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Annette Funicello is perhaps the best known of the original Mouseketeers on the Mickey
Mouse Club TV show in addition to being a Mouseketeer and appearing in guest spots in
several Disney movies and TV shows she also had a career as a singer and is the popular
star of a series of beach movies in the 1960s this is Annette's intriguing stardom story
foreign
Annette Funicello was born in Utica New York on October 22nd 1942.
to Italian-American parents Joseph Funicello and Jeannie Albano the family moved to Southern
California when Annette was still a toddler a shy child Annette's parents enrolled her
in dancing lessons when she was still quite young in order to help her gain confidence
when she was 12 years old she was discovered by Walt Disney when she performed as the Swan
Queen in the ballet Swan Lake at a dance recital in Burbank California
wall thought she was perfect for his new Mickey Mouse Club show and cast her on it Annette was
the last Mouseketeer to be added to the show and one of only a handful to be personally chosen by
Walt Walt signed a net to his seven-year contract with the Disney Studios company
she was very popular on the show by the end of its first season in 1955 she was receiving more than 6
000 fan letters a month which was more than any other Mouseketeer in addition to being on the
Mickey Mouse Club Annette was on several cereals that were one-off Productions that were spun off
from the show and even had her own TV special called Walt Disney presents Annette in 1958
in this special she sang several songs and this launched her singing career one of the songs
from the special called How Will I Know My Love written by Tom Adair Francis Jeffords and William
Walsh that Walt Disney had it issued as a single and gave a quite reluctant Annette a recording
contract after the Mickey Mouse Club was done filming Annette stayed under contract with Disney
she had a three episode role in the Disney TV series Zorro this role was a birthday present to
Annette from Walt for her 16th birthday it was the first of two different characters she played on
Zorro in addition she had several guest starring episodes on Make Room for Daddy as an Italian
exchange student and made her movie debut in the Disney produced film The Shaggy Dog in the late
1950s and early 1960s Annette had a few pop record hits even though she didn't want to be thought of
as a singer most of the songs were written by the Sherman Brothers though she did do a reworking
of a Paul Anka song in 1959 called toot sweet Annette's version was renamed it's really love
Paul Anka had a noted crush on Annette and even though he was only a year older than her Walt
Disney was protective of Annette who was still underage when she sang Paul Anka's song this
unrequited Crush thwarted by Walt Disney resulted in Paul writing the famous song Puppy Love
Annette tried to have her contract with the Disney Company set aside in 1959 stating that
when she signed it she did not have an agent or legal counsel to advise her she wanted out of the
contract because she was only making 325 dollars a week and thought she could make more elsewhere
the court refused to let her out of her contract after doing several more appearances in Disney
movies and TV shows her contract with Disney was finally done and she moved on to do a series of
popular beach movies with Frankie Avalon Annette continued her career as an actress after her time
at Disney and doing the beach movies in 1994 she dictated her autobiography to Patricia Romanowski
the book called A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes my story was made into a TV movie in 1995.
in addition to these projects Annette produced her own line of teddy bears with a company called the
Annette Funicello collectible bear company this company made its last bear in 2004. she also had a
perfume named after her called cello by Annette in 1994 Annette revealed that she had been diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis in 1987. she said that after she went public with it all of her fans
around the world would send her home remedies to try and would tell her they wish for God to bless
her and that they were praying for her she made her last public appearance in 1998 and a benefit
for the California Multiple Sclerosis Society with Frankie Avalon alongside her as for her personal
life Annette Mary Jack l gallardi in 1965 and was wed to him until 1981. they had three children
together in 1986 she married a California harness racing horse breeder and trainer
named Glenn D Holt they attended harness horse races together frequently in the 1980s and 1990s
in 2011 Annette's house in Encino California suffered a fire and Annette suffered smoke
inhalation in the incident but was otherwise all right after the fire Annette and her husband
moved to a smaller ranch house that they'd bought decades earlier just south of Shafter California
and north of Bakersfield California Annette lived the rest of her life in that house when
Annette made the news of her multiple sclerosis diagnosis public it was to quell the rumors that
her difficulty walking was because of alcoholism she opened the Annette Funicello fund for
neurological disorders at the California Community Foundation to help bring awareness and funding to
the disorder in 1995 she appeared on a Disney TV documentary for the 40th anniversary of the
Mickey Mouse Club where people noticed she spoke slowly and mechanically because of the condition
after that and her 1998 appearance with Frankie Avalon Annette was out of the public eye for most
of the rest of her life a Canadian television station did a profile on her in October of 2012
where they revealed that Annette had been unable to walk since 2004 unable to speak
since 2009 and at the time of the profile piece required a feeding tube and round-the-clock care
Annette's best friend actress and singer Shelly Fabray appeared in this profile piece
Annette passed away in April of 2013 at age 70 of the cumulative effects of Decades of living with
multiple sclerosis Annette's family and Shelley fabre were with her when she made her Crossing
Annette had been inducted as a Disney Legend in 1992 and received a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in 1993. at the Disney Village shopping and dining part of the Disneyland Paris
park there is a 1950s themed restaurant called Annette's Diner that is named after her foreign
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