From the bookThat’s All – On Record, Stage & Screen by Jeff Bleiel.

From Dick Clark's forward:

"I've always admired Bobby Darin tremendously."

"He was equally tough and gentle."

"He was autocratic and at the same time very democratic."

"He was generous to a fault."

"If I were in trouble, no matter where he was, he would find me and come to my aid. Had I needed it, he would have given me money."

"I had my share of emotional setbacks. Bobby was always there to advise and console me."
"I could always count on Bobby Darin. He knew he could count on me."

Quotes by Dick Clark from the "Beyond the Song PBS Special."
Submitted by Katie Hasbrouck.

"I just want everybody to know how great he was."

"Bobby Darin and I were very close. We could say anything to one another."

"He was extraordinary."

"You just don't find that much talent all packaged in one body."

From the book That's All: On Record, Stage & Screen by Jeff Bleiel.
Submitted by Marilyn Brown and MaryAnn Brown.

Richard Bakalyan – page 42-43 – “Bobby was one of the guys, one of the boys,” Bakalyan said. “He’d go to the wall for you if there was trouble. I’ve heard that he was a cocky guy and this and that,” Bakalyan recalled. “He was far from that. He was a gentleman and he treated everyone with great respect and they responded in same.”

“No matter how bad he felt, he never laid it on other people.” – page 192

Alan Thicke – page 185 – I think we had a pretty warm relationship for a staff writer-star kind of situation,” recalled Thicke. “He was very kind me, and generally kind to the staff. I was quite honored that he came to my house for dinner one night. We spent the night shooting pool and shooting the breeze. I don’t think he saw me as just another writer doing just another job. I think he enjoyed teaching me, and being my mentor in some ways.”

Bobby Scott – page 42 – But Scott also saw another side of Darin, a friendly nature apparent to friends and associate, but rarely relayed in the press.

“I’m not putting a halo on his head, he deserves no halos, “ Scott said, “But, if you run across somebody that really paints him out black, you can believe they didn’t know him.

“He was put down by almost everyone I’d met in the business,” Scott said, “But I never met anyone who had a decent idea about who and what he was. The reason I found this contempt odd was that Darin was a remarkably convivial fellow.”

Darin was also a loyal friend. When Bobby Scott’s wife was in the hospital deliver their first child, Scott was broke.

“Bobby Darin came to the rescue, “ Scott recalled. “He offered to give me money with no strings attached. He gave me enough work – arranging and accompanying – over the next couple of weeks to tidy everything up for us financially.

“The first gift my daughter got—delivered to the house by messenger when they got home—was from Bobby, “ Scott said, “He beat the relatives.”

“But, he was not a malicious person,” Scott continued. “Not at all. A lot of people thought he was a smart aleck: he wasn’t. I think he threw up a lot of defenses and gave the wrong ideas to people. I think he was, at core, really a very, very good person.

Richard Gehman – page 39 – In a brutal January 1961 TV Guide profile (“The Astounding Brash Character of Darin”), Richard Gehman made his intense personal dislike of Darin explicit – “He does not merely talk rudeness, he lives it.” Yet, even Gehman could not pronounce Darin completely unappealing.

“There is more than a suspicion in my mind that the extreme cockiness is merely a device for attracting attention." Gehman wrote, “All I can report is that for all his faults and offenses … Bobby Darin still is somehow an appealing, interesting fellow … There is a single–minded honesty about him and a candor that is all too rare in the strange show-biz world he inhabits.”

Bob Crewe – page 197 – “He was terrific, very easy to work with, the consummate professional. A lot of people thought he was temperamental. I never did. He wanted things right."

Dion DiMucci – page 20 – “He was a great person to be around – positive, fun and extremely ambitious.”

Richard Bakalyan – page 182 – “Bobby afforded me the opportunity to do a lot of things that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do.”

Page – 184 – “Bobby had a great sense of humor and put-on. I remember being at a screening at his house once. He went into the bathroom for a long time, and we kept waiting for him to come out. We finally went in, and there was nobody in there. He had crawled through this very small window, climbed along the ledge, came in through the kitchen, and was watching everybody look for him in the bathroom. It was hilarious.”

Ernest Chambers – page 195 – “On the set, he was extremely courteous with people. He’d lose his temper with us, the bosses. But he would never pick on the little guy. I liked him very much and felt a lot of affection and respect toward him.”

Dick Clark – page 12 – Clark has called Bobby Darin “my all-time favorite performer” and “probably my closest friend in the business.”

Page 4 – “I used to laugh when people told me how Bobby was an arrogant little son of a bitch. But if you knew him, he was the kindest, gentlest person.”

Steve Douglas – page 104 – “ Bobby was very generous in giving that tune [“Danke Schoen”] to Wayne. Bobby wanted Wayne to have a hit record.”

