Also in February, 1963, Darin purchased Trinity Music and located new offices at Sixth Avenue and 55th Street. The following month, while he finished work on "Captain Newman, MD" with Gregory Peck and Angie Dickinson, Sandra announced that she and Bobby had again separated. Atco meanwhile also released an album on the singer that had been in the vaults for several years to cash in on Darin's popularity.
That summer after a performance at Freedomland in the Bronx on July 23, Darin was hospitalized for several days. Upon his release, he began to spend more time with his publishing company, working with new writers like Artie Resnick and Kenny Young who wrote the Drifters big hit "Under the Boardwalk" and Rudy Clark who composed "The Shoop Shoop Song." Bobby also hired Terry Melcher who had produced "Hey, Little Cobra" with the Rip Chords. While performing at the Copa, Darin also discovered Wayne Newton then working at the club with his brother Jerry. Bobby not only encouraged Newton to go solo but came up with "Danke Schon," a #13 hit for Wayne in the summer of 1963. Finally, Darin wrote the entire score for "The Lively Set" (which starred James Darren and Pamela Tiffin.)
That November he was guesting for a week on "The Judy Garland Show," when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
The following February, Bobby received an Oscar nomination for his role in "Captain Newman, M.D.", but lost to Melvyn Douglas' performance in Hud. Later that spring, T.M. Music received two BMI awards.
In October 1964, Darin began work at Universal on "That Funny Feeling", a breezy comedy with Sandra and Donald O'Connor.
Meanwhile Bobby had become disenchanted with Capitol and returned to Ahmet Ertegun, who now released Darin's singles on Atlantic beginning with "The Breaking Point" b/w "Silver Dollar." During that time, Darin was hired by Disney Studios to sing the theme for "That Darn Cat", and he composed "It's What's Happening, Baby" for President Johnson's War on Poverty.
Two months later, Darin joined Dick Gregory, Harry Belafonte and Peter Paul & Mary to entertain at a mass march in Montgomery, Alabama. The following November while Sandra was finishing A Man Could Get Killed with James Garner, Bobby was hospitalized for pneumonia.
Darin celebrated his 10th anniversary in show business at the Cocoanut Grove on March 9, 1966. The following May 1, shortly before his 30th birthday, he informed Sandra he didn't want to be married to her any longer.
In June, Bobby began work on Universal's "Gunfight in Abilene", with Leslie Nielsen, Don Galloway and Emily Banks -- a picture most notable for his beautiful song "Amy." When it wrapped, he immediately began work on "Cop-Out" with James Mason and Geraldine Chaplin, which was released in Great Britain as Stranger in the House.
That October, Darin's recording of "If I Were a Carpenter" (#2350) became his last Top 10 hit, cresting at #8. [The song was later a hit for the Four Tops (#20/1968) and Johnny Cash (#2 country & #36 Pop/1970).] In February 67, Darin had his last Top 40 single with "Lovin' You," which only reached #32. Altogether Atlantic released ten singles and five LPs on the singer including "Dr. Dolittle" and "In a Broadway Bag," which are today both considered classics.
In March 1967, the Darins were divorced, although they continued to date occasionally.
Three months later, Bobby met Diane Hartford, the wife of millionaire businessman Huntington Hartford. After traveling with Bobby to Europe that summer, she filed for divorce in September. Shortly thereafter, however, she learned she was pregnant and returned to her husband. The following summer she gave birth to a daughter, Juliette.
Meanwhile, in early 1967 Bobby became intensely interested in Robert Kennedy's Presidential campaign and the following November, offered his services to Kennedy's telethon to benefit Washington's Junior Village Orphanage. Darin mixed several protest tunes like "Blowin' In The Wind" and "This Land is Your Land" in with his hit songs. During that time, he also became romantically involved with columnist Barbara Howar.
By early 1968 Darin also had political ambitions of his own. Realizing that if Bobby ran for public office, his opposition would learn the facts surrounding his birth and use the information to humiliate him, Nina decided in mid-Februery to tell him the truth, although she refused to name his real father. Darin, of course, was crushed to learn that his sister was actually his mother. Meanwhile, Charlie (who hadn't even met Nina until a year after Bobby's birth) started telling reporters he was actually Darin's father.
The following April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis. Bobby was so shattered he canceled his evening show at the Three Rivers Inn in Syracuse. In late May, he flew to San Francisco with Kennedy's entourage to campaign for the Senator prior to the California primary on June 4. That night, after winning the primary, Kennedy was killed. Four days later, the devastated singer attended Kennedy's funeral services in Washington. D.C.
Later that summer Nina and Charlie were divorced (and he later remarried). On August 21, Darin sold Trinity Music to Commonwealth United Corporation for $1.3 million but took his money in CUC stock, which unfortunately dropped a few months later -- and cost Darin a forume.
In September 1968, the singer left Atlantic and formed Direction Records. He immediately released an album entitled "Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto," which contained extremely strong message material. The following July, Direction released a second LP on Darin called "Commitment."
The singer stopped wearing his toupee, grew a moustache and side burns, and traded his tux for jeans. He also liquidated most of his holdings and put his possessions into storage. Finally in June 1969 he rented a home at Malibu Beach. On July 23, he appeared at the Bonanza Hotel Opera House in Las Vegas and did such songs as Hank Williams' "Lonesome Whistle" and Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and his own "Simple Song of Freedom." That summer, he also appeared as an Italian gigolo in a small role in "The Happy Ending" with Jean Simmons for director Richard Brooks.
