A naked grown-up Mouseketeer shocked the Disney folks and a lot of Baby Boomers when she was pictured in a magazine wearing only Mouse ears years after her stint as “Doreen” on the original “Micky Mouse Club” TV show.
And the self-described “black sheep” of the blockbuster 1950s TV kids show raised eyebrows working later with nonconformist rocker Frank Zappa.
But all that was just a memory Friday as funeral services were pending for Doreen Tracey who died at the age of 74.
Tracey, who would describe herself as the “black sheep” of the 1950s children’s show, died Wednesday while being treated for pneumonia at a hospital in Thousand Oaks, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Tracey was featured on “The Mickey Mouse Club” during its original 1955-59 run on ABC. She maintained a lifelong association with Disney, appearing in a spinoff with Annette Funicello and such films as “Westward Ho the Wagons!” with Fess Parker.
In the 1960s she formed a rock group called Doreen and the Invaders, touring Vietnam in 1968 shortly after the Tet Offensive, according to The Times. She also posed nude — except for Mickey Mouse ears — for the magazine “Gallery” and worked as a publicist for Zappa, a musician and occasional filmmaker.
The risque photos cost her work at Disney, she told The Times, but she eventually reconciled with Disney and became a regular at Mousketeers reunions and conventions. She reportedly came to regret the decision to pose nude.
Tracey was born in London on April 3, 1943, the child of an American vaudeville dance team that performed for Allied soldiers during World War II. After her television career, she worked until retirement as an administrator at Warner Bros, The Times reported.
The divorced Tracey is survived by a son and two grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
— City News Service