Bobby Darin

Walden Robert Cassotto, nicknamed "Bobby", was born in The Bronx, New York, in 1936. Severe rheumatic fever as a child scarred his heart and led to an overprotected and pampered childhood. He was the focal point of a family that fostered and encouraged his love of music. His music career started out with writing songs and taking demos around to different music producers.

When he was still a struggling songwriter at the now famous Brill Building, he met then up-and-coming singer Connie Francis. After a rocky beginning, the two develop an amicable relationship and were soon madly in love. He had wanted to marry Connie but her overprotective father would not let her date, let alone marry, anyone. When Darin suggested the two elope, he was chased from one of her shows by her gun-toting father. Darin and Connie only saw one another twice after that incident, once during a television appearance in which they sang together and once during the filming of This Is Your Life (1950) of which Connie was the subject, in which the announcer had congratulated Bobby on his recent marriage to actress Sandra Dee. Connie has stated several times that not marrying Bobby was one of the biggest mistakes she ever made in her life.

Attended and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science (1953).

Early in his career, while performing "Rock Island Line" on The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show (1954), he had the lyrics written on the palms of his hands, as he had to learn the song on short notice.

He made his television debut on March 10, 1956, on The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show (1954), performing "Rock Island Line". He had the lyrics written on the palms of his hands, as he had to learn the song on short notice.

In 1958 he performed the song "Splish, Splash" on Dick Clark's American Bandstand (1952). It was a huge hit and eventually would sell over one million copies. The next year was a big one - he won two Grammies, for Best Record ("Mack the Knife") and Best New Artist. "Mack the Knife" stayed in the top ten for 52 weeks, nine of those at #1. This was Bobby's fourth gold record.

His #1 hit song, "Mack the Knife", had a strange connection with the number "59": it was the 59th #1 single of the rock era, it entered the Billboard charts at #59, and was the second biggest-selling record of 1959.

His next goal was to make a movie, and that opportunity came in 1960 with the film Come September (1961), for which he also wrote the title song. The movie was filmed in Rome and that's where he met Sandra Dee. She was 16 years old and at the top of her career. They were engaged two months after they met and their son, Dodd Darin, was born a year later. Bobby continued to perform in night clubs and make movies.

Seriously campaigned for the role of "Tony" in West Side Story (1961). Ironically, he would wind up winning his only Golden Globe Award in 1962 for "Most Promising Newcomer" in a virtual tie with with Richard Beymer, who got the role as "Tony", and Warren Beatty, who had also seriously campaigned for the same role.

(1963). Despite very good reviews, he lost the Oscar to Melvyn Douglas.

In 1964 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Captain Newman, M. D.

In 1967 he asked for and was granted a divorce. Sandra was quoted as saying, "He just woke up one morning and didn't want to be married anymore". More realistically, their careers had kept them apart more often than not, and they had struggled with the marriage practically from the beginning.

He went in for heart surgery in 1971 and from that point on he had bouts of ill health.

After his recovery he continued to do nightclub acts and the next year he did a popular summer variety show called The Bobby Darin Show (1973). The last year of his life was spent dealing with health problems related to his heart, yet he continued to work when he could.

He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1735 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on May 26, 1982.

Posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) and the American Songwriters Hall of Fame (1999).

Did not find out until the age of 32 that the woman he thought to be his sister was in fact his mother and and the woman he thought was his deceased mother was in fact his grandmother. This was listed in VH1's The Greatest: 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll History (2001).

He was posthumously awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 14, 2007 (what would have been his 71st birthday).

The New York Times Magazine listed Bobby Darin among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire.

In the 2016 Australian version of "Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical" stage show, Darin was portrayed by David Campbell; and on a rotating basis Kyle Banfield, Nocholas Cradock and Brendan Godwin portraying both the young Bobby Darin and Dodd Mitchell Cassotto.

His song "Eighteen Yellow Roses" is mentioned in Hollywood Mouth 3 (2018).