Donald Louis "Don" Agrati aka Don Grady, BHS 1962

Donald Louis "Don" Agrati aka Don Grady, BHS 1962

Don Grady, ex-Mouseketeer and 'My Three Sons' star, dies at 68

Don Grady, who sang and danced as a Mouseketeer on "The Mickey Mouse Club," played son Robbie on the long-running family sitcom "My Three Sons," and later became a composer and songwriter, died Wednesday, June 27, 2012. He was 68. Grady died at his home in Thousand Oaks after a four-year battle with cancer, said his wife, Ginny.

A native of San Diego, Grady was born Don Agrati on June 8, 1944. His father, Lou, was in the Navy and later became a sausage maker. His mother, Mary, was a talent agent. The family moved to Lafayette in the Bay Area, where Grady developed a talent for music and dancing. He told the Contra Costa Times that he took clarinet and accordion lessons and later taught himself bass, guitar and the trumpet.

His musical talents landed him an audition with Walt Disney's "Mickey Mouse Club" when he was in middle school. He sang and danced on the show for several years but left for a part on "My Three Sons" when he was 16. Grady also appeared in other television shows of the era, including the "Rifleman" and "Wagon Train." Don graduated from Burbank High School in 1962.

He later began a new career as a composer and songwriter for television, theater and films."His passion was music," his wife, Ginny, said. "And it was because he played seven different musical instruments that he got onto the Mouseketeers show. TV was a sideline to all he ever wanted to do, which was play music."

Besides his wife of 26 years and his mother, Grady is survived by two children, Joey and Tessa, and a sister, Marilou Reichel. Another sister, actress Lani O’Grady, died of a drug overdose in 2001.



Burbank High School Yearbook 1962