In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Eliot said, When Howard Hughes bought RKO, he, in effect, became the owner of the Disney studio. He controlled the money and he hated Bobby Driscoll. The cast and crew of the crime drama were understandably "devastated" by his death, releasing a statement. But such is the story of Bobby Driscoll. [42] They had two daughters and one son, but the relationship did not last. 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. It is a common side effect of habitual heroin abuse. The voice of Disneys animate Peter Pan at age 16 dead at the age of just 31. [11], Driscoll was lent to RKO[12] to star in The Window, based on Cornell Woolrich's short story "The Boy Cried Murder". There were no signs of foul play. 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. In 2011, the Hart Island Project was created to make it easier for people to find out whose remains ended up on the one-mile stretch of land. He even created collages and small works of art. Alongside other homeless or indigent individuals who fall on hard times. The body was unknown and went unclaimed. 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. Here is all you want to know, and more! My clothes were at my parents' [house] but I didn't live anywhere. However, it marks the start of a successful relationship between Disney Studios and Bobby Driscoll. So for Bobby Driscoll, it's the perfect place to be buried. Heart Attack. Hassan Even the Oscar that Driscoll won for many, the ultimate sign of professional success in the movie industry was lost over the years. Keep watching to learn more about Bobby Driscolls untimely death. or redistributed. "[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. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The cause of death has no bearing on someone's ability to be considered for Disney Legends. He was treated so rudely by Hollywood. In addition to Peter Pan, he also had roles in Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1949), and Treasure Island (1950). Bobby Driscoll is presented by Donald O'Connor with special Academy Award at age 12 as the outstandi. Fatal addiction to drugs destroyed Bobby Driscoll's brilliant career as a child star and left him for dead in an abandoned New York City tenement at age 31. He just never found his way and made that choice.". "We were buddies," said Gray. Discover at 5, while getting a haircut, Bobby Driscoll is the son of an insulation salesman and former schoolteacher. But Bobby Driscollwho was the voice and the animation model for the studios 1953 animated classic Peter Panhad an experience with the company that was particularly bleak. When his mother attempted to contact Bobby Driscoll before his father died, she learned of his death. Hassan It's a very sad story, but, you know, take a look at A Star Is Born. 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. 30/30 1 /30 14 Ratings 8,604 Views 5 Comments 1 Favorites Flag | Photo: Getty Images 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. "[36][37] At his request, Driscoll's parents returned him the next year to Hollywood Professional School, where in May 1955 he graduated.[38]. 1,686, This story has been shared 1,509 times. 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. He hated Hollywood kids. 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. Late in 1961, he was sentenced as a drug addict and imprisoned at the Narcotic Rehabilitation Center of the California Institution for Men in Chino, California. 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. Get the best of Fox News' entertainment coverage, right in your inbox. Keep watching to learn more about this classic Hollywood rise and fall. Bobby Driscoll Biography Bobby Driscoll Networth Bobby Driscoll American actor was born on 3 March 1937. Now I get to decide whos a star, and who gets thrown in the trash.. (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.) In those days, a prison sentence was as good as a death sentence when it came to a Hollywood career. The mounting terror of a young boy who lives in mortal fear of his life is projected with remarkable verisimilitude by 12-year-old Bobby Driscoll in "The Window," which opened on Saturday at the Victoria. "They told him he was no longer able to come to the studio. "People make mistakes. Some theorists even [] More, Are you a fan of sitcom My Three Sons? It has been said hes located somewhere on the northern part of the island, where herds of deer and other animals roam free. Popular, by The man was unknown and had no identification. Read more from EW's Pop Culture True Crimes Series: Oscars Flashback: The tragic life and death of former Disney star Bobby Driscoll. Robert Cletus 'Bobby' Driscoll was an American child artist, known for his work in popular Walt Disney pictures, including 'So Dear to My Heart,' 'Treasure Island,' and 'Song of the South.' . "That ought to settle the matter right there," argues his old friend Gray. A New Jersey woman who prefers to remain anonymous quietly maintains a website devoted to Driscoll's life and career. Bobby Driscoll American actor (1937-1968) . 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. A child actor and the voice of "Peter Pan," Driscoll started using drugs, primarily heroin, at age 17 after he was no longer working for Disney. "He got into heroin. Alcohol abuse, drug overdose, violent fits, and severe depression. [23][24] Scenes were played on an almost empty sound stage, with only the most essential props, and filmed for use by the animators. In 1968, Driscoll's body was discovered in Greenwich Village by children playing in an abandoned tenement building. 