Image of Bobby Driscoll

Bobby Driscoll

Bobby Driscoll was a natural-born actor. Discovered by chance at the age of five-and-a-half in a barber shop in Altadena, CA. and then convincing in anything he ever undertook on the movie screen and on television throughout his career spanning 17 years (1943-1960). Includes such notable movie screen appearances as The Sullivans (1944), Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1948), and The Window (1949), which was not only the sleeper of 1949 but even earned him his Academy Award in March 1950 as the outstanding juvenile actor of 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 not smooth enough to be used for voice-over jobs, his last big movie hit was 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 (1953) in late March 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. He successfully continued acting on TV until 1957 and even managed 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. 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, 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 short _Dirt_, in 1965 and a short art-period at Andy Warhol's so-called Factory, he disappeared into the underground, thoroughly dispirited, funds depleted. 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 buried in an unmarked pauper's grave on Hart Island, where he remains.


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Born:
May 3, 1937
Movie/TV Credits:
40
First Appeared:
In the movie Sunday Dinner for a Soldier 1944-12-08
Latest Project:
Movie Once Upon a Studio 2023-09-24
Known For
Poster of M Squad
Poster of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
Poster of The Oscars
Poster of Peter Pan
Filmography
Movie Once Upon a Studio Peter Pan (voice) (archive footage) 2023-09-24
Movie Walt Disney Treasures - The Complete Goofy Goofy Jr. 2002-12-03
Movie The Story Behind Walt Disney's 'Fun and Fancy Free' Self (archive footage) 1997-01-01
Movie Disney's Halloween Treat Peter Pan (voice) (archive footage) 1982-10-30
Movie Dirt Nun 1965-09-25
Movie Lilies of the Field Mexican Holding Chapel Door (uncredited) 1963-06-04
Movie The Party Crashers Josh Bickford 1958-09-01
Series M Squad Unknown 1957-09-20
Series Trackdown Unknown 1957-10-04
Series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre Unknown 1956-10-05
Movie The Scarlet Coat Ben Potter 1955-07-29
Series The Millionaire Unknown 1955-01-19
Series Navy Log Unknown 1955-09-20
Series Climax! Unknown 1954-10-07
Series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Unknown 1954-10-27
Movie Peter Pan Peter Pan (voice) 1953-02-05
Series Letter to Loretta Unknown 1953-09-20
Series The Oscars Unknown 1953-03-19
Movie Father's Lion Goofy Jr. (voice) 1952-01-04
Movie The Happy Time Robert 'Bibi' Bonnard 1952-10-30
Series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Unknown 1951-10-05
Movie Fathers Are People Goofy Jr. (voice) (uncredited) 1951-10-21
Movie When I Grow Up Josh / Danny Reed 1951-04-19
Series Dragnet Unknown 1951-12-16
Movie The Walt Disney Christmas Show Peter Pan 1951-12-25
Movie Treasure Island Jim Hawkins 1950-07-19
Series Lux Video Theatre Unknown 1950-10-02
Movie One Hour in Wonderland Himself / Peter Pan 1950-12-25
Movie The Window Tommy Woodry 1949-05-10
Movie If You Knew Susie Junior Parker 1948-02-07
Movie Melody Time Bobby Driscoll 1948-05-27
Movie So Dear to My Heart Jeremiah 'Jerry' Kincaid 1948-11-29
Series Studio One Unknown 1948-11-07
Movie From This Day Forward Billy Beesley 1946-03-02
Movie So Goes My Love Percy Maxim 1946-05-01
Movie Song of the South Johnny 1946-11-12
Movie O.S.S. Gerard 1946-05-26
Movie Identity Unknown Toddy Loring 1945-04-02
Movie Sunday Dinner for a Soldier Jeep Osborne 1944-12-08
Movie The Big Bonanza Spud Kilton 1944-12-30