Annette Funicello, the most popular Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club, has died at 70.
The star, who matured to a successful career in records and '60s beach party movies but struggled with illness in middle age and after, passed away on Monday, The Walt Disney Co. said.
She died peacefully at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., of complications from multiple sclerosis, the company said.
Fan favourite: Annette Funicello, pictured here in the 1950s, has died at 70
Funicello
stunned fans and friends in 1992 with the announcement about her
ailment. Yet she was cheerful and upbeat, grappling with the disease
with a courage that contrasted with her lightweight teen image of old.
The pretty, dark-haired Funicello was just 13 when she gained fame on Walt Disney's television kiddie 'club,' an amalgam of stories, songs and dance routines that ran from 1955 to 1959.
Cast after Disney saw her at a dance recital, she soon began receiving 8,000 fan letters a month, 10 times more than any of the 23 other young performers.
Disney
delight: The actress, seen here in February 1997, always appreciated
her beginnings on Disney's The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s
Beach days: Annette starred in a string of beach flicks and became every boy's ultimate dream girl
The cutest couple: Bikini Beach starring Annette and Frankie Avalon was just one of their successful films
Her
devotion to Walt Disney remained throughout her life. 'He was the
dearest, kindest person, and truly was like a second father to me,' she
remarked. 'He was a kid at heart.'
When 'The Mickey Mouse Club' ended, Annette (as she was often billed) was the only club member to remain under contract to the studio. She appeared in such Disney movies as 'Johnny Tremain,' `'The Shaggy Dog,' `'The Horsemasters,' `'Babes in Toyland,' `'The Misadventures of Merlin Jones' and 'The Monkey's Uncle.'
She also became a recording star, singing on 15 albums and hit singles such as 'Tall Paul' and 'Pineapple Princess.'
The wild bikini: This two piece was the skimpiest bathing suit that Annette wore during her beach movie days
Poodle skirt! The brunette star donned a once very popular poodle skirt for Dick Clark's Good Ol Days television program in 1977
Famous co-stars: America's sweetheart got together with Monkees heartthrob singer Davy Jones for a picture in 1968
Outgrowing
the kid roles by the early `60s, Annette teamed with Frankie Avalon in a
series of movies for American-International, the first film company to
exploit the burgeoning teen market.
The filmmakers weren't aiming for art, and they didn't achieve it. As Halliwell's Film Guide says of 'Beach Party': 'Quite tolerable in itself, it started an excruciating trend.'
But the films had songs, cameos by older stars and a few laughs and, as a bonus to latter-day viewers, a look back at a more innocent time. The 1965 'Beach Blanket Bingo,' for example, featured subplots involving a mermaid, a motorcycle gang and a skydiving school run by Don Rickles, and comic touches by silent film star Buster Keaton.
Glamour girl: Annette starred in 1961's Babes In Toyland
Lady in red: The dark-eyed star posed in a chic red suit at the height of fame
Among
the other titles: 'Muscle Beach Party,' `'Bikini Beach,' `'Beach
Blanket Bingo,' `'How to Stuff a Wild Bikini' and 'Dr. Goldfoot and the
Bikini Machine.'
The shift in teen tastes begun by the Beatles in 1964 and Funicello's first marriage the following year pretty much killed off the genre.
But she was somehow never forgotten though mostly out of the public eye for years. She and Avalon staged a reunion in 1987 with 'Back to the Beach.' It was during the filming that she noticed she had trouble walking - the first insidious sign of MS.
When it was finally diagnosed, she later recalled, 'I knew nothing about (MS), and you are always afraid of the unknown. I plowed into books.'
Her symptoms were relatively mild at first, but gradually she lost control of her legs, and she feared people might think she was drunk. So she went public with her ordeal in 1992.
She wrote of her triumphs and struggles in her 1994 autobiography, 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes' - the title taken from a Disney song. In 1995, she appeared briefly in a television docudrama based on her book. And she spoke openly about the degenerative effects of MS.
Wedding: The former teen star married Glen Holt in 1986
'My
equilibrium is no more; it's just progressively getting worse,' she
said. 'But I thank God I just didn't wake up one morning and not be able
to walk. You learn to live with it. You learn to live with anything,
you really do.'
'I've always been religious. This just makes me appreciate the Lord even more because things could always be worse. I know he will see me through this.'
Funicello was born Oct. 22, 1942, in Utica, N.Y., and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 4. She began taking dance lessons the following year and won a beauty contest at 9. Then came the discovery by Disney in 1955.
'I have been blessed to have a
mentor like Walt Disney,' she said 40 years later. 'Those years were the
happiest of my life. I felt that back then. I feel the same today.'
Brave: Annette relied on her faith to get her through the toughest days during her battle with MS
Asked
about the revisionist biographies that have portrayed Disney in a
negative light, she said, 'I don't know what went on in the conference
rooms. I know what I saw. And he was wonderful.'