That autumn Darin went into seclusion in a 14-foot house trailer in Big Sur, where he read several books and worked on his new music. In December 1969, he did a two-week engagement at the Sahara, which paid him $40,000 a week, but was a total disaster as crowds walked out in droves with Bobby insisting that this new Darin was the real one. Later that month when he appeared at the Landmark Hotel, however, he decided to compromise and did a good number of his old hits. The two weeks was extended to six weeks.
Darin also worked on a new film project called The Vendors, about a prostitute who falls in love with a drug addict. He not only wrote, produced and directed, but also financed the production. Filming began in early 1970 and the picture was completed, although to date it is still unreleased.
In October 1970, while working on a Canadian TV special called "The Darin Invasion," the singer became seriously ill and was informed by doctors that he must have surgery. However, Darin was already booked for a four-week engagement at the Desert Inn in Vegas, and decided to postpone
the operation.
The 9-hour operation in February 1971 was a success and the following May, Darin celebrated his 35th birthday. He also had a new woman in his life, a divorcee named Andrea Yaeger, who had two sons Armin and Alex. Bobby rested until the end of July and then worked in television series including "Cades County" and "Ironsides" (both shown in January 1972) and did a few Flip Wilson shows. He even did Rod Serling's "Night Gallery," where he ended up as a can of dog food.
In February 1972, Bobby opened at the Copa and was a big success. Throughout the spring he made numerous nightclub and television appearances. He also formed Bobby Darin Music and got the copyrights back for all the songs he had written since the sale to Trinity. He then signed with Motown and recorded his Desert Inn act, which was released as his first album for the new label.
Early that summer NBC announced that "The Bobby Darin Amusement Company" (produced by Saul Ilson and Ernest Chambers) would appear as a summer replacement for "The Dean Martin Show." It premiered on July 10, 1972 at 10:00 p.m. Each show was designed to show off Darin's versatility, and opened with Bobby's impersonation of Groucho Marx. That fall Motown released a second LP entitled "Bobby Darin". Meanwhile, that summer Bobby also flew to Nova Scotia to work in "Happy Mother's Day, Love George" with Patricia Neal, Cloris Leachman and Ron Howard. Upon its completion, he went to Philadelphia for an appearance at the Latin Casino. That fall Bobby played a weekend engagement at the Concord in the Catskills and took Dodd with him, to show his son where his famous father was born and had lived.
In January 1973, Darin, now gravely ill, returned to New York to record what would be his last single -- "Happy," the theme from the film Lady Sings The Blues. Returning to the West Coast, he learned that NBC had picked up the option on his series, and since they wanted it on the air on January 19, production had to begin immediately even though his health was deteriorating rapidly. His old friend Peggy Lee appeared with him on the final show in March, singing a medley of love songs.
In April Bobby did a two-week engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton and was a huge success. As the medical treatments depleted his savings, Darin became obsessed with his finances. Concerned about Dodd's future, he felt he could manage one last big score and contacted his former manager, Steve Blauner, who negotiated a "27-weeks, 3-year, $2 million" deal with the MGM Grand Hotel, as well as a 3-month spring and summer tour of 60 shows. Ill health later forced the singer to cancel the tour.
Shortly thereafter, when Bobby had his teeth cleaned, his dentist failed to give him the proper antibiotics, and infection hit his bloodstream. He was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital where other complications then set in. Six weeks later he was released and proposed marriage to Andrea. They were wed in July.
Darin made his last public appearance on August 16, 1973, a ten-day stint at the Las Vegas Hilton; but he was so weak at the end of each performance, that he was unable to leave the stage. Bobby and Andrea then left for a vacation in Micronesia.
Returning to California, Bobby filed for divorce from Andrea on October 2, re-writing his will to exclude her from any claim on his estate. The next day he was admitted to Cedars of Lebanon for congestive heart failure. On October 8 he called Nina from the hospital and told her, "I don't think I'm going to make it this time. I think my number's up." She and Vee Vee immediately threw a mattress and clothes into the back of Nina's station wagon and headed for the west coast. Within a week, however, Bobby was released from the hospital and they were at his home in Vegas. However, his weight had dropped to 120 pounds. On October 23, he visited his lawyer in L.A. and signed a new will, which left his entire estate to Dodd. The following day he appeared in divorce court.
In late November, Bobby took a final trip to New York to visit old friends and say goodbye to the city. The following week, he returned to Los Angeles, where on December 10, he was rushed to the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. There his condition progressively became worse until he sank into a coma on December 18 (two days after Dodd's 12th birthday). At 9:30 the following morning, Bobby, still unconsicous, was taken to the operating room and underwent another 7-hour surgery. Doctors discovered the left side of his heart was infected, but too much had been cut away during the earlier surgery for them to do anything except to keep him alive by a heart and lung machine. At midnight, his heart stopped and then his kidney failed and the family made the decision to "pull the plug."
Darin died in early morning hours of December 20, 1973. He was 37. There was no funeral or burial service and his body was left to medical research.
Andrea later wed Bobby's long-time friend and business associate Steve Burton. Sandra, who retired in the early 1970s, has never remarried.
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