Robert Cletus Driscoll Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
Robert Cletus Driscoll (March 3, 1937 – March 30, 1968) — known as Bobby Driscoll — was an American child actor known for a large body of cinema and TV performances from 1943 to 1960. He starred in some of The Walt Disney Company's most popular live-action pictures of that period, such as Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1948), and Treasure Island (1950). He served as animation model and provided the voice for the title role in Peter Pan (1953). In 1950, he received an Academy Juvenile Award for outstanding performance in feature films.In the mid-1950s, Driscoll's acting career began to decline, and he turned primarily to guest appearances on anthology TV series. He became addicted to narcotics and was sentenced to prison for illicit drug use. After his release he focused his attention on the avant-garde art scene. In ill health due to his substance abuse, and with his funds completely depleted, he died in 1968, less than four weeks after his 31st birthday.
Peter Pan, Song of the South, Treasure Island, So Dear to My Heart, The Window, The Party Crashers, Melody Time, The Happy Time, So Goes My Love, The Scarlet Coat, Identity Unknown, The Big Bonanza, When I Grow Up, If You Knew Susie, Father's Lion, From This Day Forward, The Fighting Sullivans, O.S....
A child lives in a world of its own, so, logically, a successful story for children must strike a chord in that world; possibly involve something he would like to do if he had the chance, like fly with his own wings or go down a rabbit hole, but above all, it must be something he can understand. Anything a child understands, chances are he will enjoy. However, everyone seems to enjoy these successful, so-called children's stories. For instance, you'll never meet a truthful person who says he doesn't like movie cartoons, especially a man. Someone said that women were always women, and men were always children. - in the Humboldt Guardian, June 24, 1954
2
(Standing before a California judge in 1961 on his drug addiction) I had everything. I was earning more than $50,000 a year, working steadily with good parts. Then I started putting all my spare time in my arm. I'm not really sure why I started using narcotics. I was 17 when I first experimented with the stuff. In no time at all I was using whatever was available, mostly heroin, because I had the money to pay for it.
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(on his adolescence) "I really feared people. The other kids didn't accept me. They treated me as one apart. I tried desperately to be one of the gang. When they rejected me, I fought back, became belligerent and cocky and was afraid all the time."
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(as a child) "I'm going to save my money and go to college, then become a G-man."
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He's got a great talent. I've worked with a lot of child players in my time, but none of them bore the promise that seems inherent in young Driscoll. -- Don Ameche
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(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."
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Fact
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Even though he was the studio's first contract player, Disney terminated Driscoll's second long-term contract (covering seven years) three years early, in 1953, weeks after the theatrical release of Peter Pan. It is generally believed that his severe acne was the reason. This prevented him from playing other feature roles for the studio that would seem to be tailor-made for him, like Johnny Tremain (1957) and The Light in the Forest (1958).
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Buried in a mass grave on New York's Hart Island, better known as Potter's Field.
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Even though his character was animated he was the first boy ever to play Peter Pan. Before then only women played Peter Pan.
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One of cinema's most critically acclaimed boy actors, he won a special Academy Award at age 12 as the "outstanding juvenile actor" of 1949 for his excellent work in the films So Dear to My Heart (1948) and The Window (1949).
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His voice was used for Walt Disney's feature Peter Pan (1953) and an actual "acting" performance was filmed, then rotoscoped for the animated character.
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Driscoll's body was discovered in an abandoned apartment at 371 East 10th St. in New York City's East Village by two children playing there on March 30, 1968.
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Was the first actor to sign 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. A year later, fingerprints finally revealed his identity.
$19 Million
