- Don Grady
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Donald Michael Agrati (born June 8, 1944, in San Diego, California), better known as Don Grady, is an American composer, musician and actor. He is remembered both as one of Mickey Mouse's original Mouseketeers, and as Robbie Douglas, from My Three Sons. His sister was also an actress, billed as Lani O'Grady. Their mother was a talent agent, known as Mary Grady.
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Life and career
Grady grew up in Lafayette, California, and attended Lafayette Elementary School (where he served as school president[1]) and Stanley Junior High, where he spent only a few months before being signed by Disney and leaving the area.[1]
His acting credits include several Western series, including John Payne's The Restless Gun, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Wagon Train and The Rifleman as well as the NBC medical drama, The Eleventh Hour. Originally the frustrated middle brother on My Three Sons, he became the confident elder brother with the departure of Mike (Tim Considine, who had earlier appeared with Grady in The New Adventures of Spin and Marty), and the adoption of Ernie (Barry Livingston), who became the new "third son."
During production of My Three Sons, Grady both appeared with his own band The Greefs on the series, and was the drummer for The Yellow Balloon, whose self-titled song became a minor hit during 1967. Record producer Laramy Smith recorded Grady's performance of "Just Happens To Be Fun", which appeared on Canterbury Records. Also on Canterbury, he fronted the Windupwatchband on the sunshine pop single, "The Children Of Saint Monica", which reached #132 nationally. For a while during the run of the series, he attended Los Angeles City College.[2]
After My Three Sons
After My Three Sons ended in 1972, Grady pursued a musical career. His works include music for the Blake Edwards comedy film Switch, the theme song for The Phil Donahue Show[1] and for EFX, a Las Vegas multimedia stage show which starred Michael Crawford, David Cassidy, Tommy Tune and Rick Springfield.
In the fall of 2008, Grady released Boomer: JazRokPop, a collection of songs written for and about the baby boomer generation. Boomer is his first original album as an artist since Homegrown was released by Elektra Records in 1973.
Grady married his wife Ginny in 1985, having met her at Disneyland.[1] The couple have two children, Joey and Tessa.
Notes
- ^ a b c d Janice De Jesus. "Ex-Mouseketeer slated for Lesher performance: 'Robbie' from 'My Three Sons' will perform with lyricist Marty Panzer to benefit a nonprofit group for foster children," Walnut Creek Journal (CA), May 12, 2005, page 3.
- ^ Kaufman, Dave (1968) (mass market paperback). TV 69: Who's Who, What's What in the New TV Season. New York: Signet. p. 130.
External links
Categories:- American film actors
- American television actors
- American composers
- American musicians
- 1944 births
- Living people
- Mouseketeers
- People from San Diego, California
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