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Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved. This is Jane Pauley. Bobby Darin provided the soundtrack to the 50s and 60s with songs like Mac the Knife and Beyond the Sea. Now he's the subject of a new Broadway show.
And as Mo Rocca discovered, there's a lot more to this rock and roll legend than you ever suspected. Some of the best times we had were in Big Sur. We lived in a trailer, 68 or 9. He got off the grid. He was kind of done with show business for a little while. So we had good times.
Big Sur, Pfeiffer Beach, cutting, chopping wood, going camping, walking the beach. And I didn't know it at the time, obviously, but just a few years later, he'd be gone. So I have those memories.
And also a wonderful time in August 73. He was playing the Las Vegas Hilton and I was there with him and I just really enjoyed that. He was larger than life. And he was someone who you just can't forget.
Just not me as the sun, but anyone that crossed paths with him. Well, it seems like he just made an instant, strong impression on people beyond being a star, just in personal interactions. Well, he had a big heart. He had a genuine quality.
He never forgot where he came from. The guy from the Bronx and hard times, even when he was successful, he had a certain sincerity, genuineness. But it was a strong personality.
Oh yeah. He was a New Yorker. He was edgy.
He could get in your face. But the truth is a lot of that was fear. He knew he wasn't going to live a long life. He knew he had real health problems. So he was ambitious. He was determined. He was aggressive. Not in an F-you way, but just he had something he wanted to achieve and he was not going to be denied. And so he could rub people the wrong way. But if you're a friend, if he cared about you, he'd give you everything.
Dick Clark once said that. He said, if you really know Darren, he's a softie. You've said that your father was always in a hurry.
What do you mean? Well, he was very ambitious and very driven. He knew that he probably wouldn't live a full life. At a young age, he overheard his mother talking to the family doctor and the doctor in essence saying, even with the best medical care, even with good luck, he probably won't live to be 18 or 20.
Put yourself in that position. So he was ambitious. He was driven. He was always on the go. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He was trying to jam it all in because he knew he didn't have time. A sort of Damocles hanging over him.
I say that a lot, exact term. Do we know if that was constantly on his mind in some way that time is running out? I think so. He was ambitious. He knew the clock was running. Seems like it informed everything. His ambition, his sort of sense of humor maybe.
Oh, I'm glad you've mentioned that, Mo. He was a really funny cat. People relate to the music and the New York brashness, but he was funny.
His sister said early on they thought he'd be a comedian. He really had that gift of humor and spontaneity. If you were lucky enough to see him in a club in 63, four, five, a nightclub, you got the essence of who Bobby Darin was. Because that was a whole different thing. Seeing him on TV was great, but seeing him live was a whole other level.
Night and day. He was really unique in that setting. He was so comfortable. Elizabeth Taylor once said on stage, it's like he's in his living room. He was born to do it. He lived for applause. He could look people right in the eye in a nightclub.
Oh, my God. People have criticized me for saying this, but it's my place to say it, and I look like him, I think. He was not good looking. He came up with Elvis and Ricky Nelson and Fabian. He had charisma though, and he had that stage presence. Like Sammy Davis Jr., there were singers with better voices, singers that were certainly more handsome, singers that were more popular.
But in a nightclub setting, when he was on, he was magic. I know the Life magazine article that Shana Alexander wrote about him, right? She said, the look at him before he went on stage, he didn't have teen idol looks when he got on stage.
In his prime, he said something like, you know what? I get up every day, I look in the mirror, I see a little jowly, puffy Italian, a little balding hair. This is what I wake up and I see in the mirror.
But when I go out to work and I get, you know, I'm 10 feet tall. Instinct about his hair. Oh, yeah. And he had the worst hair pieces in the history of show business. They weren't great. It looked like it came off a coconut. Okay, all right. But yeah, no, it was bad. It was sideways.
Yes, he had a hair challenge. Is it true that Sammy Davis Jr. said that he was the one person, that your father was the one person he wouldn't want to have to follow? Absolutely true.
