Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. Hits included “Train of Love” (written by Paul Anka) and “Pineapple Princess”.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Annette Joanne Funicello
Description: Vocalist, Actress, USA
Known For: The most loved Mousekteers from the fifties MICKEY MOUSE CLUB.
Instruments: Voice
Music Styles: Easy Listening, Rock
Location: United States of America
Date Born: 22nd October 1942
Location Born: Utica, New York, United States of America
Date Died: 8th April 2013
Location Died: Utica, New York, United States of America
CONTACT DETAILS
Annette Funicello’s Official Website
Annette Funicello | Facebook
YOUTUBE VIDEO
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Annette Funicello
An American actress and singer. Beginning her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve, Funicello rose to prominence as one of the most popular “Mouseketeers” on the original Mickey Mouse Club.
As a teenager, she transitioned to a successful career as a singer with the pop singles “Tall Paul” and “Pineapple Princess”, as well as establishing herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful “Beach Party” genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s. The blog “Extra” reported that Annette Funicello died of complications of multiple sclerosis on April 8, 2013.
Annette Joanne Funicello was born in Utica, New York, to Italian Americans Virginia Jeanne (née Albano) and Joseph Funicello. Her family moved to Southern California when she was four years old. Funicello took dancing and music lessons as a child to overcome shyness.
In 1955, the 12-year-old was discovered by Walt Disney when she performed as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake at a dance recital at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California. Disney cast her as one of the original “Mouseketeers”. She was the last to be selected, and one of the few cast-members to be personally selected by Walt Disney himself.
She proved to be very popular and by the end of the first season of Mickey Mouse Club, she was receiving 6,000 letters a month, according to her Disney Legends biography.
In addition to appearing in many Mouseketeer sketches and dance routines, Funicello starred in several serials on The Mickey Mouse Club. These included Adventure in Dairyland, Walt Disney Presents: Annette (which co-starred Richard Deacon), and the second and third Spin and Marty serials – The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty and The New Adventures of Spin and Marty.
A proposed live-action feature Rainbow Road to Oz was to have starred some of the Mouseketeers, including Darlene Gillespie as Dorothy and Funicello as Ozma. Preview segments from the film aired on September 11, 1957 on Disneyland’s fourth anniversary show.
By then, MGM’s The Wizard of Oz had already been shown on CBS Television for the first time. Theories on why the film was abandoned include Disney’s failure to develop a satisfactory script, and the popularity of the MGM film on television. Disney ultimately replaced this film project with a new adaptation of Babes in Toyland (1961).
In a hayride scene in the Annette serial, she performed the song that launched her singing career. The studio received so much mail about “How Will I Know My Love” (lyrics by Tom Adair, music by Frances Jeffords and William Walsh, that Walt Disney issued it as a single, and gave Funicello (somewhat unwillingly) a recording contract.
Actress and singer
After the Mickey Mouse Club, she remained under contract with Disney for a time, with television roles in Zorro, Elfego Baca, and The Horsemasters. For Zorro she played Anita Campillo in a three-episode storyline about a teen-aged girl who arrives in Los Angeles to visit a father who does not seem to exist.
This role was reportedly a birthday present from Walt Disney, and the first of two different characters played opposite Guy Williams as Zorro. Annette also co-starred in Disney-produced movies such as The Shaggy Dog, Babes in Toyland, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, and The Monkey’s Uncle.
Although uncomfortable being thought of as a singer, Annette had a number of pop record hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, mostly written by the Sherman Brothers and including: “Tall Paul,” “First Name Initial,” “O Dio Mio,” “Train of Love” (written by Paul Anka) and “Pineapple Princess.” They were released by Disney’s Buena Vista label. Annette also recorded “It’s Really Love” in 1959, a reworking of an earlier Paul Anka song called “Toot Sweet”; Anka reworked the song for a third time in 1962 as “Johnny’s Theme” and it opened The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on television for the next three decades.
In an episode of the Disney anthology television series titled “Disneyland After Dark,” Annette can be seen singing live at Disneyland. Walt Disney was reportedly a fan of 1950s pop star Teresa Brewer and tried to pattern Annette’s singing in the same style. However, Funicello credits “the Annette sound” to her record producer, Tutti Camarata, who worked for Disney in that era. Camarata had her double-track her vocals, matching her first track as closely as possible on the second recording to achieve a fuller sound than her voice would otherwise produce.
Early in her career, she appeared on the NBC interview program Here’s Hollywood.
Beach icon and spokeswoman
She 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). The wholesome image earned in these films gained her a reference in the Grease song “Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee.”
When she was cast in her first beach movie, Walt Disney requested that she only wear modest bathing suits and keep her navel covered. However, she wore a pink two-piece in Beach Party, a white two-piece fishnet suit in the second film (Muscle Beach Party) and a blue and white bikini in the third (Bikini Beach). All three swimsuits bared her navel, particularly in Bikini Beach, where it is visible extensively during close up shots in a sequence early in the film when she meets Frankie Avalon’s “Potato Bug” character outside his tent.
