PIRATES! (Treasure Island) - A Sad Demise

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In Episode 106, we discussed the 1950 Walt Disney Production TREASURE ISLAND and its humorous Jim Henson Productions remake MUPPETS TREASURE ISLAND. 

This blog entry will pay tribute to actor BOBBY DRISCOLL who portrayed Jim Hawkins in the original Disney film. 

Bobby Driscoll had an impressive career as a highly acclaimed child actor. He was the first child actor to be signed exclusively to Disney Studios. Including Disney, he acted in twenty-two films (1943-1955), twelve episodes in television series (1956-1960), seventeen (number may be higher) radio shows, (1946-1957) and three stage performances (1954, 1957) before before turning twenty years old.

Driscoll was awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1950 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for his work in THE WINDOW and SO DEAR TO MY HEART. In 1954, he was awarded The Milky Way Gold Star Award (1954) for his work on radio and television. Bobby Driscoll's star (1960) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 1560 Vine Street.

Unfortunately, Driscoll was unable to find work as a serious adult actor, having to live with the label - Disney kid actor.  He left Hollywood in 1957 to try his hand at a regular job and succumbed to drug use.  Driscoll's life took a downward spiral with numerous arrests for drug possession, assault and forgery.  He spent time in prison and psychiatric hospitals and sadly, died alone at the age of thirty one.  Driscoll's body was discovered at a tenement home in New York City. He was without identification and penniless at the time of death. The cause being, heart failure due to drug use.  Since no identification could be made at the time of his death, Bobby Driscoll was buried in a pauper's grave in Potter's Field on Hart Island.  Such a sad, sad ending for a brilliant young performer.

 







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