Geoff Edwards – page 182 – “Everybody was having a great time and all of us loved him. Working on that show [“The Bobby Darin Show”] was the happiest six months of my life.”

Charles Koppelman – page 126 – “He related to the lyrics. [Tim Hardin songs.] Bobby was a very honest, compassionate person, and I think those lyrics and that genre of music struck a chord.”

Georges LaForge – page 172 – He was a very down to earth person, no pretensions whatsoever.”

Roger McGuinn – page 87 – “Bobby had a lot of influence on me.” … “It was a good training ground.” … “It was almost like coming up in vaudeville or something. Bobby was like an old trouper. It was like he was from another era. He was a more professional performer than most people I know in the business today. He was punctual and he was precise and he hit the mark all the time. He was a brilliant guy, real bright, and he could do anything he wanted to do very well.”

Terry Melcher – page 103 – Bobby was very personable. He was funny and he had a lot of magic and a tremendous amount of energy.”

Don Rubin – page 130 – “He was a joy to work with. Every time he walked into the studio, he was prepared and right on, and gave you a great performance.”

Bobby Scott – page 43 – “If I told Bobby ‘I need something,’ he got it for me. If I said ‘Six strings ain’t gonna work, I want twenty,’ twenty would have been there. He was as good as his word in all those departments.”

Quitman Dennis – page 151 – “ He was just being a guy like the rest of us, and we just started clowning around and doing stuff in the studio. I really didn’t know this ‘other’ Bobby Darin, and neither did the rest of us, so he loved that. We weren’t afraid of him; that’s what he liked. Everybody else was intimidated by him, or wanted something from him. All we wanted to do was play music, and we liked the guy. He was just trying to be one of the guys, and play rock’n’roll.”

Nik Venet – page 79-80, 91 – “Darin was a remarkable human being. I’ve worked with some heavy duty people … But Darin was probably the most impressive person I’ve ever met in my life.”

“The guy would give you the shirt off his back, and he did. He was the most generous man in the world.”

“Darin told me, ‘Stop. Continue this conversation and I’m going to move to another table.’ I couldn’t even begin a conversation about someone he knew – someone that was part of his ‘family’ – with one negative word. He wouldn’t even entertain the thought of discussing it.”

“He wouldn’t treat a porter secondarily, and then go march in a civil rights campaign.”

From the book Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee by their son Dodd Darin. 
Submitted by to Jane Penny.

Ross Hunter - page 179 - "But I was so excited because there was a room full of these great big stars and everyone was talking about Sandy and Bobby. Sandy was wearing a marvelous gown. And Bobby was so darned attentive to her, it made my heart sing. I thought, well, maybe it's happening. I wanted to think so. And I do believe Bobby loved Sandy in his way.

Dick Lord - page 184 - "And Bobby was a loyal friend. He loved his friends. He'd call us his 'inner circle.' He trusted us, was comfortable around us. Here was a man who really could afford to stay anywhere, and he'd come to my house and sleep in my son's bed, listening to his fish tank going all night. He would sleep on Behrke's couch. It was sad in a way. It was so touching that he wanted to be with us so much."

Wayne Newton - page 202 - "Bobby was a big brother to me. I loved him and I always will." Also, in Wayne’s autobiography, Once Before I Go - page 44-45 - “One night I went to see Bobby at the Flamingo. Because he was my hero, I would visit him for inspiration.” - page 50 “I was a boy soprano-but back then all it brought me were attacks of vitriolic humor. I was the joke of the industry. But one man never laughed. He was a giant among men. He was Bobby Darin and he was my friend.”

Dick Clark - page 207-208 - Dick Clark remembers that my dad helped him out of more than one emotional slump and that Bobby was there for him when he was going through a heart breaking divorce. Clark adds, " I was desperately trying to figure out how to get my career from one stage up to the next one, from Philadelphia to L.A. I did a little pilot presentation of a show idea. And I did it on location in and around Philadelphia, partly in my own house. Bobby was the first guy I called. I said, ' I need somebody of star value in this thing. And he came down and he sang and accompanied himself on the piano just so that I could have something more than the other silliness I had. He had to schlepp down from New York to do something that was obviously not top grade. He never hesitated. That was the Bobby Darin I knew. He was lavish in his love and praise. He'd give gifts to everyone in the world. I knew him intimately in my heart, but not on a day-to-day basis. We didn't have to touch base regularly. If he were alive today and I called him and said, Tomorrow, you've got to help build another floor on this building, he'd say, Wait, I'll get my hammer, and I'll be right over."

