[5][6] Funicello proved to be very popular and by the end of the first season of The Mickey Mouse Club, she was receiving 6,000 letters a month, more than any other Mouseketeer.

[10] In addition to appearing in many Mouseketeer sketches and dance routines, Funicello starred in several serials on The Mickey Mouse Club.

The studio received so much mail about "How Will I Know My Love" (lyrics by Tom Adair, music by Frances Jeffords and William Walsh),[11] that Walt Disney issued it as a single, and gave Funicello (somewhat unwillingly[citation needed]) a recording contract.

[12] A proposed live-action feature, The Rainbow Road to Oz, was to have starred some of the Mouseketeers, including Darlene Gillespie as Dorothy and Funicello as Ozma.

Disney ultimately replaced this film project with a new adaptation of Babes in Toyland (1961), which starred Funicello as Mary Contrary.

She had a role on the Disney television series Zorro, playing Anita Cabrillo in a three-episode storyline about a teen-aged girl arriving in Los Angeles to visit a father who does not seem to exist to the citizens there.

This role was reportedly a 16th birthday present from Walt Disney, and it was the first of two different characters she played opposite Guy Williams as Zorro, whom Funicello had developed a crush on.

[15] Funicello made her feature film debut in the Disney-produced comedy The Shaggy Dog (1959) with Fred MacMurray and Tommy Kirk.

Walt Disney was reportedly a fan of 1950s pop star Teresa Brewer and tried to pattern Funicello's singing on the same style.

[12] In December 1959, Funicello attempted to have her contract with Disney set aside, claiming that it was unequitable and that she was without an agent or legal counsel when she signed it.

"[20] Funicello moved on from Disney to become a "teen idol", starring in a series of "Beach Party" movies with Frankie Avalon for American International Pictures.

[21] Funicello guest-starred on episodes of Wagon Train, Burke's Law and The Greatest Show on Earth; she then starred in another two-part Disney telemovie with Kirk, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964).

All three swimsuits bared her navel, particularly in Bikini Beach, where it is visible extensively during close up shots in a sequence early in the film when she meets Frankie Avalon's "Potato Bug" character outside his tent.

Avalon was back as Funicello's co-star in Beach Blanket Bingo (1965); she and Kirk then did a sequel to Merlin Jones, The Monkey's Uncle (1965).

[24] Funicello made a cameo in two AIP comedies starring Avalon, Ski Party (1965) and Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965).

Box office receipts for the series were in decline, and neither Avalon nor Funicello appeared in the final installment, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966).

AIP tried a new formula with stock car racing films, starting with Fireball 500 (1966) which starred Funicello, Avalon and Fabian Forte.

[7] Funicello made her final public appearance on September 13, 1998 at California's Multiple Sclerosis Society with Frankie Avalon.

For the next five years, she hid her condition from her family and friends until 1992 when she finally publicly disclosed her diagnosis[33] to combat rumors that her impaired ability to walk was the result of alcoholism.

[34] The Canadian program W5 profiled Funicello in 2012 after 15 years out of the public eye, revealing that her disease had severely damaged her nervous system.

On April 8, 2013, Funicello died at age 70 at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California, from complications attributed to multiple sclerosis.

She will forever hold a place in our hearts as one of Walt Disney's brightest stars, delighting an entire generation of baby boomers with her jubilant personality and endless talent.

In the Disney Village shopping and dining area of Disneyland Paris, a 1950s themed restaurant called Annette's Diner is named after her.