And my dad idolized Sammy. And the affection between them that you see on This Is Your Life. Is that beautiful? Yeah.
How beautiful is that? Yeah. I mean, they just, and that's where my dad learned it. Impressions, playing instruments, being a full entertainer. See, that's the thing that you get. You only get if you saw him or if you see certain clips. An entertainer. He didn't just sing hits. He'd do impressions. He'd kibbutz with the audience. He played instruments.
Played instruments. And he learned that from Sammy, who I think is the greatest entertainer who ever lived also. And your father was, he was pretty much self-taught on all these things, yeah? Yes.
Yes. Who had money for lessons, right? Certainly he didn't back growing up. He came from very modest means. And he was made to feel very special as a kid.
Yes. Tell me about that. Polly, his mother, was an old vaudevillian. And she nurtured him and said, you can't play stickball in the street and you can't roughhouse with kids because he was frail and sickly. But you can learn to sing. You can learn to dance.
You can learn to play piano. And he said, it opened a whole world. He had to walk the bike up the hill and then ride down, right? Correct. Because he couldn't even ride uphill.
He was frail. But Polly encouraged that dream. You can be somebody. We're going to work on singing and voice.
She sounds like a blast. Yeah. Amazing.
Amazing. And so that was the encouragement. And he felt, yeah, he bought into it.
And the rest, here we are. So in 1958, he's 22. He has his first big hit with Splish Splash. It goes on to sell a million copies. He could have continued on the rock and roll track, but he doesn't.
Why? Because deep down, the big band singers, Sinatra, et cetera, was what he was after. And I hope I don't offend the rock and roll purists or those that loved his early stuff. But the rock and roll stuff was the path to being a singer, entertainer, in more of a Sinatra, Bing Crosby. You mean it was just a stepping stone for him.
OK. But this is a really important point. And he said that to other people. He helped a lot of artists along the way. He said, you've got to start somewhere. Start and get established with some hits.
And then do what you really want to do. This is really important, though, because there must have been people saying, what are you doing? You just had this big rock and roll hit. Stay on this track. One of those persons, people. Ahmed Erdogan, the head of Atlantic. Legend. Who loved my dad. God bless.
Rest in peace, Ahmed. He said, we've worked so hard to get you in the rock and roll door. You're a hit. Now you have Queen of the Hop. You have Splish Splash.
What do you do? My dad went to him and he said, I want to do an album of standards. And Ahmed thought he was kidding. And my dad said no.
And this is a true story. He said, Ahmed, I will use the royalty money you owe me from Splish Splash and I'll pay for the sessions myself. And the album that came out of it was That's All, which had Mack the Knife and Beyond the Sea and Some of These Days and all the adult standards we equate with my dad.
OK, so first of all, so what was happening there? Because if he was just ambitious to be rich and famous, he would have taken the advice of Ahmed Erdogan and other people saying, stick with rock and roll. So what was that that he was doing? I think deep down his true love was the standards, the American songbook and performing. He was so bright. He realized rock and roll was fickle and he realized sort of flavor of the day.
And then the fans move on. But to be an entertainer, you know, I keep going back to Sinatra, but the gold standard, an entertainer lasts. An entertainer, you know, has duration of a career. So he was really playing the long game.
Absolutely. Just like it was risky for him later when he did folk and country music. So what was that? Was that about trying to be true to himself? Well, it was that and it was reading the country and sixty seven, eight, nine.
You have the Vietnam War, you have the sexual revolution, you have civil rights. He looked around. He said, why am I going to sing Mac the Knife in a tuxedo? And beyond the sea, it was just he was trying to evolve and people said he was a sellout. But artists that live.
You know, and have a normal lifespan, they create and recreate and evolve. Let's talk about the boldness, though, of Mac the Knife, a song that we probably take for granted. This was a song from a German musical playing on three penny opera, a classic, still not exactly in the mainstream at that time. So whose idea was that where he first heard that?
There's debate to this day. But what he had a knack for was taking a standard and reworking it. You know, beyond the sea originally was La Mer, a French song.
