Written by Roger Crosthwaite, this article appeared in
Australia's People magazine on February 5, 2007.
CROONER BOBBY DARIN PACKED A BUNCH OF LIVING INTO HIS SHORT LIFE
A dodgy heart meant no-one expected Bobby Darin to live long. However, the tough guy from New York not only defied the doctors, he defied the critics, too, and enjoyed a rapid rise to stardom in the early 60s as a singing idol. But death was always waiting in the wings - pop music's shooting star finally fell to earth in 1973, at the age of 37.
Diagnosed with a bad heart at an early age, Walden Robert Cassotto - later to rename himself Bobby Darin - wasn't expected to live past his teens.
Born into dire poverty in the Bronx, New York - the strange circumstances of his birth kept secret from him for most of his life - he devoted what time he had to achieving success quicker than anyone ever had before.
As a singer, he tackled a range of musical genres from rock 'n' roll to swing, pop, country and even folk.
In 37 short years, he proved himself to be a talented multi-instrumentalist, a prolific writer of hit songs, a successful music publisher, and Oscar-nominated actor and a successful television show host.
He was also a political activist and close friend of assassinated presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.
A DEPRESSING START
Even before Darin was stricken with rheumatic fever at age eight, his life was a tangle of tragic circumstances. His ill-health was attributed partly to a bad diet and little medical attention, courtesy of being brought up dirt-poor in The Bronx during the latter years of the Great Depression.
His grandfather Sam Cassotto - a gambler, small-time crook and morphine addict - dies in the throes of withdrawal in the infamous Sing Sing prison, leaving Darin's grandmother Polly to raise a daughter by herself.
When Nina Cassotto became pregnant at the age of 16 - the father having legged it - a scheme was concocted whereby the pregnancy would be concealed, then the baby passed off as Polly's.
So for most of his life, Bobby knew Polly as his mother and Nina as his sister, only discovering the truth when his real mum told him in 1968. Even then, she refused to reveal the name of his father, a secret known only to the two women who raised him.
But despite the poverty and the dark family secret, Darin always seemed destined for success.
RHEUMATIC FEVER
The possessor of a near-genius IQ, Darin had taught himself to read by the age of six, then later was admitted to the prestigious Bronx Science High School.
Even during the recurring painful bouts of rheumatic fever that lasted till he was 12 years old, he was obsessed with a future in show business, an obsession shared by Polly and Nina.
But they never hid the seriousness of Bobby's condition from him. As a kid he had to come to terms with the fact he was going to die young.
Before Darin had graduated from high school he'd started his career, teaching himself to play several instruments, singing, acting and writing songs in a frenzy of activity in an effort to beat the ticking time bomb in his chest.
Dropping out of college to play nightclubs, he kick-started his recording career with a couple of flops before enjoying his first smash hit, "Splish Splash," in l958, followed by "Dream Lover" (both his own compositions).
Next came his versions of the Kurt Weill song "Mack the Knife" and the French song "La Mer," which he renamed "Beyond the Sea."
At the same time his songs were invading the charts, his reputation as a nightclub entertainer was growing, and he was setting new ticket sales records in Las Vegas, Hollywood and New York, outstripping those sets by legends such as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
He laid it on the line in an interview with LIFE magazine in 1960. "I want to make it faster than anyone has ever made it before. I want to be a legend by the time I'm 25 years old."
He was 23 at the time.
It seemed like everything had to be done in a hurry.
He met 18 year old actress Sandra Dee in August 1960 on the set of Come September, his first movie in a starring role.
He pursued, wooed and married her - against her parent's wishes - on December 1.
Their son Dodd was born in 1961 but Darin, far from slowing down, stepped up the pace of his career, taking on more movie roles, TV specials and constant nightclub engagements.
OXYGEN TANKS
Bobby had to have oxygen tanks backstage in case his health took a turn for the worse during a show. Doctors told him radical - and dangerous. Heart surgery was inevitable if he was to live much longer.
Still, the rewards for his manic drive to "make it" were piling up - critical acclaim for his increasingly serious movie roles, including an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Captain Newman, MD and music publishing deals which earned him millions.
He gave up the stage shows for two years to concentrate on his business interests and acting - and allow his health to recover - but in 1965 it looked like it was all in vain.
When he was rushed to hospital with a serious lung infections, doctors estimated the entertainer would be lucky to last another 48 hours.
However, he recovered - only to hit the road again in 1966.
"It isn't true you only live once," he said in an interview that year. "You only die once. You live lots of times if you know how."
It was too much for Sandra, who was tired of the constant round of nightclub gigs and a husband who seemed to be trying to kill himself with work. They divorced in 1967.
Throwing himself into a further hive of activity, Darin began his political phase, covering songs by Bob Dylan and other radical 60s singers.
He penned his own about the Vietnam War, civil rights in America and even the persecution of famed Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
He supported his friend Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968 and was devastated when JFK's younger brother was assassinated that year.
Darin had his own political aspirations, too, and was preparing to run for the Democrats in California when he finally discovered the truth of his upbringing and decided it would inevitably be used against him in an election campaign.
And all the time his health was getting worse. Sometimes his heart would begin fibrillating, beating up to 160 times a minute, leaving him exhausted, unable to move.
KEEP ME ALIVE
The long-postponed surgery was looming, and in late 1970 it was becoming critical Darin have it soon. But he asked his doctors to keep him going long enough so he could play an already sold-out month's worth of gigs at The Sands hotel in Las Vegas.
"You keep me alive for those weeks," he bargained with them, "and the moment I close I'll check into the hospital."
Gulping oxygen between songs and spending nearly all his time off stage in bed, he got through the month, then check in for the operation.
After five days in intensive care, the good news was the operation had been a success. The bad news was it had only bought him a short time.
The artificial valves fitted in his heart would only last a couple of years.
Another operation would be inevitable, and the odds against surviving that one would be even higher.
Bobby's last years ran at the same breakneck pace as the rest of his life. In 1972, he took on the burden of hosting his own TV variety show, punctuated by making records and playing live shows.
Some nights he had to stay on stage when the curtain came down 'cos he was unable to make it off under his own steam.
There were more hospitalizations, and in August 1973 he played his last gig at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Despite publicly scoffing at press reports he was dying, he spent the next few months visiting old friends to quietly say goodbye.
On December 10, his heart malfunctioning so badly he could hardly walk, he checked into a Los Angeles hospital for one last time.
The second operation didn't save him - on December 18 he slipped into a coma, dying two days later.
SIDEBAR - DARIN'S LEGACY
Kevin Spacey had been a long time fan of Bobby Darin, having grown up listening to the singer's records in his parent's collection.
In 2000, Spacey acquired the film rights to Darin's life story and took on the job of producing, directing, co-writing and starring in the movie, title Beyond the Sea.
Despite good reviews after its release in 2004, it was a box-office flop, but it sparked renewed interest in Bobby's accomplishments.
Darin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.
In 2003, Robbie Williams re-recorded the song "Beyond the Sea" for the soundtrack of the animated film, Finding Nemo.
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