She and Avalon became iconic as “beach picture” stars and were re-united in 1987 for the Paramount film Back to the Beach, parodying their own surf-and-sand films two decades earlier. They toured the country as a singing act.
In 1979, Funicello began starring in a series of television commercials for Skippy peanut butter.
Personal life
Funicello was married to her first husband, Jack Gilardi, from 1965 until 1981. They had three children: Gina (b. 1966), Jack, Jr. (b. 1970), and Jason (b. 1974). In 1986, she married California harness racing horse breeder/trainer Glen Holt. Annette and Glen were frequently seen at Los Alamitos Race Course and at Fairplex in Pomona in the 1980s and 1990s attending harness horse races.
In 1987, Funicello reunited with Frankie Avalon for a series of promotional concerts to promote their film Back to the Beach. She began to suffer from dizzy spells, but kept her failing health from her friends and family.
Funicello announced in 1992 that she suffered from multiple sclerosis. She had kept her condition a secret for many years, but felt it necessary to go public to combat rumors that her impaired ability to walk was the result of alcoholism. That same year, she was inducted as a Disney Legend. In 1993, she opened the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Disorders at the California Community Foundation.
Funicello’s best friend was Shelley Fabares. She and Fabares had been friends since they were young teenagers in a catechism class, and Fabares was a bridesmaid at Funicello’s first wedding. She was also very close to fellow Mouseketeers Lonnie Burr (she later claimed in an auto-biography that he was her first boyfriend during the first season of the Mickey Mouse Club), Sharon Baird, Doreen Tracey, the late Cheryl Holdridge, her ‘”Disney” co-star, Tommy Kirk, and her “Beach” movies co-star, Frankie Avalon.
Her autobiography, dictated to Patricia Romanowski and 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.
In the final scene, the actress portraying Funicello (Eva LaRue), riding in a wheelchair, turns away from the camera — turning back, it is Funicello herself, who delivered a message to a group of children. During this period, she produced a line of teddy bears for the Annette Funicello Collectible Bear Company. The last collection in the series was made in 2004. She also had her own fragrance called “Cello, by Annette”.
Funicello’s parents died within two years of each other. On September 2, 2007, her mother, Virginia Funicello, died of pneumonia, one month after her 86th birthday. On May 21, 2009, her father, Joseph Funicello, died of natural causes at the age of 93. Her parents appeared in the above-mentioned A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, and her mother also appeared in the 1995 documentary The Mickey Mouse Club Story.
In March 2011, Funicello’s Encino, California, home caught fire. She suffered smoke inhalation, but was otherwise unharmed.
In 2012, CTV profiled Funicello as an update on her after she had spent fifteen years out of the public eye. The profile revealed that her disease had severely damaged her nervous system; Funicello had lost the ability to walk in 2004 and the ability to speak in 2009, and she now required round-the-clock care to survive. In the profile, Holt and Fabares discussed Funicello’s current state, as well as the numerous medical interventions and treatments attempted to improve her condition.
Disney’s D23 fan club reported on April 8, 2013 that Funicello had died.
Discography
Albums
Annette – Vista BV-3301—1959
Annette Sings Anka (#21) – Vista BV-3302—1960
Hawaiiannette (#38) – Vista BV-3303—1960
Italiannette – Vista BV-3304—1960
Dance Annette – Vista BV-3305—1961
The Story of My Teens – Vista BV-3312—1962
The above albums were issued in mono only
Annette’s Beach Party (#39) – Vista BV-3316 (Mono)/STER-3316 (Stereo) – July 1963
Muscle Beach Party – Vista BV-3314/STER-3314—April 1964
Annette On Campus – Vista BV-3320/STER-3320—1964
Annette At Bikini Beach – Vista BV-3324/STER-3324—September 1964
Pajama Party – Vista BV-3325/STER-3325—November 1964
Something Borrowed Something Blue – Vista BV-3328/STER-3328—1964
Annette Sings Golden Surfin’ Hits – Vista BV-3327/STER-3327—July 1965
Annette Funicello – Vista BV-4037—1972
Annette Funicello Country Album – Starview 4001—1984
Best of Annette—Rhino RNDF-206—1984
Also released as a picture disk on Rhino RNLP-702
Annette: A Musical Reunion with America’s Girl-Next-Door – Vista 60010—1993
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes – Time/Warner 520564—released April 16, 1995
The Best of Annette – Vista—Released August 14, 1991
Singles
