Bobby Darin, under the radar as an actor

[stuart.uk]

A few yrs back I made a similiar thread about Johnny Cash, a great singer who was also a darn good actor, but kind of slipped under the radar in comparison to other all round entertainers like Sinatra, Crosby, Astaire, Kelly, Martin, Presley, even Tommy Steele. I feel the same way about Bobby Darin, who probably IMO was even better than Sinatra singing Mack The Knife. However, I think he was a very good actor with films like State Fair, Hells For Heros and Gunfight In Abeline.

I was also impressed with him in one of his last performances in an episode of Glenn Ford's modern day western series Cade's County, A Gun For Billy, where he played a disturbed young man who thought he was Billy The Kid. His wife in that episode was played by Linda Crystal, best known for Victoria in The High Chapperal.

I wondered how he coped with his action flicks, given the fact he had a serious heart condition. I tried to watch but was distracted Gunfight In Abeline where he played a sherif, to see if he was stunt doubled or not.

I only found out recently that Bobby's sister or so he thought was his mother. I watched Mysteries And Scandels and was told at the begining Bobby discovered a family secret that devasted him. I kind of twigged what it was when he featured on This Is Your Life when his much older sister came onto the stage, I bet she's his mum, I thought. She apparently told Bobby she was his mum when he was considering going into public office after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, because she was scared he'd find out her secret through the media. I wonder if it was a minor miracle she wasn't outed when Bobby became famous as an all-round entertainer. Given the fact it was the 1930s, I can understand her pretending to be Bobby's sister, but possibly she should have told him she was his mother when he was old enough to take it in, just as many adopted parents tell their kid's their adopted when they can understand what it means.


Bobby reminds me of another singer, the UKS Billy Fury, who died of a massive heart attack at age 42. Though he survived Bobby by 5-years, I wonder if Billy's heart condition was worse, in the sense he didn't work much in his 30s (Though he did the movie That'll Be The Day with David Essex and Ringo Starr), but died not long after making an ill-fated comeback against Doctors orders. Billy only made a couple of other movies, Play It Cool and I've Got A Horse, but neither was demanding in an acting sense. Whereas Bobby proved himself a worthy actor...............................................................