George Burns - page 208 - "When Gracie died, Bobby slept in my bedroom with me for three or four nights. He asked me to do that, I didn't ask him. He just came here and stayed. Bobby slept in Gracie's bed, and I slept in mine, and we talked. We talked about Gracie, about show business, about what I'm gonna do without her. He didn't give me advice because that kind of advice nobody has to give, because there was nothing I could do about her. Life must go on whether you want to or not. When you love someone, you cry, you keep crying. I couldn't stop. I couldn't sleep. When Bobby left me he said, Sleep in Gracie's bed. You'll feel better... I took his advice, and that did the trick. After that I could sleep."

Andrea Yaeger Darin Burton – page 271 - “I noticed right away that Bobby was a very earthy person. He drove a Renault, and he enjoyed spending time on a lake, if he had a boat, or camping out. He was very warm, easy to be with…”

John Miller – page 286 - “My last fun night with Bobby, we went to Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dogs on Broadway and Forty-third just to goof off. There were a couple of girls in the lobby of the Copa, and we took them with us to Nathan’s. A lot of characters who hung out in there recognized Bobby, and he wound up buying hot dogs for fifty-five people, at least. It was like saying the drinks are on the house. The whole thing came to about twenty-three dollars. It wasn’t that much, but he had such a good time in there. He loved talking to all these people. He did impressions, he danced, he really put on a show, and we had a sensational time. Bobby was a very special person to me. I would have great difficulty writing about him. When he died all I wrote in my column was that I would think of him every day for the rest of my life.”

George Scheck – page 297 - “Bobby was a clever man. Here’s an example. I went to see him at a show he was doing in Miami. I went in style. I took thirty-one people...Then he sent a note that I should come up to his dressing room “with your entourage.” So I went back and started to introduce him to thirty-one people! I taught him this. Forty minutes later, when they all left, he said good-bye and thank you for coming, and he used each of their names. They never stopped talking about this. Bobby charmed everyone. He was the greatest charmer in the world.”

Harriet (Hesh) Wasser – page 300 - “A friend called me at about four in the morning to tell me that Bobby had died. I wasn’t surprised, but I think I went into shock. I had known about his illness since we first met. And since we first met, I knew that my life was changed by meeting him. I think most people would say that Bobby Darin was one of a kind and that you truly felt you were gaining a new experience by being a part of his life.”

Vee Walden – page 304 - “It’s important to understand that Bobby had a phenomenal memory….. How could you not love this man? Thousands and thousands of people, and he remembers you. You were somebody special. He had that effect on total strangers, and when he listened to what you had to say, he listened with both ears, which is a nice quality.”

Dr. Philip Oderberg – page 316 - “I thought he was a very bright guy. When he began to trust me, he was very open, very related, and really willing to share himself in a very direct way. I really liked him. I thought he was an interesting guy.”

From the book Borrowed Time by Al DiOrio.
Submitted by Donna Carter.

Director David Miller (Captain Newman) - page 134 - "Bobby had a reputation as an angry young man. His image seemed to fit all the prerequisites. It seemed many people didn't like him, and I couldn't find out why. When I met him, he was so much more than I expected. I just fell in love with him."

Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz (Son of the legendary screenwriter, producer, and director, Joe Mankiewicz.) - page 160-61 - Bobby gave a dinner party for all his bachelor friends. "He was so determined to take care of all of us that day," remembers Tom, "It meant so much to him that we enjoyed ourselves and that he had taken us into his home. He was one of the warmest, most affectionate people I've ever known."

Columnist Barbara Howar - page 164-165 - "He was a self-styled intellectual, a young man with a political conscience and the Elmer Gantry ability to convert those who did not share his convictions. I know it would make better reading to report that I began thinking of the world's problems through an exposure to John Kenneth Galbraith, but it was Mr. Darin who led me through the maze of bigotry in which I lived, backed me down on every narrow-minded point, and made me care. Whatever my Washington reputation suffered, Bobby Darin did fine things for my soul. At the very least, he showed me I might have one."

From the book The Wanderer Talks Truth by Dion.
Submitted by Patricia Zimmer.

From chapter 6 - "On those tours in 1958 we went from glory to glory, headlining with the likes of Eddie Cochran (“Summertime Blues”), Gene Vincent (“Be-Bop-A-Lula”), and Bobby Darin (“Splish Splash”).

Bobby was another Italian boy from the Bronx, a few years my senior and more hip to the ways of the business world. He became a close friend and a mentor, giving me good advice about how to read my contracts and file my taxes. Bobby grew up the same way I did and had many of the same worries. He spoke to my frugal nature, my inner Mom. A lot of early rockers got jerked around and bled dry by their agents, their record companies, and the crowd of scammers that follow the money wherever it goes. If I managed to survive rock stardom with a couple nickels to rub together, no small credit goes to Bobby Darin, who spoke my language (Bronx) and gave me free accounting lessons on the tour bus."

Thanks to Marilyn Brown, MaryAnn Brown, Donna Carter, Jane Penny,
Patricia Zimmer, Katie Hasbrouck and Thomas Rhodes Jr.
for compiling these quotes!

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