What is Annette Funicello most well known for?”
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 Cabrillo 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.[4] 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
Born October 22, 1942, in Utica, New York. Funicello and her family moved to Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley when she was four years old. Best known for her role in the Mickey Mouse Club and in teenage beach movies of the early 1960s. Walt Disney saw Funicello dancing the lead in Swan Lake at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California, and invited her to audition for his new children’s show, The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). Funicello got her start on the program at age thirteen, soon becoming the most popular “Mouseketeer” on the show. After leaving the Mickey Mouse Club, Funicello remained under contract to Disney and appeared in the TV shows Zorro (1957), The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca (1958), and starred in the Disney feature films The Shaggy Dog (1959), Babes in Toyland (1961), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), and The Monkey’s Uncle (1965). In the early 1960s, Annette starred in a series of beach party movies with Frankie Avalon, including Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Part
