Bobby Driscoll died without a penny to his name, despite being one of Hollywood‘s biggest child stars. The actor was just nine-years-old when he landed a lead role in the live-action musical, Song of the South, in 1946. He went on to star in some of Walt Disney’s best known live-action films of that period, including So Dear to My Heart (1949), for which he won an Academy Juvenile Award, RKO’s The Window (1949) and Treasure Island (1950).
The rising star provided the voice of Peter Pan in 1953 and looked to be Hollywood‘s next best thing. However, once he started growing up, Driscoll’s acting career began to decline and he was sensationally dropped by Disney. Some say that Disney decided to sever its contract with him in 1953 because he was too old to play the roles they desired. However, biographer Marc Eliot, who wrote about Driscoll in his 1993 book Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince, claimed it was because RKO head Howard Hughes had a strong dislike of child actors.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Eliot said, “When Howard Hughes bought RKO, he, in effect, became the owner of the Disney studio. He controlled the money and he hated Bobby Driscoll. He hated Hollywood kids. He thought they were precocious, weren’t real, and were incredibly annoying. He didn’t want Bobby Driscoll to be with Disney anymore.”
When he was 16, Driscoll moved out of his parents house and began studying acting in New York City. However, all attempts to get his career back on track failed.
By the age of 17, Driscoll started experimenting with drugs and it wasn’t long before he became addicted to heroin.
After he was repeatedly arrested for drug possession, assault, and burglary, Driscoll struggled to find work because he had a criminal record.
Driscoll married his longtime girlfriend, Marilyn Jean Rush, in 1956, and they had three children together. Their relationship did not last however, and the couple divorced in 1960.
In 1968, two children discovered Driscoll’s dead body in a deserted apartment building in the East Village. He was surrounded by beer bottles and religious handouts.
The medical examiner determined the cause of death as “sub-occlusive coronary arteriosclerosis,” or hardening of the arteries, which is a common side effect of longtime heroin abuse.
Due to his drug addiction, Driscoll had no contact with his children in his final years. Driscoll’s mother, Isabelle, who had not heard from her son in years, only found out about his death nearly a year and a half later. The former Hollywood star died penniless and alone at the age of 31.