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| Bobby Driscoll/A Forgotten Life March 3, 1937 - March 30, 1968 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| When Bobby Driscoll was 12-years-old, he won an Academy Award for the wonderful film noir "The Window." Bobby's life is also one of Hollywood's darkest chapters. Bobby would later say of his career in Hollywood "I was carried on a satin cushion and then dropped into a garbage can." Bobby was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was the son of Cletus Driscoll, an intstaller of asbestos insulation,, and Isabelle Kretz Driscoll, a school teacher. In 1943, when Bobby was 5, the family moved to Altadena, California, where a barber suggested to Bobby's parents that their boy should be in movies. Bobby appeared in the "Lost Angel"(1943) and "The Sullivans" (1944). Bobby also appeared in four movies for Disney, "Song of the South"(1946), "So Dear To My Heart"(1949); he played Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island"(1950) and was the voice of "Peter Pan"(1953)in the animated feature of the same name. All of Bobby's movies for Walt Disney were hits and are considered film classics. Bobby attended The Hollywood Professional Actor's School where he was a straight A student and one of the most popular kids in school. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At the Academy Awards Ceremony in 1950, 12-year-old Bobby Driscoll received a Special Academy Award for his role in the film noir thriller "The Window," about a boy who witnesses a murder and can't get anyone to believe him. Bobby also won a Golden Globe for his performance. Everyone who ever worked with Bobby always commented what a great kid he was: he worked hard and he never complained. He was well liked and was considered the most talented kid of his time. When Bobby went through puberty his voice changed and he developed a severe case of acne: never unemployed as a child, Bobby suddenly found work scarce. Bobby soon discovered that most of his Hollywood "friends" were even better actors than he was. From 1954 to 1957 most of his work was on TV. The quality of his performances never declined. He had an excellent role on Richard Boone's The Medic/Laughter is a Boy. A small guest appearance in "The Travels of Jamie McPheter"(starring Kurt Russell) in 1963 was his last acting job. Bobby married Marilyn Jean Rush in December 1956. Bobby and Marilyn had three children, but eventually divorced.. By his late teens, Bobby was experimenting with drugs, eventually turning to speed and heroin. Bobby was arrested repeatedly for drug possession. After serving a term in California's Chino State Penitentiary, he disappeared. He eventually turned up in New York City in 1965. One story reported that Bobby wanted to revive his career by seeking work on Broadway, but it came to nothing. Bobby Driscoll died of a heart attack at age 31 on March 30, 1968: some children found his body in a trash-filled, deserted tenement off Tompkins Park in Greenwich Village in New York City. The same kind of building that was used in the filming "The Window", years earlier. No one could identify Bobby's body, so he was buried in a pauper's grave in "Potter's Field" on Hart Island in New York off Long Island Sound. A year later, his mother enlisted the FBI and Disney studios to find him. A fingerprint match led to the discovery of his fate in October 1969. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Remember Me... Remember me with smiles and laughter, Because that is the way I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, Then don't remember me at all. An Irish Poem of Remembrance |
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| A beautiful song about Bobby Driscoll Avenue A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Below: Bobby in Treasure Island/The Window | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I am writing a book about Bobby Driscoll. Please feel free to share your opinions, reflections or memories. Rod Serling once gave me some great advice, "Don't write someone's biography unless you like them." I do, Rod. Brian Keith O'Hara bkohatl@netscape.net |
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| Bobby Driscoll Message Board |
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| The actual cause of Bobby's death was a heart attack, not an OD.There has been a story in the press for the last 34 years that Disney paid to have Bobby's remains brought home to his family. That is not true. In fact, Bobby is still buried in a pauper's grave in New York. Bobby and his children deserve better. Hollywood owes them. His family has a headstone, but they never got their son, their husband or their father back. A personal plea to Hollywood: "Bring Bobby Home!" |
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| A Memorial Page to Bobby Driscoll | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Next Page: Brian Keith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Hart Island | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||