Beloved DISNEY star ANNETTE FUNICELLO has passed at age 70.
The sad announcement came via Disneys official Twitter account. Annette passed at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif.
After first becoming the first breakout star from "The Mickey Mouse Club: in 1955 Annette appeared in other Disney series and movies like “Zorro”, “The Shaggy Dog” and “Babes in Toyland”.
Loaned out to American International Pictures she starred in a series of wild successful Beach Party teen musicals paired with romantic co-star Frankie Avalon.
Under contract to Disney, Annette was forbidden to war a bikini – the only female in the entuirfe series to never do so.
In the 1980s she re-teamed with Frankie in “Back to the Beach” while never staying out of the public eye as Skippy peanut butter spokesperson.