 |
Sharon Baird | |
|---|---|
 Baird in 2015 | |
| Born | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1950–present |
| Spouse | Dalton Lee Thomas (1964–1972) (divorced) |
Sharon Baird is an American actress, voice actress, singer, dancer and puppeteer who is best known for having been a Mouseketeer.
She has one younger brother, Jimmy, also a former child actor. She began dance lessons at age three, and won a "Little Miss Washington" contest at five. Her mother took her to California for the national competition and fell in love with the climate. The family relocated to Los Angeles, California, where Baird continued her dance lessons with Louis da Pron, among others. [1]
Baird appeared in her first film, Bloodhounds of Broadway , in 1950. At age nine she began regular appearances on The Colgate Comedy Hour television show with Eddie Cantor. She did episodes of several different television shows, and an unbilled song-and-dance number with Dean Martin in Artists and Models (1955) (which also featured fellow mouseketeer Nancy Abbate), just before being selected for the Mickey Mouse Club.[ citation needed ]
Contrary to the impression given by Disney publicity, many of the Mickey Mouse Club cast had some prior experience in films and television. Baird was among the most experienced of these professionals, and performed with the show's "Red Team", or first-string unit, for all three seasons of original programming (1955–1958). Her specialty was tap, but she did other forms of dancing, as well as singing and acting on the show.[ citation needed ]
After filming completed in 1958, Baird finished high school at Hollywood Professional School, then attended Los Angeles Valley College where she made the National Honor Society and was president of her class. She briefly interrupted her education in May 1959 for a short performing tour of Australia with the Mouseketeers, then graduated from college in 1963 with degrees in mathematics and secretarial science.[ citation needed ]
In 1964, Baird married singer Dalton Lee Thomas, and, with a male friend of his, worked up a nightclub act called "Two Cats and a Mouse", which faded out, along with the marriage, by 1969. [1]
During the 1970s she worked extensively as a live "puppet" for Sid and Marty Krofft, among others, doing children's shows such as H.R. Pufnstuf , The Bugaloos , New Zoo Revue , Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Land of the Lost . She did rotoscoping work for Ralph Bakshi's late seventies film The Lord of the Rings . She was the live-action model for the part of Frodo Baggins, for which she did not receive screen credit.[ citation needed ]
In 1980, Baird, along with the other Mouseketeers, did a television special for The Wonderful World of Disney , reprising her "tap dancing while jumping rope" routine. She then joined a smaller number of her colleagues in performing live shows at Disneyland on weekends for several years during the early 1980s.[ citation needed ]
In 1984, Baird appeared on stage in the comedy special Gallagher: Over Your Head, doing a tap dancing routine and assisting Gallagher during his famous Sledge-O-Matic routine. For the critically panned cult film Ratboy , she played the title character under heavy makeup, being credited as S.L. Baird to hide her gender. Baird gradually ceased doing professional engagements in the 1990s. She later relocated from Southern California to Reno, Nevada. [2]
The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised for four seasons, from 1955 to 1959, by ABC. This original run featured a regular, but ever-changing cast of mostly teen performers. ABC broadcast reruns weekday afternoons during the 1958–1959 season, airing right after American Bandstand. The show was revived three times after its initial 1955–1959 run on ABC, first from 1977 to 1979 for first-run syndication as The New Mickey Mouse Club, then from 1989 to 1996 as The All-New Mickey Mouse Club airing on The Disney Channel, and again from 2017 to 2018 with the moniker Club Mickey Mouse airing on internet social media.
Minnie Mouse is an American cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue polka-dotted dress, white bloomers and yellow low-heeled shoes occasionally with ribbons on them. The Mickey Mouse comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse, although this is seldom used.
Clarabelle Cow is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As an anthropomorphic cow, Clarabelle is one of Minnie Mouse's best friends. She was once depicted as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, although now she is often paired with Goofy.
Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash was an American voice actor and impressionist. He is best remembered as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and a street in that town is named in his honor. In 1993, he was posthumously made a Disney Legend for his contributions to Walt Disney films.
