Annette Funicello’s daughter reflects on life with original Mouseketeer: ‘We laughed until we cried’ (2024)

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How old was Annette Funicello when she was a Mouseketeer? ›

The Mickey Mouse Club

In 1955, the 12-year-old was discovered by Walt Disney when she performed as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake at a dance recital at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California. Disney cast her as one of the original Mouseketeers.

Annette Funicello, here in the mid-1950s, became famous as one of the original Mouseketeers on "The Mickey Mouse Club." Funicello, 70, died Monday, April 8, at a California hospital of complications from multiple sclerosis, the Walt Disney Co. said.

Gina Portman

Jason Gilardi

Jack Gilardi Jr.

Annette Funicello, the most famous of Walt Disney's original Mouseketeers who died Monday at 70 after a long battle with multiple sclerosis, was not allowed to date until she was sweet 16. But she made up for lost time, falling for fellow singers Fabian Forte and Frankie Avalon when she came of age.

All but Anette Funicello, who passed away April 8 at the age of 70! Those still living include: Sharon Baird (now 70), Bobby Burgess (71), Lonnie Burr (69), Tommy Cole (71), Darlene Gillespie (71), Cubby O'Brien (66), Karen Pendleton (66) and Doreen Tracey (70).

Mickey Rooney, Jr. passed away this week at 77 years old. He and his brother, Tim Rooney (who passed away in 2006), were original Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club.

Some kids loved the new show, but overall it just didn't come together the way the original had. One thing that the New Mickey Mouse Club did right was its ethnic diversity. While the 1950s Mouseketeers were white-bread WASPS, the 1970s Club included Mexican-American, African-American, Jewish and Asian members.

Midbrain of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

The cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown. It's considered an immune mediated disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. In the case of MS , this immune system malfunction destroys the fatty substance that coats and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord (myelin).

Glen Holt

m. 1986–2013

Jack Gilardi

m. 1965–1981

Did Annette Funicello have multiple sclerosis? ›

Funicello learned she had M.S. in 1987 but kept her condition secret for five years. She announced the illness after becoming concerned that the unsteadiness the disease caused would be misinterpreted as drunkenness.

In 1987, Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative neurological disease and in 1992 went public with her illness.

Avalon started appearing in films in the 1960s and is also well known for his role in the 1970s musical film Grease as Teen Angel, in which he sings "Beauty School Dropout" to Frenchy, who was played by Didi Conn.

Singer/songwriter Paul Anka reveals actress Annette Funicello was the inspiration for his song "Puppy Love".

But in 1992 at age 50, Annette went public with devastating news -- she had multiple sclerosis, a debilitating neurological disorder. She had the most severe form of the disease and over the years lost her ability to walk, relying first on a cane, then on a wheelchair.

In December 1998, she was convicted in federal court of aiding her third husband, Fraschilla, to purchase securities using a check-kiting scheme. She was sentenced to two years in prison, but was released after serving only three months.

Lonnie Burr (born May 31, 1943) is an American entertainer and writer best known as one of nine of the original thirty-nine Mouseketeers who remained under a seven-year contract for the complete filming (1955–1959) of Walt Disney's children's television show the Mickey Mouse Club.

The Mouseketeers were each hired for one year at a time, at a flat rate of $185 per week, with 13-week options written into the contract.

Some of today's biggest stars got their start on "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club." Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, Keri Russell, and Justin Timberlake were among the show's cast.

October 6, 2019, Fresno, CA

Karen Pendleton / Died

Is Cubby the Mouseketeer still alive? ›

Cubby lives in the Pacific Northwest and still works constantly, playing drums for various touring Broadway shows, and with Bernadette Peters. He has taken part in many of the Mouseketeer Reunion shows, including the 50th Anniversary in 2005, but usually is too busy drumming to make personal appearances.

Annette Funicello

Early Star Quality: This triple threat was the only Mouseketeer selected by Walt Disney himself—and though she later claimed her vocal range was ''about three notes,'' her skill and wholesome persona made her the original show's most popular cast member by far.

The name Mickey is both a boy's name and a girl's name . Mickey is a nickname-name redolent of the mid-20th century and best-known as a mouse name. While this spelling works for either gender, the girls' version is more often spelled Micki.

Fact #4: Walt Disney's original name for Mickey was Mortimer!

Modeling his new creation after the "wistfulness of (Charlie) Chaplin," Disney originally named his mascot Mortimer. He ultimately changed the name to Mickey after his wife Lillian objected to what she believed was a "sissified" name.

Consistency is something Disney strives to maintain in their Park experiences, and having not just one character but only one version of Mickey able to vocally and verbally communicate didn't fit that mold.

MS itself is rarely fatal, but complications may arise from severe MS, such as chest or bladder infections, or swallowing difficulties. The average life expectancy for people with MS is around 5 to 10 years lower than average, and this gap appears to be getting smaller all the time.

Patients are not born with MS, but rather some environmental factor apparently acts on genetically susceptible individuals to produce the disease; but the nature of that factor (such as whether or not it is a virus) remains elusive.

Did Annette Funicello wear wigs? ›

"You know why? I have naturally curly hair, and so the minute I go in the water, that's the worst place for me," she told the Los Angeles Times. "So for all the beach pictures I wore a wig and they used to spray it. There I was on the surfboard, every hair in place.

