posted 04-08-2013 12:33 PM                       

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Former Mouseketeer, beach party movie star had long battled multiple sclerosis
Carmel Dagan

Annette Funicello, who first gained fame as a 12-year-old Mouseketeer on Disney’s “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s and then starred opposite Frankie Avalon in a series of musical beach party films of the early 1960s, has died. She was 70.

According to a report by TV newsmag Extra, Funicello was taken off of life support on Monday morning. She’d battled multiple sclerosis since 1987, first going public with the diagnosis in 1992.

In addition to “Beach Party,” “Muscle Beach Party,” “Bikini Beach,” “Beach Blanket Bingo” and “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini” (the last without Avalon), all directed by William Asher, Funicello starred in the related pic “Pajama Party.” She also starred with Avalon and Fabian in action comedy “Fireball 500” and with Fabian in the more dramatic but similarly stock car-filled “Thunder Alley.” All these films were made at American Intl. Pictures.

Despite the word “bikini” in the title of two of her AIP films, Funicello famously wore a demure two-piece suit in these movies that befit her character.

After her four-year run at AIP, Funicello starred with the Monkees in Bob Rafelson’s trippy 1968 film “Head,” parodying the innocent, sweet-natured character she had played in the beach-party pics.

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