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. Then I started putting all my spare time in my arm. Then back west, where he enrolled first at UCLA and later Stanford. And unlike todays celebrity obsessed social media, Bobby Driscolls death was barely noticed by the many. ", The budding star made four movies for Disney, including Treasure Island, Peter Pan, and So Dear to My Heartwhich, together with his role in The Window for RKO Pictures, earned Driscoll the Juvenile Academy Award in 1950. "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. Who was this man, and what happened? Though the live-action/animated musical (which featured the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah") would ultimately represent an embarrassing chapter in Disney's storied history because of its offensive stereotypes and candy-coated depiction of slavery, it marked the start of a successful relationship between the studio and Driscoll, who became the first male actor to ever secure a Disney contract. Gray said he and his pal lost touch when Driscoll headed to New York. They bury him in a mass, unmark paupers' grave on Hart Island in The Bronx, New York. There, his grades dropped substantially, he was the target of ridicule for his previous film career, and he began to take drugs. It isnt personal Hughes hate all Hollywood kids. [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. Facts Verse Let us know in the comments. Flippo asked Parton about what the most outrageous thing shed [] More, Robert Urich was known throughout the world as a tough guy. (Getty Images). 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. ", The split was devastating. In 1953, the teen was unexpectedlydropped by the studio. In 1972, the matriarch described to Movie Digest how drugs changed her son. And like any Disney villain, he gets his comeuppance in the end. But contemporary actors like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez willingly left the Mouse House; Driscoll didn't have a choice when the studio unexpectedly dropped its golden child in 1953. "I had everything," he said in an interview after his sentence. Driscoll's salary at Disney had been raised to $1,750 per week[26] and compared to his salary, Driscoll had little work from 1952 on. "My feeling is that it's not a shameful place to be buried," says Hunt, who hopes to someday see the cemetery accessible to the public. Academy Award-winning actor of Disney films in the 40s and early 50s who died from a drug overdose. Market data provided by Factset. Driscoll portrayed Robert "Bibi" Bonnard in Richard Fleischer's comedy The Happy Time (1952), which was based on a Broadway play of the same name by Samuel A. Taylor. A 7-year-old boy visits his grandfathers plantation in Disneys Song of the South. [5] Film and television credits [ edit] 2,872, This story has been shared 2,789 times. So how to explain a former child star who worked alongside Tinseltown greats like Charles Boyer, Alan Ladd, Roy Rogers, and Joan Fontaine falling so far from a life of klieg lights and Academy awards to become just another indigent in an unmarked grave on Hart Island, where his body remains today? And they threw me away like I was nothing. I was scared, desperate, and all alone, says Sweet Pete. The New York Times credited Driscoll with the film's success:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, The mounting terror of a young boy who lives in mortal fear of his life is projected with remarkable verisimilitude by 12-year-old Bobby Driscoll in "The Window," which opened on Saturday at the Victoria. The former Disney child star who rose to fame at age 9 as "the first human being signed for Disney Productions," won a Juvenile Oscar at age 12 and then went on to voice the title role in 1953's animated film "Peter Pan" at age 16, met a tragic end. "I became a beatnik and a bum," Driscoll said in the 1961 magazine article. Having starred in such television programs as VEGA$ and Spenser: For Hire. The punches dont stop there. He was strong, he had a good intellect and he should have known better. Perhaps someday Driscolls story will be told on the big screen, and not in the background of a meta-verse kids movie. 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. On the night of April 30, 1972, 38-year-old Scala was found dead in her Hollywood Hills home. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. January 19, 2022, 6:17 pm, by But that was a choice he made, and you couldn't talk him out of it. Family, friends and fans were left wondering how a star that could shine so bright would burn out so quickly, and fall so far. [35] He said later, "The other kids didn't accept me. He was just another teen boy with a bad case of acne. "I heard that he was informed that he was no longer under contract through them by driving up to the entrance and being refused entrance into the studio. In 1968, Bobby Driscoll's dead body was found by two boys exploring the ruins of an abandoned tenement in New York's Greenwich Village. He was born Robert Cletus Driscoll in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the only child of Cletus (19011969), an insulation salesman, and Isabelle (ne Kratz; 19041981), a former schoolteacher. "He liked heroin. Bobby Driscoll was an American child actor known for a large body of cinema and TV performances from 1943 to 1960. View final resting place and family links here. Does anyone here even know the name at the center of those five points? [17], Treasure Island was an international hit, and several other film projects involving Driscoll were under discussion, but none materialized. Gray said Driscoll eventually resorted to heroin. Multiple reports alleged the once "Wonder Child" had to rely on heavy makeup to hide pockmarks on his skin. I felt he was changing but his father said no, it was just a phase he was going through like most boys. 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. Triangle of Sadness Ending Explained: Does Abigail Kill Yaya? From a money pit 100 feet deep to Shakespearean manuscripts, the legendary finds on Oak Island have kept it in the news for centuries. Despite the lengths they go to in order to protect their wholesome image, its no secret that Disney has a dark side.