After a long & private battle with multiple sclerosis actress/singer Annette Funicello passed away today at the age of 70. Although she had a very successful recording career along with her work in The Mickey Mouse Club and other Disney stuff, for me she'll always be De De (or Dolores - depending which film) from AIP's series of "Beach Party" movies from the 1960's. Sure their kinda dumb with plots you could sum up in about 10 seconds, but every year I make it a point to watch the whole series and they always make me smile. Their a HUGE part of American Drive-In movie history.
She was still under contract to Disney for the first couple of Beach movies (Beach Party 1963 & Muscle Beach Party 1964) and ol' Uncle Walt forbid her to show her navel or wear revealing swimsuits, however in the later movies she flaunted her assets (and navel) proudly. She will be very missed.
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