And so he had a knack for reworking stuff, getting new arrangements, making it his own. He made it a huge pop hit. And that's not how it sounds in the original. No, it's a dirge.
Right. From the three penny opera, it's a very slow, dirgy, you know, he made it his pop snap. And that was one of his geniuses. He would take older songs and he'd rework them and he'd make them his own. Let me tell you one of my favorite songs of his, Artificial Flowers.
You and my attorney, my wonderful attorney, Jay, who's favorite of all the Darren. It's great. It's about an orphan, right?
Selling flowers. Very, very strange lyric. And it's from a forgotten musical, Tenderloin, right? From the guys who did Fiddler on the Roof. But but it sounds nothing like the original version. I don't hear a pop hit in that. No, that's part of the Darren genius, if I dare say.
He had that ear and that ability to recreate. We'll have more from our Sunday morning extended interview after this break. Instacart is on a mission to have you not leave the couch this basketball season, because between the pregame rituals and the postgame interviews, it can be difficult to find time for everything else. So let Instacart take care of your game day snacks or weekly restocks and get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes, because we hear it's bad luck to be hungry on game day. So download the Instacart app today and enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees apply for three orders in 14 days. Excludes restaurants. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.
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See full terms at mintmobile.com. Did he know how talented he was? No. Really? No. No. Because I know he had the insecurities about the hair, the fear, about the health, but he didn't know how talented he was?
No. No, I always think deep down he was insecure. He was full of doubt. The loudest, most brash people, tough guy, are often the most fearful and insecure. When you got to know him, he's a very humble guy.
I know it's hard to believe if you just know him from a clip here or there. He worked hard and he prepared and cared, but no, deep down he was insecure. My mom shared stories with me about that, especially in the making of movies where he was very insecure. That insecurity, is that part of what drew your mother to him? Fans may know, but when they first met on the set of Come September, she couldn't stand him.
Thought he was obnoxious and an amateur. She had made a few movies by then and he was green. He was green and he was being obnoxious to her.
She wanted no part of him. Slowly, as the weeks went on, Portofino, Italy, nice environment, started to grow. By the end of the picture, they were an item. You wrote, my father made his destiny, destiny made my mother.
What did you mean by that? Well, my mom went through a lot. I wrote and written about it, molested as a child by her stepfather, battled alcoholism, anorexia, never really wanted fame.
She really didn't crave it. It just sort of happened. She wound up getting discovered and making movies, but when I was born, she actually wanted to give it all up, be it a mom. But the studios and her agents and my dad, no, you made a star of yourself, you should continue.
So she did. Unlike my dad, who loved performing, loved show business, my mom. And when she married your father, she was marrying him for what reason?
Oh, she's head over heels in love. They had a beautiful love story. They loved each other and they were tight till the very end. My dad remarried at one point late in his life, but they remained very tight till the end. He used to come over and they'd visit, talk about me and his health problems, and they remained tight till the very end. And she never sadly remarried or had a relationship really. I found it very sad when you said that she had no friends. That was hard for me to read.
She was, oh gosh, so beautiful, so kind, so smart, so salt of the earth, but tortured as well. In February 1968, he's 32 years old. And basically a brick house falls on him. He gets this news.
What happens? He was always interested in politics and supported JFK and then got to know RFK. And there was some talk and the idea came up, maybe my dad would run for some kind of political office. You know, he was bright. He cared. And he mentioned that to his family, to his sister and other family members. To the woman he thought was his sister.
Correct. So Nina was my dad's sister. And at age 32 in 1968, after his discussion about going into politics, she had to reveal something very, very painful. And that is that she was not his sister, but his biological mother. And she did that because she felt the press would dig and find certificates and birth stuff. And he should never learn that painful truth from the media. So she came out here to California and told them that.
Came with V, his sister, and they told them. And it took the starch out of him. He was never the same.