In 1965, Funicello married her agent, Jack Gilardi, and they had three children, Gina, Jack and Jason. The couple divorced 18 years later, and in 1986 she married Glen Holt, a harness racehorse trainer. After her film career ended, she devoted herself to her family. Her children sometimes appeared on the TV commercials she made for peanut butter.
The beach films featured ample youthful skin. But not Funicello's.
She remembered in 1987: 'Mr. Disney said to me one day, `Annette, I have a favor to ask of you. I know all the girls are wearing bikinis, but you have an image to uphold. I would appreciate it if you would wear a one-piece suit.' I did, and I never regretted it.'
The star, who matured to a successful career in records and '60s beach party movies but struggled with illness in middle age and after, passed away on Monday, The Walt Disney Co. said.
She died peacefully at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., of complications from multiple sclerosis, the company said.
Fan favourite: Annette Funicello, pictured here in the 1950s, has died at 70The pretty, dark-haired Funicello was just 13 when she gained fame on Walt Disney's television kiddie 'club,' an amalgam of stories, songs and dance routines that ran from 1955 to 1959.
Cast after Disney saw her at a dance recital, she soon began receiving 8,000 fan letters a month, 10 times more than any of the 23 other young performers.
Disney
delight: The actress, seen here in February 1997, always appreciated
her beginnings on Disney's The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950sBeach days: Annette starred in a string of beach flicks and became every boy's ultimate dream girlThe cutest couple: Bikini Beach starring Annette and Frankie Avalon was just one of their successful filmsWhen 'The Mickey Mouse Club' ended, Annette (as she was often billed) was the only club member to remain under contract to the studio. She appeared in such Disney movies as 'Johnny Tremain,' `'The Shaggy Dog,' `'The Horsemasters,' `'Babes in Toyland,' `'The Misadventures of Merlin Jones' and 'The Monkey's Uncle.'
She also became a recording star, singing on 15 albums and hit singles such as 'Tall Paul' and 'Pineapple Princess.'
The wild bikini: This two piece was the skimpiest bathing suit that Annette wore during her beach movie daysPoodle skirt! The brunette star donned a once very popular poodle skirt for Dick Clark's Good Ol Days television program in 1977Famous co-stars: America's sweetheart got together with Monkees heartthrob singer Davy Jones for a picture in 1968The filmmakers weren't aiming for art, and they didn't achieve it. As Halliwell's Film Guide says of 'Beach Party': 'Quite tolerable in itself, it started an excruciating trend.'
But the films had songs, cameos by older stars and a few laughs and, as a bonus to latter-day viewers, a look back at a more innocent time. The 1965 'Beach Blanket Bingo,' for example, featured subplots involving a mermaid, a motorcycle gang and a skydiving school run by Don Rickles, and comic touches by silent film star Buster Keaton.
Glamour girl: Annette starred in 1961's Babes In ToylandLady in red: The dark-eyed star posed in a chic red suit at the height of fameThe shift in teen tastes begun by the Beatles in 1964 and Funicello's first marriage the following year pretty much killed off the genre.
But she was somehow never forgotten though mostly out of the public eye for years. She and Avalon staged a reunion in 1987 with 'Back to the Beach.' It was during the filming that she noticed she had trouble walking - the first insidious sign of MS.
When it was finally diagnosed, she later recalled, 'I knew nothing about (MS), and you are always afraid of the unknown. I plowed into books.'
Her symptoms were relatively mild at first, but gradually she lost control of her legs, and she feared people might think she was drunk. So she went public with her ordeal in 1992.
She wrote of her triumphs and struggles in her 1994 autobiography, 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes' - the title taken from a Disney song. In 1995, she appeared briefly in a television docudrama based on her book. And she spoke openly about the degenerative effects of MS.
Wedding: The former teen star married Glen Holt in 1986'I've always been religious. This just makes me appreciate the Lord even more because things could always be worse. I know he will see me through this.'
Funicello was born Oct. 22, 1942, in Utica, N.Y., and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 4. She began taking dance lessons the following year and won a beauty contest at 9. Then came the discovery by Disney in 1955.
Brave: Annette relied on her faith to get her through the toughest days during her battle with MSIn 1965, Funicello married her agent, Jack Gilardi, and they had three children, Gina, Jack and Jason. The couple divorced 18 years later, and in 1986 she married Glen Holt, a harness racehorse trainer. After her film career ended, she devoted herself to her family. Her children sometimes appeared on the TV commercials she made for peanut butter.
The beach films featured ample youthful skin. But not Funicello's.
She remembered in 1987: 'Mr. Disney said to me one day, `Annette, I have a favor to ask of you. I know all the girls are wearing bikinis, but you have an image to uphold. I would appreciate it if you would wear a one-piece suit.' I did, and I never regretted it.'