Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin Headshot

Musician • Actor

Birth Date: May 14, 1936

Death Date: December 20, 1973

Birth Place: Bronx, New York

Spouses: Sandra Dee

Brash, self-confident musical performer who in a few brief years from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s rose from teen singing idol to smooth, polished nightclub headliner to Oscar-nominated actor (as a shell-shocked GI in 1964's "Captain Newman, M.D."). Sickly from early childhood, with recurring bouts of rheumatic fever which weakened his heart, Darin developed a swaggering, finger-snapping assertive style as a performer. With a keen understanding of the music industry, he wrote popular songs for the teen market while developing a wider, more adult audience by branching out with pop renditions of more sophisticated fare such as Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife" winning him nightclub popularity, numerous TV appearances (earning up to $40,000 a show) and two film contracts.

Darin appeared in fifteen films over a thirteen-year span, mostly light romantic comedies with a few forays into more dramatic fare (John Cassavetes' "Too Late Blues" 1961 and "Pressure Point" 1962) and wrote songs and often the scores for most of the films in which he appeared. His wildly diverse career was cut short by a fatal heart ailment that originally seemed poised to fell him as a young boy, possibly the reason he packed so much into his brief life. Darin's story was eventualy told on film, and stylishly, by one if his most ardent admirers, actor Kevin Spacey, who co-wrote, directed and starred in "Beyond the Sea" in 2004.

Credits

Bobby Darin: A Night With

Host
Show
2021

Bobby Darin: This Could Be The Start Of Something Big, Just In Time

Music Performer
Show
2021

Bobby Darin: Mack the Knife

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: By Myself

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: Dream Lover

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: When Your Lover Has Gone

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: You're the Top

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Saints

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You

Music Performer
Show
2020

Bobby Darin: You Make Me Feel So Young

Music Performer
Show
2020

The Legendary Bobby Darin

Music Performer
Show
2019

The Bobby Darin Show

Host
Show
1973

Happy Mother's Day, Love George

Actor
Eddie
Movie
1973

Night GalleryStream

Guest Star
Series
1970

The Happy Ending

Actor
Franco
Movie
1969

Cop-Out

Actor
Barney Teale
Movie
1967

Gunfight in AbileneStream

Actor
Cal Wayne
Movie
1967

Gunfight in AbileneStream

Original Music
Movie
1967

Le Shérif aux poings nus

Actor
Movie
1966

That Funny Feeling

Actor
Tom Milford
Movie
1965

The Judy Garland Show

Guest Star
Variety Show
1963

Captain Newman, M.D.

Actor
Corporal Jim Tompkins
Movie
1963

Bobby Darin: Things

Music Performer
Show
1962

If a Man Answers

Actor
Eugene Wright
Movie
1962

Hell Is for Heroes

Actor
Pvt. Corby
Movie
1962

State Fair

Actor
Jerry Dundee
Movie
1962
18%

Too Late Blues

Actor
John 'Ghost' Wakefield
Movie
1962

Pressure PointStream

Actor
Patient
Movie
1962

Bobby Darin: Artificial Flowers

Music Performer
Show
1961

Come September

Actor
Tony
Movie
1961
86%

Pepe

Self
Movie
1961

The Big Party for Revlon

Actor
Party Host
Show
1959

Ford Startime

Actor
Show
1959

The Dick Clark Show

Self
Show
1958

Wagon TrainStream

Guest Star
Series
1957

The Big Beat

Actor
Show
1957

I've Got a SecretStream

Guest
Game Show
1952

The Red Skelton ShowStream

Guest Star
Variety Show
1951

The Jack Benny ProgramStream

Guest
Series
1950

What's My Line?Stream

Guest
Game Show
1950