Bobby Driscoll

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Actor Born March 3, 1937 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

In 1946, at the age of 9, Bobby Driscoll became the "first human being signed for Disney Productions." Famed cartoonist Walt Disney introduced real people into his films in "Song of the South" that year, with Driscoll cavorting with animated Uncle Remus characters.

Driscoll, who shot to fame in the late 1940s but whose career fell as rapidly in the early 1950s, got his start when he won a role in "Lost Angel" with Margaret O'Brien. He was soon under contract to Twentieth-Century Fox. By the time he was 9, Walt Disney wanted him.

"Song" won Driscoll and his costar Luana Patton a lot of attention. Soon they were known as Disney's "sweetheart team," also starring on "So Dear to My Heart," based on the Sterling North novel.

Patton dropped from the scene, but Driscoll stayed on with Disney, playing Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island" and doing the voice-over for "Peter Pan" in the all-cartoon feature.

Driscoll's career hit its height in 1949 when he won a juvenile Academy Award for "The Window" and "So Dear to My Heart." But by 1954, he was no longer needed as a child star.

— Donna Larsen in the Los Angeles Times Jan. 30, 1972

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