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IMDbPro

Bobby Driscoll(1937-1968)

  • Actor
  • Additional Crew
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Bobby Driscoll
Clock to Neverland Trailer
Play trailer1:14
Peter Pan (1953)
15 Videos
99+ Photos
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 Fighting 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 (1965) 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.
BornMarch 3, 1937
DiedMarch 30, 1968(31)
BornMarch 3, 1937
DiedMarch 30, 1968(31)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos101

Bobby Driscoll in Treasure Island (1950)
Bobby Driscoll in Treasure Island (1950)
Bobby Driscoll in Treasure Island (1950)
Bobby Driscoll in Treasure Island (1950)
Bobby Driscoll
Bobby Driscoll
Bobby Driscoll and Peter J. Votrian in Medic (1954)
Bobby Driscoll, Walter Fitzgerald, Geoffrey Keen, Robert Newton, and Basil Sydney in Treasure Island (1950)
Bobby Driscoll and Ruth Roman in The Window (1949)
Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale, and Arthur Kennedy in The Window (1949)
Bobby Driscoll in The Window (1949)
Bobby Driscoll, Ruth Roman, and Paul Stewart in The Window (1949)

Known for

Mel Blanc, June Foray, Kathryn Beaumont, Tony Butala, Paul Collins, Hans Conried, Bobby Driscoll, Robert Ellis, Connie Hilton, Margaret Kerry, Tommy Luske, John Wilder, Jeffrey Silver, Stuffy Singer, and Anne Whitfield in Peter Pan (1953)
Peter Pan
7.3
  • Peter Pan(voice)
  • 1953
The Window (1949)
The Window
7.4
  • Tommy
  • 1949
Song of the South (1946)
Song of the South
7.0
  • Johnny
  • 1946
Robert Newton in Treasure Island (1950)
Treasure Island
6.9
  • Jim Hawkins
  • 1950

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Dirt (1965)
    Dirt
  • Sidney Poitier, Pamela Branch, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Lisa Mann, and Lilia Skala in Lilies of the Field (1963)
    Lilies of the Field
    • (uncredited)
  • Clint Eastwood, Paul Brinegar, and Sheb Wooley in Rawhide (1959)
    Rawhide
    • (as Robert Driscoll)
  • The Brothers Brannagan (1960)
    The Brothers Brannagan
  • The Best of the Post (1960)
    The Best of the Post
  • The Chevy Mystery Show (1960)
    The Chevy Mystery Show
  • Robert Culp in Trackdown (1957)
    Trackdown
    • (as Robert Driscoll)
  • Men of Annapolis (1957)
    Men of Annapolis
  • The Party Crashers (1958)
    The Party Crashers
  • Frank McHugh and Marvin Miller in The Millionaire (1955)
    The Millionaire
    • (as Robert Driscoll)
  • M Squad (1957)
    M Squad
  • The Silent Service (1957)
    The Silent Service
  • Dick Powell in Zane Grey Theatre (1956)
    Zane Grey Theatre
  • Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955)
    Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre
  • TV Reader's Digest (1955)
    TV Reader's Digest

Additional Crew

  • Mel Blanc, June Foray, Kathryn Beaumont, Tony Butala, Paul Collins, Hans Conried, Bobby Driscoll, Robert Ellis, Connie Hilton, Margaret Kerry, Tommy Luske, John Wilder, Jeffrey Silver, Stuffy Singer, and Anne Whitfield in Peter Pan (1953)
    Peter Pan
    • (uncredited)

Soundtrack

  • Disney Sing-Along-Songs: Circle of Life (1994)
    Disney Sing-Along-Songs: Circle of Life
  • The Music of Disney: A Legacy in Song (1992)
    The Music of Disney: A Legacy in Song
  • Mel Blanc, June Foray, Kathryn Beaumont, Tony Butala, Paul Collins, Hans Conried, Bobby Driscoll, Robert Ellis, Connie Hilton, Margaret Kerry, Tommy Luske, John Wilder, Jeffrey Silver, Stuffy Singer, and Anne Whitfield in Peter Pan (1953)
    Peter Pan
    • (uncredited)
  • Song of the South (1946)
    Song of the South

Videos15

Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 0:25
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 1:30
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 0:46
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 0:58
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 0:52
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 1:19
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 0:48
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
Clip 1:28
Peter Pan: Diamond Edition
So Dear To My Heart
Clip 1:09
So Dear To My Heart
So Dear To My Heart
Clip 1:31
So Dear To My Heart
Trailer
Trailer 0:32
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:11
Trailer

Personal details

Edit
    • March 3, 1937
    • Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
    • March 30, 1968
    • New York City, New York, USA(occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis)
    • December 3, 1956 - 1960 (divorced, 3 children)
  • Other works
    (8/19/48) Radio: Appeared in the "Family Theater of the Air" production of "Jamie and the Promise".
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Was the first actor to sign a long-term deal with Walt Disney's animation dept. When found dead, his identity was unknown and he was buried as a "John Doe" in pauper's grave on Hart Island in New York City. A year later, fingerprints finally revealed his identity.
  • Quotes
    (on his rise and fall in Hollywood) "I have found that memories are not very useful. I was carried on a silver platter and then dumped into the garbage can."
    • Bright smile and presence
    • Treasure Island
      (1950)
      $1,750 a week

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