Connie Francis & Bobby Darin in love in 1956.

Connie Francis shares long lost letters she exchanged with Bobby Darin - 'the great love of her life'  - and laments how her cruel father prevented her from marrying him.

Connie Francis penned a series of heart-felt love letters to the love of her life, 'Mack the Knife' singer Bobby Darin in the 1950s .

Darin's half brother held on to the letters after Darin died, but recently decided to auction them off on eBay. After Francis lost the bidding for the letters, the woman who won decided to give them to the 77-year-old vocalist. 

By Peggy Dattilo for the DailyMail.com

28 November 2016

More than half a century after actress and singer Connie Francis penned a series of heart-felt love letters to the love of her life, Bobby Darin, those letters are back in her hands, thanks to a generous Darin fan who felt they belonged with the star. 

'The moment I heard the letters had gone up for auction, I knew I had to do whatever it took to get them back,' Francis, now 77, told DailyMail.com exclusively.

'I'd kept all Bobby's letters, and I desperately wanted the ones I wrote him to come back to me,' she added.

Francis' love letters to Darin were written over a four-month period in 1956.

And after Darin's death in 1973, following open heart surgery, the letters fell into the hands of his half-brother, Gary Walden, who held on to them until now. Walden, now 60, recently decided to sell some of his late brother's memorabilia, including the 18 letters between Francis and Darin.

'A friend let me know the letters were for sale on eBay and I immediately began to bid,' says Francis. 'But the bids kept going up, and when I had to leave home for an appointment that day, I left instructions with my assistant that no matter how high the bid got - keep bidding.'

But unbeknownst to the 77-year-old singer, a die-hard Darin fan had a deal with the auction site to always have the final bid on anything Bobby Darin – and she ended up outbidding Francis with her $1000 bid.

'I was heart-broken when I found out I lost my letters,' says Francis. 'And I knew I had to do whatever I could to try and buy them back no matter what the price. So I phoned eBay personally and asked for their help.

'They were very kind, offering to put me in touch with the woman who bought them.'

Francis says that a few days later, Laura Rice - a Virginia woman - got in contact with her and agreed to sell the letters to her. But, on reflection, the woman decided she didn't want money for the correspondence, and would be willing to just hand them over.

Connie Francis and Bobby Darin met in 1956, when Connie was an up and coming singer and Bobby a struggling songwriter. The two fell madly in love but were kept apart by Francis' super strict Italian father George, who insisted she concentrate on her career and not date.

When it later got back to George that Francis and Darin were still in touch, and that Darin was trying to convince his 18-year-old girlfriend to elope with him, an angry George chased him away with a gun, insisting he never darken their door again.

To this day Francis insists the greatest mistake she ever made was not running off and marrying Darin. 'Bobby was my greatest love,' she confessed.

Francis says that reading the letters was bitter-sweet. And it's taken her on a memorable journey that was a huge part of her past.

In one letter, Francis wrote to her forbidden love from the Franklin Park Hotel in Washington D.C.

Connie's letter to Bobby on 21st August 1956 

So I wrote to you four hours ago. I'm so lonely for you right this minute I could die.

A few hours ago I was very happy. I read some very excellent reviews about me in the paper - about me - when Cab Calloway and a half dozen name acts are in town. I honestly don't feel I deserve it.

I did the first show - a horrible one and for the first time I didn't even try to sell a song - I just listened to the hand playing my music and it was frightening.

Then I went into my dressing room and for a long while I sat staring at myself in the mirror. I was staring past my image really and it suddenly dawned on me that I am absolutely nothing without you. You're going to be angry at me for that last statement, but right now that's exactly the way I feel.

In one letter, written by a 20-year-old Darin while staying at the now-demolished Wolverine Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, the young singer poured his heart out to his then 18-year-old love saying, 'I'm miserable, so damned unhappy that I feel the lump inside like the one you get when you're going to cry…

'I miss being home at times and I miss my family at times, but never did I miss a girl every minute of every day.' 

He signed the letter, 'I love you very, very much, Love Bobby.'

And from the Pennsylvania Hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana, he talks about hating Indianapolis, the food and the club he's working in, but loving her.

'I'm afraid being away from you this long makes me more and more miserable. Please write me, I love and miss you more than anything,' he wrote.

Francis also shared a letter she wrote to her forbidden love from the Franklin Park Hotel in Washington D.C.

Darin wrote in one letter when he was staying in Indianapolis, Indiana, that he loved and missed Francis 'more than anything'.

Letter from Bobby to Connie in 1956

'When Mr Schick described it to me he said, "You'll love it, cause you're right with the people", (he was right, though steam from lady's.... fogged up the piano player's glasses and he couldn't read the music). 

'I knew things were going too well in Detroit (Saturday night we did 50 minutes and had to literally "Beg Off" - a little bragging) for it to carry over in another town. Anyway, I've got to get some sleep (none for 33 hours). 

'Write me some? Here through Saturday. 'I love you and miss you more than anything. 

'Love, Bobby' 

She wrote: 'I wrote you four hours ago. I am so lonely for you right this minute I could die. 

'I went into my dressing room, and for a long while I sat staring at myself in the mirror. I was staring past my image really, and it suddenly dawned on me that I am absolutely nothing without you. I need you terribly - right this minute.'

'Reading the letters brought back so many memories,' said Francis. 'I can't believe how young and innocent I was. In another letter I talked about how many show biz people around me were divorced and I swore I would never be divorced.'

Ironically, in an effort to find love again after Darin, Francis married and divorced four times. The longest of those marriages lasted five years, while the shortest lasted only four months.

'Bobby was my first and last love,' she said. 'I never really loved anyone the way I loved him. He was dynamic and I trusted him completely, but we were star crossed lovers. 

In one letter, written by a 20-year-old Darin while staying at the now-demolished Wolverine Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, the young singer poured his heart out to his then 18-year-old love

Letter to Connie from Bobby in Detroit 

Maybe I'm coming on too strong but, well, I never wrote anyone any kind of "love letters" (Don't believe in it) but i can't help writing you like this because it's the way I feel. 

Anything else I could say would be redundant. 

Please write very soon Connie. I love you very, very much, Bobby.

'He was such a kind man who didn't have an ounce of prejudice or bigotry in him and he was one of the smartest men I ever met.'

'I suppose his strength came from the fact he was such a sickly boy,' she recalls. 'He suffered several bouts of Rheumatic Fever that left him with a damaged heart. 

'His mother was over-protective and wouldn't allow him to go out and play like other little kids. She kept him entertained indoors by buying him books and he absorbed everything he read.'

And while Francis will always treasure the letters she and Darin wrote to each other, she does intend to part with dozens of glamorous gowns she's collected over the years.

'I will be auctioning off about 16 furs and 259 of my favorite gowns on February 27th and 28th, 2017, at the Wicks Theater and Museum in Boca Raton Florida,' Francis told Mail On Line. 'The gowns, which range from size four to 14, include creations from such fabulous designers as Nolan Miller and Bill Travilla.

'Sometimes we have to let go of certain things in our life, but I have no intention of letting go of our letters, now that I have them in my possession again.'