December 20, 1973: Bobby Darin Dies

December 20, 1973: Singer Bobby Darin dies shortly after heart surgery at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles.

As a young man, he told people that he would be a legend by age 25. To those close to him, he said he had to do that, because he didn't think he would live to be 30.

He was ahead of the game: His recording of "Mack the Knife" made him an all-time music legend when he was just 23. But he wasn't off by nearly enough in the other direction: He died at 37.

Walden Robert Cassotto was born on May 14, 1936 in Manhattan, and grew up in The Bronx. He grew up believing that his mother, Nina, was his sister; and that her parents, Polly and Sam -- a soldier in what would become the Genovese crime family and once close to boss Frank Costello -- were his parents.

In 1968, following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, whom Bobby had gotten close to, he considered running for office himself. His mother knew that the media would investigate him, so she told him the truth before they did. Already very troubled by what was going on in the world, it devastated him. She never told him who his biological father was, but before she died in 1983, she told other relatives that she had a fling with Anthony Grillo, another associate of the Genovese family.

Bobby was brilliant -- and he knew it, and told anyone who would listen, which rubbed people the wrong way. He was a multi-talented musician, an expert guitarist, drummer, trumpeter, trombonist and harmonica player. And he was a great dancer.

He knew that if he went by "Bobby Cassotto," it would be tough for him to make it. One night, he was riding in a cab, past a Chinese restaurant named MANDARIN, with part of the sign's neon out, so that it read "DARIN." He liked the sound of "Bobby Darin," and kept it.

He got his musical start writing songs for Connie Francis. It's been suggested by people who knew both of them that each was the other's one true love. But Connie's manager wouldn't allow them to get married. And since that managers was her father, George Franconero, and he had a gun, and threatened Bobby with it when both singers were backstage before appearing on The Jackie Gleason Show in 1957, that was it.

In 1958, Bobby had his 1st big hit, with "Splish Splash." He followed it with rockers "Queen of the Hop" and "Dream Lover." He was young, handsome and talented, seemingly perfect for the rock and roll generation. But his heart was in the older music, in the style of Frank Sinatra. He used rock as a springboard for what he really wanted to do.

And one of those things was to sing show tunes. In 1959, he recorded "Mack the Knife," from The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. He used the same not-quite-right lyrics used by Louis Armstrong in 1956, including mentioning Lotte Lenya, who was married to Weill and a star of the original version, but not one of the characters pursued by Macheath.

Bobby's recording of the song hit Number 1 in America on October 5, 1959, and stayed there for 9 weeks. It went on to become the biggest-selling record in New York City history, because it was something that teenagers and their parents could agree on.

He had several more hits, and began an acting career. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder in Captain Newman, M.D. He married actress Sandra Dee, and they had a son, Dodd Darin.

But times changed, and he wasn't able to change with them. He and Sandra split up. He tried making new music, but had only one hit, with Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter." He stopped wearing a toupee, grew a mustache, and wore denim. People didn't want Bobby Darin anymore.

Or maybe they didn't want a Bobby Darin who looked like a hippie. In 1972, with the nostalgia wave for the 1950s underway, he went back to being the man people knew, wearing a tuxedo and a toupee, but not a mustache, and sang whatever he felt like, but in a show-tune style. NBC gave him a variety show that ran for 20 episodes, and he was a hit again. He also made an appearance on The Flip Wilson Show, playing the Devil opposite Wilson's Reverend Leroy.

But his health finally caught up with him. At the age of 8, he suffered from rheumatic fever, which weakened his heart, and led him to believe he wouldn't make to to age 30. By the time he did, he was already out of favor. In 1971, before full artificial hearts were invented, he had two artificial valves implanted.

Sometimes, during taping his show, he would be administered oxygen during commercial breaks, and afterward. Once, he had to be rushed to the hospital right after taping. On his last episode, on April 27, 1973, he could be seen shaking his hand, as if he was trying to get something off it. His condition had hurt his circulation, and he was trying to get it going again.

Later that year, after failing to take antibiotics to protect his heart before a dental visit, Darin developed sepsis, an overwhelming systemic infection, which further weakened his body, and affected one of his heart valves. On December 11, he checked himself into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, to repair his artificial heart valves. On the night of December 19, he went into surgery, and it lasted 6 hours. But he was too weak, and died early on the morning hours of December 20. He was 37 years old.

Darin's last wish in his will was that his body be donated to science for medical research, and his remains were transferred to the UCLA Medical Center shortly after his death. So there is no final resting place for Bobby Darin.

Had he survived the surgery, not only might have lived long enough to have better valves, or even a full artificial heart, but he would have fully benefited from the nostalgia for his era, and become a bigger star than ever. Instead, he was partly forgotten. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame began inducting members in 1986, and, with their 25-year eligibility rule, he was already eligible. It took until 1990 for him to be elected, with Dodd Darin accepting his father's award.

It took until 2004 for a film to be made of his life, with Dodd and Kevin Spacey producing Beyond the Sea. Spacey played Bobby, even though he was already too old to play him at 37, much less at 20, and the film bombed. But Dodd, Sandra Dee (who was played by Kate Bosworth, and who lived just long enough to see the film's premiere) and Bobby's former manager, Steve Blauner (played by John Goodman), all praised Spacey's performance.

The closing graphics said, "Walden Robert Cassotto died on December 20, 1973. He was 37. Bobby Darin lives."

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December 20, 1973 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its regular season and its Playoffs. The American Basketball Association had no games scheduled, and the NBA had only 1: The Capital Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 98-92 at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium.

The Who beat the What? In their 1st season after moving to the Washington, D.C. market, 1973-74, the the Baltimore Bullets used the name "Capital Bullets." The became the Washington Bullets the next season, and the Washington Wizards in 1997.

The Cincinnati Royals moved in 1972, splitting their home schedule between the K.C. Municipal Auditorium and the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Nebraska, and were named the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. This remains the only team ever to play major league home games in Nebraska. In 1975, they began playing all their home games in Kansas City. In 1985, the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento.

There were no games scheduled by the World Hockey Association. There were 4 played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-5 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 9-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Bobby Clarke, Ross Lonsberry and Bill Clement each scored 2 goals.

* And the Montreal Canadiens played the Buffalo Sabres to a tie, 2-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.