63 Facts About Bobby Darin

In 1962, Bobby Darin won a Golden Globe Award for his first film, Come September, co-starring his first wife, actress Sandra Dee.

In 1959, Bobby Darin became inaugural winner of the Best New Artist category and won a Record of the Year for "Mack the Knife" at 2nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Bobby Darin was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the time of Robert Kennedy's assassination in June 1968.

That same year, Bobby Darin discovered the woman who had raised him was his grandmother, not his mother as he thought, and learned that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother.

Those events deeply affected Bobby Darin and sent him into a long period of seclusion.

The knowledge of Bobby Darin's vulnerability had always spurred him on to use his musical talent while still young.

Bobby Darin died in 1973 at the age of 37 in a hospital recovery room after having open heart surgery in Los Angeles.

Bobby Darin's maternal grandmother, Vivian "Polly" Fern Walden, was born on in 1891 and was of English, Danish and Norwegian ancestry and had been a vaudeville singer before Bobby Darin's birth.

Bobby Darin had been a made man and "soldier" in the Genovese Crime Family as well as a close associate of Frank Costello.

In 1968, when Bobby Darin was 32 and considering entering politics, Nina told him the truth, reportedly devastating Bobby Darin.

Bobby Darin refused to reveal the identity of his biological father and took that secret to her grave when she died in 1983.

Bobby Darin moved to the Bronx early in his life and graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science.

In later years, Bobby Darin attributed his arrogance to his experiences there, where Bobby Darin was surrounded by brighter students who teased him.

Bobby Darin then enrolled at Hunter College and soon gravitated to the drama department.

Bobby Darin was an ambitious young adult and aspired to be an actor, go on Broadway, and become a recording artist.

One version of how Bobby Darin got the name is that the first three letters on a Mandarin Chinese restaurant were burned out.

Bobby Darin's career took off with a songwriting partnership, formed in 1955 with Don Kirshner, whom he met at a candy store in Washington Heights.

In 1956, Bobby Darin's agent negotiated a contract with Decca Records.

At one point, Bobby Darin wanted to elope immediately; Francis has said that not marrying Bobby Darin was the biggest mistake of her life.

Bobby Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records' Atco subsidiary, where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others.

Songs Bobby Darin recorded, such as Harry Warren's "I Found a Million Dollar Baby", were sung in an Elvis style, which did not suit Bobby Darin's personality.

Bobby Darin made another recording in 1958 for Brunswick Records with a band called The Ding Dongs.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded the self-penned "Dream Lover", a ballad that became a multi-million seller.

Bobby Darin was voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year, and "Mack the Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

The late-1950s success included Bobby Darin setting the all-time attendance record at the Copacabana nightclub in Manhattan and headlining at the major casinos in Las Vegas.

Bobby Darin's 1960 recording of "Artificial Flowers", a song by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock from the Broadway musical Tenderloin about the death of a child laborer, featured a jazzy, big band arrangement by Richard Behrke, that was in sharp contrast to its tragic lyrics.

Bobby Darin signed Wayne Newton and gave him the song "Danke Schoen", which became Newton's breakout hit.

Bobby Darin was a mentor to Roger McGuinn, who worked for him at TM Music and played the 12-string guitar in Bobby Darin's nightclub band before forming the Byrds.

Bobby Darin produced Rosey Grier's 1964 LP Soul City, and Made in the Shade for Jimmy Boyd.

Bobby Darin wrote music for several films in which he appeared.

Dee and Bobby Darin made a few films together with moderate success, such as If a Man Answers, and That Funny Feeling.

In 1961, Bobby Darin starred as a struggling jazz musician in Too Late Blues, John Cassavetes' first film for a major Hollywood studio.

In October 1964, Bobby Darin appeared as a wounded ex-convict who is befriended by an orphan girl in "The John Gillman Story" episode of NBC's Wagon Train western television series.

Bobby Darin became more politically active as the 1960s progressed, and his musical output became more "folksy".

In 1966, Bobby Darin had a hit with folksinger Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter", securing a return to the Top 10 after a two-year absence.

Bobby Darin was with Kennedy on June 4,1968, the day he traveled to Los Angeles for the California primary, and Darin was at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated.

That event, combined with learning about his true parentage, had a deep effect on Bobby Darin, who spent most of the next year living in seclusion in a trailer near Big Sur.

Bobby Darin wrote "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969, which, in an interesting turn of events, was first recorded by Tim Hardin and the song became Hardin's best-selling record.

Bobby Darin himself sang the song "live" on several television variety shows.

Bobby Darin was struggling with his finances as his music career was dwindling.

In late 1969, Bobby Darin sold his songs, his record label, and publishing company, losing the copyright to his own music and eventually, their worth.

In 1970, Bobby Darin proposed a self-directed and written film The Vendors, about the life of a folk singer.

Bobby Darin released his last album, self-titled on Motown.

Bobby Darin subsequently made television guest appearances and remained a top draw.

Bobby Darin was on par with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

In 1960, Bobby Darin infamously told Life magazine that he wanted to be established as a legend by the age of 25.

Bobby Darin's television show included an occasional segment where he would explain a chess move.

Bobby Darin arranged with the United States Chess Federation to sponsor a grandmaster tournament, which pitted him against the young Eastern Division champion Stephen Ryder, with the largest prize fund in history, but the event was canceled after Bobby Darin's death.

When her father found out about the engagement, he stormed into the rehearsals of The Jackie Gleason Show with a gun and threatened to shoot Bobby Darin, who managed to escape out of a window.

Bobby Darin kept the letters until his death, and the letters were auctioned.

Bobby Darin was a calculating guy, but I don't think he arrived in Rome with a plan to marry this new little Mary Pickford of Hollywood.

Four months later, in October 1973, the couple divorced amid strain caused by Bobby Darin's worsening health problems.

Bobby Darin was frail as an infant and, beginning at age eight, had recurring bouts of rheumatic fever that left him with a seriously weakened heart.

Bobby Darin was well aware that he might not live long, and lived his life accordingly.

In 1973, after failing to take antibiotics to protect his heart before a dental visit, Bobby Darin developed sepsis, an overwhelming systemic infection, which further weakened his body and affected one of his heart valves.

On December 11 of that year, Bobby Darin checked himself into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles for another round of open-heart surgery to repair the two artificial heart valves he had received in January 1971.

In 1990, Bobby Darin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with singer and close friend Paul Anka announcing the honor.

In 1999, Bobby Darin was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

On May 14,2007, Bobby Darin was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars to honor his contribution to making Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and named him one of the twentieth century's greatest entertainers.

Bobby Darin abandoned the project, the rights to which were subsequently bought by actor Kevin Spacey, along with Darin's son, Dodd.

In September 2016, Dream Lover: The Bobby Darin Musical had its world premiere at Sydney Lyric Theatre, Australia.

Bobby Darin had an unusual upbringing, being raised by a "mother" who was actually his grandmother and alongside a "sister" who was actually his mother, a fact Bobby Darin did not discover until he was 31 years old.

Bobby Darin was inaugural winner of category Best New Artist in 1959.