Doreen Tracey, One Of The Original Mouseketeers, Has Died

LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Doreen Tracey, one of the original Disney Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club television program, had died. She was 74.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney publicist Howard Green disclosed that Tracey died on Wednesday at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California, after a two-year battle with cancer.

Tracey, then a teen, appeared on the original incarnation of the Mickey Mouse Club for its full 4-year run, starting in 1955.

“Our Dodo, as we lovingly nicknamed her, always had a smile on her face,” fellow Mouseketeer Tommy Cole said in a statement, per THR. “She never failed to make us all feel good, and we will miss her.”

Tracey was born to American vaudeville actors who were performing in London in 1943. At the age of four, she returned to the U.S. with her family, where her father opened a dance studio in Los Angeles.

Her first professional work was an uncredited singing and dancing bit in the musical film The Farmer Takes a Wife (1953), and at the age of 12, she auditioned for a spot in the Mickey Mouse Club.

In addition to her role on the Mickey Mouse Club, she appeared in other Disney vehicles, including Westward Ho the Wagons! (1956) the Disney serial “Anette” and on the Donna Reed show.

Later in life, she worked in the music industry doing record promotion at Warner Bros. She also worked with Frank Zappa as a publicist and became an amateur weightlifter.

Survivors include her son, Bradley, and grandchildren Gavin and Autumn, THR said.

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