Featured Artist - Bobby Driscoll

Best known to Disney fans as the voice of Peter Pan!







Bobby Driscoll lived a very short, rollercoaster life.

He was discovered as a natural actor in a barbershop at the very young age of five-and-a-half! And, he was the first actor to sign a long term contract with the Walt Disney animation department.

At the age of 12, he was given an Oscar for outstanding juvenile actor for his performances in So Dear to my Heart (A Disney Movie) and The Window (RKO Picture).



At about the age of 16, Bobby Driscoll played his most famous roll - Peter Pan. He acted out all the parts himself before they were animated onto film. He was also the first boy ever to play Peter Pan (traditionally, Peter Pan is played by a girl.)
Here are some production pictures for y'all!





Unfortunately, life doesn't always have a fairytale ending for us like in the magical world of Disney. ;_;

Bobby Driscoll was introduced to drugs at the age of seventeen, had several run-ins with the law, and was sentenced as a drug addict 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."

He managed to get rehabilitated by 1962, but Hollywood back in the day was less than forgiving. Because of his record as a convict and a drug addict, nobody would work with him. Dispirited and alone, he eventually died fundless in New York at the age of 31 - two children found his body in an abandoned tenement, and was buried as a "john doe" in a pauper's grave on Hart Island. His identity was discovered later on by fingerprinting.

"I have found that memories are not very useful. I was carried on a silver platter and then dumped into the garbage can."~ Bobby Driscoll, on his rise and fall in Hollywood.

Though his story had a less than happy ending, his life definitely had an impact on us. He brought joy and warmth to the screen whenever he was on it - animated or not. And, it serves us a valuable life lesson; don't become a slave to drugs, and if you know someone who has, don't give up on them.  





"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."~ Bobby Driscoll


Artwork feature!



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