan Fontaine fall so far from the bright lights and big screen? Bobby Driscoll: the tragic life of the old-Hollywood actor that gave us
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