Annette Joanne Funicello: October 22, 1942 - April 8, 2013
Annette Funicello was an American actress and singer. She was born in Utica, New York. She began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve, and was one of the original "Mouseketeers" on the Mickey Mouse Club. Funicello was chosen by Walt Disney himself to be one of the mouseketeers. By the end of the first season, Funicello was reportedly receiving 6,000 fan mail letters a month. The show helped to promote Funicello and her acting career. She had a number of pop record hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s and began working with Paul Anka. Anka wrote the song, "Puppy Love" about his feelings for Funicello.
Funicello moved on from Disney to become a teen idol, starring in a series of "Beach Party" movies with Frankie Avalon for American International Pictures. These included Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Pajama Party (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). She and Avalon toured the country as a singing act. In 1992, she was inducted as a Disney Legend. Her autobiography, published in 1994, was A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: My Story. The title was taken from a song from the Disney movie Cinderella. A made-for-TV movie based on the book, A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, was made in 1995.
Funicello suffered from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and had lost the ability to walk in 2004, the ability to speak in 2009. On April 8, 2013, Funicello died at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California, at the age of 70, from complications due to MS.
030