The rise to fame can be a rocky road, especially if it starts when you’re just a kid. Cases like Macaulay Culkin’s have already shown us how tragic life can become for young people in Hollywood. But, far from the protagonist of “My poor little angel”, there is another much more tragic story: Bobby Driscoll, the first Peter Pan of cinemawho went from being a Disney star to the protagonist of a sad death.
How did the life of the man behind that magical character in green tights and pointy hat end?
Dead Peter Pan in a mass grave
In October 1969, a Disney executive received a call from a distraught mother whose husband, who was on his deathbed, longed to see his son before he died. A year earlier—exactly on March 30, 1968—a couple of children playing on the outskirts of Manhattan’s East Village had discovered the body of a 31-year-old man.
Bobby Driscoll was an enthusiastic young man until puberty and fame caught up with him. Photo: Classic Movie Hub/Twitter
Since nobody recognized him, after the corresponding investigations, he was buried in a common grave along with hundreds of homeless people and unrecognized bodies since the end of the 19th century. But what no one knew is that this man was none other than Bobby Driscoll, one of Disney’s great stars who in 1954, during his adolescence, had become Peter Pan and had surprised the world with his talent.
Bobby Driscoll, the boy who didn’t want to grow up
Bobby Driscoll was born in 1937, in the state of Iowa. The son of an insulation material salesman and a teacher, his life changed when his family moved to Los Angeles in 1943. The Driscolls’ new hairdresser, through his actor son, got an audition for a role in a Hollywood movie. Thus, that little boy with an innocent look and insightful attitude appeared in Lost Angel (1943) with just 6 years.
Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan. Photo: Walt Disney Archives/Twitter
Between 1944 and 1945, he appeared in such films as “The Fighting Sullivans,” “Sunday Dinner for a Soldier,” “The Big Bonanza,” and “Identity Unknown.” In 1946 she got one of the main roles in “So goes my love”, but It was not until 1946 that this young promise signed an exclusive contract with Disney. “Song of the south” (“Song of the south”) became his worldwide claim to fame.
Finally, in 1953, after starring in other films, Driscoll headlined the most important film of his entire career: “Peter Pan”. In this production he assumed the peculiar voice and model on which the animators were based to bring Peter Pan to life.
The film grossed close to $41 million and became an icon and classic house mouse. But that great success of the actor, 16 years old at the time, would be the last of his career, because he never made another film again. It was almost as if he had wanted to stay in that time span and never grow up again, just like his character.
Driscoll’s Monsters: Drugs, Crime, and Puberty
About his fall there is nothing completely correct. The book “Walt Disney: The Dark Prince of Hollywood” describes that he could have been a victim of Howard Hughes, who became owner of the Disney studios. The tycoon hated the children of Hollywoodas read.
Bobby Driscoll arrest photo. Photo: bobbydriscoll.net
It is also pointed out that puberty played a trick on him with a severe case of acne. This, plus the stagnation of his career, gradually caused Bobby to get closer to drugs.
In an article published when he turned 21, the actor described that he was not accepted by others. “They treated me like someone apart from the group. And I desperately tried to be one of the gang. When they rejected me, I fought back, I became aggressive and smug and I was scared all the time.said.
What followed for the star were some television roles, a marriage at age 19 that ended in divorce in 1960, and a great controversy in his adult life: accusations of assault with a firearm, robbery, forgery of checks and others. drug-related crimes.
All this led him to go through a rehabilitation center, but when he finally got out of it, no one ever knew more about him. He had disappeared from the map.
The last goodbye to Bobby Driscoll
Thanks to the management of Disney, a campaign led by his mother, his dying father and the Police, Bobby Driscoll’s body was identified thanks to his fingerprints.
“Song of the South”. Photo: Disney
Three years after his death, Disney re-released “Song of the South” in theaters, another classic of the company and of the actor’s filmography.
And his last goodbye was gone, the same one that years later is still sad and almost forgotten as the years go by.
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