Annette Funicello, the ultimate Girl Next Door to a generation of Baby Boomers who first fell in love with her on the original 1955-'59 incarnation of The Mickey Mouse Club - died Monday after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. She was 70.
Her family told Extra that Funicello passed away from complications of her illness, and they were by her side when she was taken off life support. Funicello had been in an MS coma for years, Extra reported.
With her brunette curls and expressive brown eyes, "Annette," as she was simply known, grew up on the nation's TV screens in her unquestioned role as the princess of Walt Disney's daily afternoon syndicated TV show. She embodied the image of wholesome Eisenhower Era youth both on screen and off, even when she graduated to the role of Frankie Avalon's beach-blanket buddy in the early '60s. ...
At Disney's urging, she also recorded a number of pop songs, several of which, such as "Tall Paul" and "Puppy Love" (which Paul Anka wrote for her), became hit singles, though Funicello was shy about her singing. ...
In 1963, Funicello's famous figure caught the shrewd eye of B-movie producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, who, with the cautious blessing of Walt - who ruled out her wearing a bikini - cast Annette opposite Avalon in Beach Party a low-budget hit that spawned a series of sandy sequels. ...
For several years after the diagnosis, only her immediate family knew of her illness, but when her equilibrium finally gave out in 1991, causing rumors of alcoholism, Funicello had no choice but to go public. ...
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