Annette funicello cause of death
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Mouseketeer Annette Funicello won people’s hearts with her shy yet friendly smile, and by the end of the first season of the Mickey Mouse Club, her fan mail had ballooned to 6,000 letters a month.
Annette recalled Walt Disney’s response to her phenomenal success: “I was about 13 and the fan mail started coming in and he said to me, ‘Do you have lots of Italian relatives?’ ‘No, why?’ I replied. ‘The amount of mail for you is incredible!’”
Born in Utica, New York, on October 22, 1942, Annette was four when her family moved to Los Angeles. The next year, her mother enrolled her in dance lessons, to help Annette overcome her shy nature.
In 1955, at the age of 12, she performed the lead role in Swan Lake at the Burbank Starlight Bowl. Little did she know at the time, Walt Disney was sitting in the audience; he was there scouting children for his new television show, the Mickey Mouse Club. The next day, Annette’s dance school received a call from the Studio asking to see the little girl who played the Swan Quee
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Annette Joanne Funicello achieved teenage popularity starting in October 1955 after she debuted as a Mouseketeer. Born on October 22, 1942 in Utica, New York, the family had moved to California when she was still young. Walt Disney himself saw her performing the lead role in "Swan Lake" at her ballet school's year-end recital in Burbank and decided to have her audition along with two hundred other children. Annette became the last Mouseketeer of the twenty-four that was picked. By the run-through in 1958 of The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) in which she appeared in her own multi-segmented series entitled "Annette", she had become the most popular Mousketeer of them all and the only one kept under contract by Walt Disney after he canceled the show. Her popularity was such that by the late 1950s, she was simply known as "Annette" -- America's sweetheart and the first "crush" for many a teenage baby boomer. Whenever anyone spoke of Annette, no last name was ever needed as everyone knew who you were talking about.
The popular teenager beca
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Beloved Disney Mouseketeer and Iconic Teen Star Annette Funicello Dies at Age 70
“Annette was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mousketeer, and a true Disney Legend. She will forever hold a place in our hearts as one of Walt Disney’s brightest stars, delighting an entire generation of baby boomers with her jubilant personality and endless talent. Annette was well known for being as beautiful inside as she was on the outside, and she faced her physical challenges with dignity, bravery and grace. All of us at Disney join with family, friends, and fans around the world in celebrating her extraordinary life.”
– Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company
Actress Annette Funicello, long-time Disney and Beach Party star, passed away on Monday, April 8, at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California, at the age of 70. She died peacefully from complications due to Multiple Sclerosis, a disease she battled for over 25 years. Beloved by television viewers in the ’50s for her stint on
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