Co-Star

“He was a wonderful, wonderful person; you can be assured of that. People preyed on his weaknesses, and he didn’t have good parenting. And if he had better friends- if I were a better friend- you don’t know what could’ve happened.”

“I ran into him when he was... pretty high. And it was a different human being, and I worried so. I did the Ed Sullivan Show, I was voted the ‘Young Star of Tomorrow’ kind of thing, and he showed up there, at the Ed Sullivan Show, and he was- this was towards the end he was living in the Village. He was very complimentary and sweet. He looked fine, but he wasn’t fine. He needed some money, and I was worried where he was living, and who was taking care of him, was he together with his wife, which he wasn’t… and what was going on in his life, but you know what happens, someone comes along, and right in the middle of that conversation when you finally get to it, somebody whisks you away. And I- ‘I’ll be back!’... And that was the last time I saw him.”

“It was fun just working with him. I admired him so, and I knew that this was a new phase of his career, getting a film. And so, I was conscious of sort of taking care of him, you know? Making sure everything went well. I’m kind of a nurturing person, it comes with my Italian heritage, and I seem to want to take care of everybody that needs to be taken care of.”

“He made such an impact. I think he was a screen actor primarily because on the screen, he- those eyes, mouth- he became very three-dimensional, larger than life. And I think that was his real impact when he was a child. He just captured you, whoever was looking.”

“I do remember for a publicity press, he and I went on sort of a tour of the Hollywood area and took in several different places. As Bobby was taking Alice into the Wonderland of Hollywood, sort of. He was really friendly, just as he appeared on the screen, and just as he appeared in person. He was a friendly nice young man. We had a lot of fun together. I can remember there was an ice cream place where they wound up. And we just had a wonderful time having ice cream and just enjoying talking together”. – Katheryn Beaumont

Luana Patten related how she and Bobby were in the studio limousine with their respective mothers when Bobby said something "unacceptable" to Luana, and his mother hit him so hard that he wound up in the floor of the limousine, bleeding from a scratch on his cheek caused by her ring. He didn't cry, however, and I think Disney was pissed off with Mrs. Driscoll because they had to film around the scratch for a couple of days - I guess they were afraid that makeup might cause an infection.

“I worked with him in a movie called If You Knew Susie. It starred Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis, and he played my little brother. And we went to school together on that set, believe it or not. It was the two of us in a schoolroom that was 12' by 12', and we would work. So, I got to know him fairly well, although our age difference, of course. And he would go out and do his scenes and I would go out and do my scenes, and we'd do them together. And the interesting part to me was that I graduated high school doing that movie, so I didn't have to go back to school the last three weeks I was working there, and Bobby said "Oh, come back, come back, please! Stay in the school, I'm all alone!" So, I would read to him and the teacher would work with him. He was a fun little guy to work with, always knew his lines perfectly, and was always listening carefully to the director. I was impressed with him as a little boy and as an actor.”

“Excessive-I have another word for it.” - Burl Ives played Bobby’s uncle in So Dear to My Heart. He said this when asked if Disney’s attention towards Bobby seemed excessive.

“This [Disney Executive] gave Bobby a kiss. It wasn’t on the cheek. It was a wet one, real sloppy, that lingered far too long. It seemed inappropriate” - Ruth Warrick, played Bobby’s mother in Song of the South.