What happened to Bobby Driscoll? Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers Peter Pan controversy explained amid online backlash

Several fans of late actor Bobby Driscoll have expressed their disappointment with Disney's new release Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers, where they have found the use of an older Peter Pan as the evil character in the film.

Driscoll, who had a tragic end to his life, voiced the character of Peter Pan in the 1953 film adaptation of the same name, where the actor inspired even the look of the character. The late actor passed away in 1968 after battling substance abuse at 31.

Chip (John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samberg) encounter an older Peter Pan (Will Arnett) who is disillusioned with the film business in the new Rescue Rangers film. After becoming too elderly for his work in the movies, he turned to crime. The film, which premiered exclusively on Disney+ on May 20, has connections to dozens of Disney titles throughout the studio's history.

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Bobby Driscoll had a tragic end to his life

Born on March 3, 1937, Bobby Driscoll was a native of Iowa, United States. He was a child actor who had starred in several films after being discovered at a barbershop at the age of five in Altadena, CA.

Driscoll is known for his films like The Fighting Sullivans (1944), Song of the South (1946), So Dear to My Heart (1948), The Window (1949), and Treasure Island (1950), Peter Pan (1953).

After appearing in several of Disney's biggest live-action blockbusters of the 1940s and early 1950s, he was dismissed by the company when he grew out of younger parts. In March 1953, the studio terminated its contract.

Driscoll's parents enrolled him in a public Los Angeles, high school when he left Disney, where he was harassed and began taking drugs. His parents eventually re-enrolled him at the Hollywood Professional School for Child Actors, but his drug addiction persisted. He was charged with marijuana possession in 1956, but the matter was eventually withdrawn.

However, the damage had been done to his career, and he could only obtain a few television jobs. His final film was The Party Crashers (1958), and his last television appearance was in a Rawhide episode in 1960.

Driscoll was ordered to a drug recovery facility in California in 1961 after he and Marilyn Jean Rush divorced. He was unable to find an acting job after his release. In 1965, he relocated to New York City in the hopes of landing a career in Broadway, but this plan did not pan out.

Instead, he joined Andy Warhol's The Factory group to pursue his other artistic interests. His final known film performance was in Dirt, an experimental film released in 1965.

One of the worst things about Bobby Driscoll's life was that his death was not reported to the press or the general public for over four years.

When Disney released Song of the South in 1971 again, the press wondered where Driscoll had gone. This led to the revelation that he died in March 1968 in New York City from heart failure caused by atherosclerosis. Driscoll's remains went unclaimed and were buried on Hart Island in a pauper's burial.

When his mother attempted to contact Bobby Driscoll before his father died, she learned of his death in 1969. He had been deceased for nearly a year when his mother and Disney discovered a fingerprint match at the New York police department. Driscoll, who won the Academy Juvenile Award for So Dear to My Heart and The Window in 1950, was 31 years old.

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Twitter was not pleased with Disney's new release, which made connections with Bobby Driscoll's life

Following the film's release on Disney+, several Disney fans rushed to Twitter to voice their displeasure with the Peter Pan tale because of Driscoll's tragic life. Many slammed Disney for making an apparent reference to the late actor's life, some even blaming the production company for canceling his contract because he had hit "puberty."

Disney is yet to make it clear if they had intended to create Peter Pan's character similar to Bobby Driscoll or not.