“How Will I Know My Love”/”Don’t Jump To Conclusions” – Disneyland 102 (1958)
“That Crazy Place In Outer Space”/”Gold Doubloons and Pieces of Eight” – Disneyland 114 (1958)
“Tall Paul” (#7)/”Ma, He’s Making Eyes at Me” – Disneyland 118 (1959)
“Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy” (#73)/”Lonely Guitar” – Vista 336 (1959)
Later pressings feature “Love Me Forever” as the B-side
“Lonely Guitar” (#50)/”Wild Willie” – Vista 339 (1959)
“Especially For You”/”My Heart Became Of Age” – Vista 344 (1959)
“First Name Initial” (#20)/”My Heart Became of Age” (#74) – Vista 349 (1959)
“O Dio Mio” (#10)/”It Took Dreams” – Vista 354 (1960)
“Train of Love” (#36)/”Tell Me Who’s The Girl” – Vista 359 (1960)
“Pineapple Princess” (#11)/”Luau Cha Cha Cha” – Vista 362 (1960)
“Talk to Me Baby” (#92)/”I Love You Baby” – Vista 369 (1960)
“Dream Boy” (#87)/”Please, Please Signore” – Vista 374 (1961)
“Indian Giver”/”Mama, Mama Rosa (Where’s The Spumoni)” – Vista 375 (1961)
“Hawaiian Love Talk”/”Blue Muu Muu” (#107) – Vista 384 (1961)
“Dreamin’ About You” (#106)/”Strummin’ Song” – Vista 388 (1961)
“That Crazy Place From Outer Space”/”Seven Moons (Of Batalyre) (By Danny Saval & Tom Tyron) – Vista 392 (1962)
“The Truth About Youth”/”I Can’t Do The Sum” – Vista 394 (1962)
“My Little Grass Shack”/”Hukilau” – Vista 400 (1962)
“He’s My Ideal”/”Mr. Piano Man” – Vista 405 (1962)
“Bella Bella Florence”/”Canzone d’Amoure” – Vista 407 (1962)
“Teenage Wedding”/”Walkin’ and Talkin'” – Vista 414 (1962)
“Treat Him Nicely”/”Promise Me Anything” (#123) – Vista 427 (1963)
“Merlin Jones”/”The Scrambled Egghead” – Vista 431 (1964)
Duets with Tommy Kirk
“Custom City”/”Rebel Rider” – Vista 432 (1964)
“Muscle Beach Party”/”I Dream About Frankie” – Vista 433 (1964)
“Bikini Beach Party”/”The Clyde” – Vista 436 (1964)
“The Wah-Watusi”/”The Clyde” – Vista 437 (1964)
“Something Borrowed, Something Blue”/”How Will I Know My Love” – Vista 438 (1965)
B-side is a new version of Annette’s first recording
“The Monkey’s Uncle”/”How Will I Know My Love” – Vista 440 (1965)
A-side features Annette with The Beach Boys
“Boy To Love”/”No One Else Could Be Prouder” – Vista 442 (1965)
“No Way To Go But Up”/”Crystal Ball” – Vista 450 (1966)
“What’s A Girl To Do”/”When You Get What You Want” – Tower 326 (1967)
Annette’s name is misspelled on both sides as “Annettte”
“The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes”/”Merlin Jones” – Vista 475 (1970)
“(Together We Can Make A) Merry Christmas”/”The Night Before Christmas” – Pacific Star 569 (1981)
Duets with Frankie Avalon
“The Promised Land”/”In Between and Out Of Love” – Starview 3001 (1983)
Filmography
The Shaggy Dog (1959)
Babes in Toyland (1961)
Elfego Baca: Six Gun Law (1962) (compilation of episodes from Wonderful World of Color serial)
The Horsemasters (1962) (compilation of episodes from Wonderful World of Color serial)
Beach Party (1963)
The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964)
Muscle Beach Party (1964)
Bikini Beach (1964)
Pajama Party (1964)
Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
The Monkey’s Uncle (1965)
Ski Party (1965) (Cameo)
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) (Cameo)
Fireball 500 (1966)
Thunder Alley (1967)
Head (1968)
Back to the Beach (1987)
Troop Beverly Hills (1989) (Cameo)
[edit] Television workMickey Mouse Club (1955–1959)
Zorro (1959; 1961)
The Danny Thomas Show (cast member in 1959)
The Horsemasters (1961)
Escapade in Florence (1962)
Wagon Train episode “The Sam Pulaski Story” (1963)
“Rosetta”, The Greatest Show on Earth (1964)
Easy Does It… Starring Frankie Avalon (1976) (Four-week summer variety series)
Love, American Style…’Love and the Tuba’ (1973) (with Frankie Avalon
Frankie and Annette: The Second Time Around (1978) (unsold pilot)
“Ghostbreaker” episode Fantasy Island (1978) [18]
The Mouseketeer Reunion (November 23, 1980)
Lots of Luck (1985; made-for-TV movie)
Growing Pains episode “The Seavers and the Cleavers” (guest star, 1985)
Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (guest star, 1988)
Full House episode “Joey Goes Hollywood” (guest star with Frankie Avalon, March 29, 1991)
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story (1995; made-for-TV movie)
The Mickey Mouse Club Story (1995; documentary)
External links:
ANNETTE FUNICELLO RESEARCH FUND FOR … – Facebook
- Annette Funicello at the Internet Movie Database
- A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story at the Internet Movie Database
- Annette Funicello
- Annette Funicello on LifeStory.com Share how she touched your life.
- Obituary from Disney D23
- Annette Funicello at Brian’s Drive In Theatre
- Annette Funicello at Find a Grave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia