Bobby driscoll s lonely death metal kid
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His body was unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked pauper's grave on New York's Hart Island. He was just 31 years old. Or, more accurately, what can be said in public? But the normal 16-year-old doesn't make a career off of their boyish looks, and the onset of bad acne and a deepened voice was catastrophic for the actor.
He didn't want Bobby Driscoll to be with Disney anymore." It led to Bobby Driscoll being released from his contract, but the manner in which it happened is Hollywood at its most shameful.
As recounted by fellow child actor and friend Billy Gray, "He [Driscoll] came to the lot one day, and they wouldn’t let him in at the gate.
That’s how he found out he was fired. Mystery shrouds the circumstances of his death and the last days he spent in the Big Apple.
The cause of death was determined by the medical examiner as "sub-occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis," often associated with long-term heroin abuse.
In those final years, addiction took its toll, leaving Driscoll estranged from his loved ones.
His performance in both films earned Driscoll the Juvenile Academy Award in 1950. It's a tragic tale from Hollywood's dark history.
Bobby Driscoll, From a Barber Shop to Neverland
Per the previously cited Entertainment Weekly, Driscoll was 5 when a barber in Pasadena, whose son was in the movies, suggested that he should be too, an all-American kid with a cute nose and freckles. Driscoll was set up with the son's agent, who landed him a bit part in 1943's Lost Angel.
Disney then cast him as Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island and, most famously, as the voice and animation model for Peter Pan. At just five years old, Driscoll was cast in MGM’s Lost Angel, starting a career that would quickly make him a household name.
Driscoll’s early years in Hollywood were a whirlwind.
He controlled the money and he hated Bobby Driscoll. He moved to New York in 1965 in hopes of restarting his career on Broadway, but success never came.
Whatever Happened to Bobby Driscoll? At his peak, Driscoll was earning $1,750 a week (the equivalent of more than $22,000 a week today).Everett Collection
Everett Collection
However, as Driscoll reached his mid-teens, a severe case of acne limited his on-screen opportunities.
He even reportedly registered at UCLA and Stanford, but ended up dropping out of both institutions when he found himself struggling to carve out his path.
Despite his efforts to reignite his career on the big screen, Driscoll was unsuccessful but he landed parts on TV series like TV Reader's Digest, Men of Annapolis, and Rawhide.
Diving into drugs at the age of 17, Driscoll quickly descended into heroin addiction.
He hated Hollywood kids. Driscoll became entrenched in The Factory, which is known as Warhol's Greenwich Village art community.
Bobby met a tragic end in NYC and was discovered by children who were wandering an abandoned East Village building in 1968. But perhaps the most tragic piece of the story is how Driscoll never got to look back on his child stardom fondly, saying: "Memories are not very useful.
That would be followed up with what would be Driscoll's most famed contribution to Disney's legacy, as voice actor and character modelfor"The Boy Who Never Grew Up" in 1953'sPeter Pan.
Bobby Driscoll Is Shut out of Neverland
Driscoll was 16 when he voiced Peter Pan, and, like any 16-year-old, was dealing with the changes that accompany puberty.
His family moved to Los Angeles and by chance, a barber’s connection to the film industry landed him his first audition. What can be said about this amazing - and humble - man that hasn't been said before? He played the youngest Sullivan brother in The Fighting Sullivans and landed roles alongside stars like Don Ameche and Myrna Loy.
In 1946, Disney signed him to a contract, pairing him with Luana Patten in Song of the South. Lloyd also holds fast to the belief that all of life's problems can be answered by The Simpsons, Star Wars, and/or The Lion King.