Hot! Don Grady

LOS ANGELES - Don Grady , that sang plus danced being a Mouseketeer on "The Mickey Mouse Club," enjoyed son Robbie for the long-running family sitcom "My Three Sons," and later grew to be some sort of composer and also songwriter, died Wednesday. He was 68.

Grady perished during his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., after a four-year combat with melanoma , reported his wife, Ginny.

As a young child around that San Francisco Bay Area town of Lafayette, Grady developed a fondness regarding new music and dancing. He told the Contra Costa Times in 2004 of which he took clarinet and accordion tuition as well as later on taught him self bass, classical guitar as well as the trumpet.

His musical talents landed him a good audition along with "The Mickey Mouse Club" any time this individual is at central school. He performed on the Disney present intended for several years but quit for just a section on "My Three Sons" any time this individual appeared to be 16.

That show, which usually shown out of 1960 to be able to 1972, ended up being on the list of longest-running friends and family sitcoms of all time. It highlighted because that thoughtful, pipe-smoking widower Steve Douglas, whom lifted his players to be a sole parent during 837 Mill St. in the middle-class Midwestern home.

"I imagine we have an excellent show," Grady stated within a 2001 interview about CBS' "The Early Show." "It has been some sort of thoroughly clean show. It was a great show."

The show's healthful portrayal of American existence is definitely what made it easier for the idea resonate having family members who tuned in daily regarding that latest studies as well as tribulations inside Douglas household, based on roll film historian Leonard Maltin.

"America cherished this specific family," Maltin stated from the show. "It represented solidity plus continuity."

When the sequence began, Grady gamed the particular 14-year-old Robbie. His elderly sibling Mike was performed by means of , and his newer brother Chip was played by Stanley Livingston. When Considine left that indicate throughout 1965, he or she appeared to be changed by means of Barry Livingston, Stanley Livingston's brother. Barry Livingston trialled Ernie Thompson, a strong orphan obtained by way of Steve Douglas.

"It's your cliche, but Don ended up being the actual person we seemed as long as due to the fact your dog ended up being your big brother," Barry Livingston claimed Wednesday night. "The collections blur if you're handling these people in addition to coping with these so many hours a day. Don seemed to be this oldest, thus we were emulating him."

Grady in addition appeared throughout alternative broadcast tv on the era, like "The Rifleman" and "Wagon Train."

A native with San Diego, Grady came to be Don Agrati upon June 8, 1944. His father, Lou, was within the Navy as well as soon after started to be a lean beef maker. His mother, Mary, was a natural talent agent.

After "My Three Sons" ended, Grady continuing together with his excitement regarding songs and began a new vocation for a composer and also songwriter pertaining to television, show and films.

He wrote the actual theme song that will Phil Donahue's , plus his compositions were showcased inside children's TV string "The Kid-A-Littles" and also the 1985 motion picture "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

Grady furthermore co-wrote "Keep the Dream Alive," that was noted down simply by Herbie Hancock , Della Reese and the like for that Jazz to be able to End Hunger project.

"His eagerness was music," their wife said. "TV ended up being a sideline to all he or she ever wanted to do, that has been participate in music."

Besides his / her wife, Grady can be survived by his / her mother; two children, Joey in addition to Tessa; and also a sister, Marilou Reichel. Another sister, presenter Lani O'Grady, perished of any narcotic overdose within 2001.

(Times staff writer Claire Noland added to the present report.)