I mean, put yourself in that. It's traumatic. Mind-blowing. The second part was Polly, who he thought was his mother, who he idolized, who nurtured him, who really was a lot of the reason he was ambitious and really believed, shattered that bond. Polly, the grandmother. He felt that she had lied to him? Yeah. I mean, an unwed pregnancy back in an Italian family in that area was a big deal.
So they concocted this plan that they thought was the best thing to do. But he was never the same. He said that his whole life was a lie. He was like a fraud. It's just like, it's just devastating.
I mean, there's no sugarcoating it. So you were seven years old when your father found out. Can you remember a change in your father from that time?
Yes. I'm not going to say it's directly attributed to that incident. I'm sure that's part of it. But he got into the Bob Darin stage. He took off his toupee, no more tuxedo, and dropped out of show business for a while. And that was some of the best times I had with him. He was a regular dude. We were up in Big Sur in a trailer, hanging out. And yeah, he let his hair down, if you will.
It was good times. Your father never knew who his own father was? Yes.
Nina, his mother, who he thought was his sister for 32 years, went to her grave with that. So no one knows? As far as I know. Do you think she knew? Oh, yeah. Okay.
Yeah. I think she didn't want to affect his life, right? And so she went to her grave with that. What is your final memory of him? Well, the last time I saw him was August 1973. He was working at the Las Vegas Hilton. I was there with a friend from school.
We stayed a couple of weeks. I was old enough to really appreciate his talent, to see how an audience reacted to him, to see that magic. And that was very special.
It was beautiful. And how did they react? Oh, he had them on their feet. He had them laughing. He had them wanting more.
Just magic. Darin, in a nightclub setting, when he was letting it rip, was very special. He really was a unique, dare I say, one of the greatest to ever walk on a nightclub floor.
So that memory was really powerful. And the last time I talked to him was on my birthday in December 1973. He called me from the hospital. And the truth is, I answered the phone. I didn't know who it was.
He was so ill and medicated. I handed the phone to my mom. I said, Mom. And she called him Robert. Robert?
Is this your? And so that was the last time I talked to him, December 16, 1973. Because you didn't even, you picked up the phone, but you didn't understand it was a garbled voice? Garbled. Sobbing. He was so medicated and weak.
And my mom got on and the nurse got on and talked. But the last time I saw him was August 73. He didn't know, obviously. He had a wonderful time. The audience never knew either. He did two full weeks at the Hilton, just kicking ass, if I can say that.
Now, he would come off the stage to an oxygen tank. But the audience never knew. Performing, that was what kept him going.
It wasn't drugs or gambling. It was the interaction of an audience. Him doing his thing and people responding. What do you think his legacy is?
Wow. I hope he's appreciated and remembered for the brilliant talent that he was as a live entertainer, as a performer. And I hope, and I do know this, there are certain peers, certain artists that were inspired by him. In other words, one, I'm paraphrasing Neil Young, told Robert Hillburn of the LA Times in the early 90s.
I think around when my dad got in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He said, Darren used to drive me crazy. Well, I'd hear Queen of the Hop and Splish Splash. The next thing I know, it's Mack the Knife and Beyond the Sea. And I thought he was crazy and I was frustrated. And Neil said, but later I realized, that guy's a genius.
This is amazing. I think he inspired people, artists to take chances, to not just be pigeonholed. To not play it safe. Right. And I think if you look at all of his work, you have to acknowledge he took chances. He covered a lot of genres. But, you know, Mo, at the end of the day, it's so beautiful that all these years later he's been gone.
Over 50 years. We're here talking about him. We're remembering him.
He did something right. I'm Jane Pauley. Thank you for listening. And for more of our extended interviews, follow and listen to Sunday Morning on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. With hundreds of ready-to-use templates, you can launch a beautiful, professional online store that looks and feels like you. Need content? Shopify's AI tools can help you write product descriptions, headlines, even enhance your product photos. Want to grow your reach? Easily create email and social media campaigns to meet your audience wherever they're scrolling. And with Shopify's world-class support, you'll have expert help for everything. Turn your big business idea into, with Shopify on your side. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash Odyssey podcast.
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