UPDATE 2-Disney child star Annette Funicello dies at age 70

Mon Apr 8, 2013 3:54pm EDT

* Thrived on Disney's 'The Mickey Mouse Club'

* Sixties-era beach movies brought fame and fortune

* Developed multiple sclerosis in the late 1980s (Adds statement from Funicello's children, background on career and life)

LOS ANGELES, April 8 (Reuters) - Annette Funicello, America's girl next door who captured the innocence of the 1950s and 1960s as a Disney Mouseketeer and the star of beach party movies, died on Monday at age 70, the Walt Disney Co. said.


Her family told celebrity news television program "Extra" that Funicello had been in a coma.

"Annette was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mouseketeer, and a true Disney legend," Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of Walt Disney Co., said in a statement.


Funicello caught the public eye as a 12-year-old in 1955 when she became one of the original members of Disney's "The Mickey Mouse Club," a trademark show of the clean-cut fifties.

She went on to star in a series of beach movies in the 1960s including "Beach Party," "Bikini Beach" and the hit "Beach Blanket Bingo," released in 1965 and co-starring teen idol Frankie Avalon.



"We are so sorry to lose Mother," Funicello's children, Jack, Jason and Gina, said in a statement. "She is no longer suffering anymore and is now dancing in heaven. We love and will miss her terribly."



As she matured from child to young woman she outgrew the Mouseketeers but remained in demand, guest-starring in fifties-era TV staples such as "The Danny Thomas Show" and "Zorro."

Funicello had her own TV series, "Annette," in 1958 in which she played a country girl living with relatives in the big city. The series lasted only one season.

She moved to the big screen in 1957 with "Johnny Tremaine," an American Revolutionary War drama, and co-starred in "The Shaggy Dog" in 1959.


After starring in the 1968 rock'n'roll comedy "Head," Funicello disappeared from the big screen. She remained active on television, however, and acted as spokesperson for Skippy peanut butter for nearly 20 years.

She re-emerged with Avalon to reprise their sand-and-surf roles in "Back to the Beach '87."


Funicello was born in Utica, New York, and the family moved to California when she was a child. Her father, Joe, was a mechanic and her mother, Virginia, devoted herself to her daughter's show-business career once she became a Mouseketeer.

Funicello married Hollywood agent Jack Gilardi in 1965 and the couple had three children. The couple divorced in 1981, and she married racehorse breeder Glen Holt in 1986. (Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Xavier Briand)


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