The Bugaloos is an American children's television series, produced by brothers Sid and Marty Krofft, that aired on NBC on Saturday mornings from 1970 to 1972. Reruns of the show aired in daily syndication from 1978 to 1985 as part of the "Krofft Superstars" package with six other Krofft series. The show features a musical group composed of four British teenagers in insect-themed outfits, constantly beset by the evil machinations of the talent-challenged Benita Bizarre, played by comedian Martha Raye.
Annette Joanne Funicello was an American actress and singer. She began her professional career at age 12, becoming one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club. In her teenage years, Funicello had a successful career as a pop singer recording under the name "Annette". Her most notable singles are "O Dio Mio", "First Name Initial", "Tall Paul", and "Pineapple Princess". During the mid-1960s, she established herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful "Beach Party" genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon.
Cheryl Lynn Holdridge was an American actress, best known as an original cast member of The Mickey Mouse Club.
Sharyn Eileen "Sherry" Alberoni is a former American child actress. She got her start as a Mouseketeer on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club. As an adult, Alberoni became a voice artist for Hanna-Barbera Productions. Besides providing voices for numerous incidental characters in series such as Jeannie, Alberoni is best known as the voice of nasty rich-girl Alexandra Cabot from Josie and the Pussycats; "superhero-in-training" Wendy from the first season of Super Friends; the heroic robot Bo in Mighty Orbots; and Glumdalclitch in The Three Worlds of Gulliver. In 1971, she starred alongside Patty Andrews in the Sherman Brothers stage musical, Victory Canteen.
Karen Anita Pendleton was an original Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer on the ABC television series from 1955 to 1959. She was one of only nine Mouseketeers who were on the show during its entire original run.
Thru the Mirror is a 1936 American animated short film directed by David Hand from a story by William Cottrell and Joe Grant. In this cartoon short, Mickey Mouse has a Through the Looking-Glass-parody-like dream that he travels through his mirror and enters a topsy-turvy world where everything is alive. While there, he engages in a Fred Astaire dance number with a pair of gloves and a pack of cards, until the cards chase him out of the bizarre world. Produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists, it was the 83rd Mickey Mouse short film to be released, the fourth of that year.
Darlene Gillespie is a Canadian-American former child actress, most remembered as a singer and dancer on the original The Mickey Mouse Club television series from 1955 to 1959. After her career in entertainment ended, she became a nurse.
Doreen Isabelle Tracey was a British-born American performer who appeared on the original Mickey Mouse Club television show from 1955 to 1959.
Kevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran was an American child actor, director and producer. He appeared in numerous Disney projects between 1957 and 1963, leading him to be honored as a Disney Legend in 2006. His nickname, Moochie, established him as an irrepressible character in film.
Lonnie Burr is an American actor, entertainer and writer best known as one of nine of the original thirty-nine Mouseketeers who remained under a seven-year contract for the complete filming (1955–1959) of Walt Disney’s children’s television show the Mickey Mouse Club. The Mickey Mouse Club was the first national TV show to star children who appeared primarily as themselves as well as acting as characters in scenes and musical numbers. The original show aired in syndication in the 1960s, reran again in 1975, then on the Disney Channel in the 1980s through the early 2000s.
The first wave of Walt Disney Treasures was released on December 4, 2001. It includes four different DVD sets.
Tommy Cole is an American make-up artist, actor, and singer who appeared as a Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club television series.
Carl Patrick "Cubby" O'Brien, better known by his nickname Cubby, is an American drummer and former child actor. He is known as one of the original Mouseketeers on the weekday ABC television program The Mickey Mouse Club from 1955 to 1958.
Pufnstuf is a 1970 American comedy fantasy musical film produced by Sid and Marty Krofft Enterprises and released by Universal Pictures. It is based on the children's television series H.R. Pufnstuf, a show that features a cast of puppets on a "living island."
Roy Williams was an artist and entertainer for The Walt Disney Studios, best known as "Big Roy," the adult mouseketeer for four seasons on the Mickey Mouse Club television series and for his invention of the Mickey Mouse hats.
The Picnic is a 1930 American animated short film directed by Burt Gillett and produced by Walt Disney. It was first released on October 9, 1930, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the twenty-third Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the eighth of that year.
