Doreen Tracey, The 'Black Sheep' Of Mickey's Mouseketeers, Dies

HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Doreen Tracey, one of the original Mouseketeers on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and later an associate of musician Frank Zappa, has died. She was 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. and she came to regret the decision.

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; Photo: Mouseketeers from 'The Mickey Mouse Club' attend the Hollywood Collectors & Celebrities Show June 23, 2001 at Beverly Garland''s Holiday Inn in North Hollywood, CA. Clockwise from top left are Cheryl Holdridge, Doreen Tracey, Tommy Cole and Bobby Burgess. (Photo by Getty Images)