This highly-rated television film covers the life of American movie/TV/pop music idol Annette Funicello. The movie starts with the move of her family from New York to California, where in 1955 shy Annette becomes one of the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. The movie covers her child stardom, her teen idol years, her singing career with big hits like "Tall Paul", her romance with Paul Anka, her classic beach party films with Frankie Avalon, and her first marriage. It also shows her large comeback in the late 1980s and her second marriage, and the day when she found out she had multiple sclerosis.
Acting
Eva LaRue captures Annette's forced smile masking private tragedy.
Production
Painstaking 1950s-60s period detail in the beach party recreations.
Director
Bill Corcoran
Eva LaRue
Annette Funicello
Len Cariou
Walt Disney
Frank Crudele
Joe Funicello
Rob Stewart
Jack Gilardi
David Lipper
Paul Anka
Don S. Davis
Glen Holt
Louis Ferreira
Young Frankie Avalon
Andrea Nemeth
Annette Funicello (age 12-15)
Frankie Avalon
Self
Annette Funicello
Self
Linda Lavin
Virginia Funicello
Jay Brazeau
Uncle Pete
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Annette herself approved the script and visited set, though her MS had progressed too far for a cameo.
The film deliberately mirrors Annette's real career: saccharine surface hiding darkness, just as Disney packaged her virginity while exploiting her.
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