Annette Funicello was an American actress and singer who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of her death in 2013.

Annette Funicello, the most beloved of the early Walt Disney Mouseketeers and a pioneer teen star, died Monday at a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif. She was 70. She spent more than two decades in a brave battle against crippling multiple sclerosis and reportedly had been in a coma for several years.

The term 'dementia' is not generally used in association with multiple sclerosis because the decline is not usually as severe as it is in other forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease. It is more usual to describe the person as 'experiencing cognitive difficulties'.

There are many celebrities who have multiple sclerosis (MS) and take an active role in advocating for research and treatments for this disease. Among them are actress Selma Blair, metal singer Ozzy's son Jack Osbourne, country artist Clay Walker, and TV personality Montel Williams.

Singer-songwriter Victoria Williams' MS diagnosis led to a source of support for others. In 1993, her musical friends, including Lou Reed and Pearl Jam, recorded the album, Sweet Relief, to raise money for her medical bills. She then founded the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to help others with health problems.

The youngest age of onset of MS in the medical literature is 2 years but the majority of children are diagnosed in their early teens. In 3 to 5 percent of cases, MS onset is before age 16; an onset before 10 years of age is extremely uncommon, with a reported incidence of 0.2 to 0.7 percent.

The oldest and best recorded of the early reports of MS concerns St Lidwina of Schiedam in Holland. Knowledge of her symptoms comes from a biography written shortly after her death in 1433.

The former talk show host Montel Williams went public with his MS diagnosis in 1999. "When the neurologist said those words — 'You have MS' — it hit me like a brick," Williams wrote on the now-defunct Montel Williams MS Foundation website.

Frenchy is one of the main protagonists in Grease, a charter member of the Pink Ladies. Her boyfriend is Doody.

What is Frenchy's accent in Grease? ›

Her high-pitched voice and strong New York accent, makes some of the lines very difficult to pronounce correctly.

Frenchy was played by Didi Conn, who was 26 while filming during the summer of 1977. Conn had appeared in multiple TV shows and movies before hitting it big with "Grease."

Puppy love, also known as a crush, is an informal term for feelings of romantic love, often felt during childhood and early adolescence. It is an infatuation usually developed by someone's looks and attractiveness at first sight. Such feelings fade away when the object of attraction stays out of sight for a while, ...

"Puppy Love" is a popular song written by Paul Anka in 1960 for Annette Funicello, a Mouseketeer, whom he had a crush on. Anka's version reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 behind Percy Faith's "Theme from A Summer Place", No. 4 on the Canadian CHUM Charts, and No.

And like Michael, Donny had a solo career – the height of which was 'Puppy Love', a cover of a Paul Anka song, which reached #1 in Britain in the summer of 1972.

It should be noted that the life expectancy of Parkinson's disease can be normal or near normal. However, a number of factors can shorten life expectancy. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, patients usually live between 10 and 20 years after diagnosis.

Most people with Parkinson's disease have a normal or near-normal life expectancy. Modern medications and treatments mean that people can manage their symptoms and reduce the occurrence or severity of complications, which might otherwise be fatal.

The advanced cognitive changes that impact daily living in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are both types of dementia. Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) can occur as Parkinson's advances, after several years of motor symptoms.

In 1987, Funicello was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative neurological disease and in 1992 went public with her illness.

Annette Funicello in 1963 (age 21)... - The Hollywood Garage | Facebook.

How old was Christina Aguilera in Mickey Mouse Club? ›

When she was 11, Aguilera auditioned for the revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. She was too young to be part of the cast then but joined the show in 1993-1994.

Justin Timberlake was on the show between 1993 and 1994.

The following year, he continued his entertainment career as a cast member on "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club." During the show, he appeared in acting and musical skits alongside his MMC costar and future groupmate, JC Chasez.

The youngest age of onset of MS in the medical literature is 2 years but the majority of children are diagnosed in their early teens. In 3 to 5 percent of cases, MS onset is before age 16; an onset before 10 years of age is extremely uncommon, with a reported incidence of 0.2 to 0.7 percent.

It's most commonly diagnosed in people in their 20s, 30s and 40s although it can develop at any age. It's about 2 to 3 times more common in women than men. MS is one of the most common causes of disability in younger adults.

Ms. Funicello learned she had M.S. in 1987 but kept her condition secret for five years. She announced the illness after becoming concerned that the unsteadiness the disease caused would be misinterpreted as drunkenness.

Before becoming a Mouseketeer, Britney Spears competed in state-level gymnastics competitions until she was 9. When she was 11, she auditioned for a second time for "The New Mickey Mouse Club" and played a featured role for the next three years.

Before Mickey Mouse, there was his predecessor: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Before Mickey Mouse, there was his predecessor: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. For the first time, we're seeing footage of the first Disney character.

Ariana Grande is a Mouseketeer at Radio Disney Music Awards 2014!

Justin Timberlake posted an apology to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in an Instagram post on Friday (Feb. 12), promising "to do better."

At 12 years old, Timberlake was introduced as a cast member of the famed Mickey Mouse Clubhouse alongside fellow future superstars like Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling — and even his future girlfriend Britney Spears.