‘My Three Sons’ star dies at 68
TV star passes away
By Amber Dowling
2012-06-28
‘My Three Sons’ star dies at 68
Don Grady, the actor best known for portraying Robbie Douglas on the long-running television series My Three Sons, lost his battle to cancer this week.
The 68-year-old had battled the disease for a while, according to his family. The type of cancer was not released. Grady’s former co-star on the series, Barry Livingston, first reported the news on Facebook.
“My dear friend and TV brother Don Grady passed away today,” he wrote. “He was an inspiration to me in so many ways and his impact on my life is indelible. I will miss him greatly”
A San Francisco native, Grady started his acting career at the age of 13 when he was cast as one of the original Mouseketeers in The Mickey Mouse Club. During his career he was cast in several westerns, but got his big break in 1960 when he was cast alongside Livingston, Fred MacMurray, William Demarest, Stanley Livingston, Tim Considine and William Frawley.
My Three Sons ran in black and white from 1960 to 1965 and then in colour from 1965 to 1972. It won the 1962 Golden Globe for Best TV Show and several of the actors from the series were nominated for Emmys throughout its run.
Grady also showed a musical inclination throughout his career. When he was 19 years old, Capitol Records signed him to a contract that saw him singing, writing and publishing music. The actor performed several of his own songs on My Three Sons, and travelled under a pseudonym with musical group The Yellow Balloon, whose song Yellow Balloon landed on Billboard’s Pop Chart in 1967.
After the series ended Grady recorded his own album, Homegrown, in 1973 and starred in a national tour of the stage production of Pippin. He moved to New York to star in several other productions, including Godspell, Damn Yankees and Tom Sawyer. Eventually he decided to quit acting and focus on music.
“The truth is, I ran out of money,” the star is quoted as saying on his official website. “Since I had to start all over, I chose to focus on something that was the most meaningful to me.”
Grady returned to Los Angeles, borrowed $5,000 from his skeptical father, and went on to write the theme song for The Phil Donahue Show and create a score for The Wild, Wild, Wild West.
In 2001, Grady returned to Disney to compose music for DVDs, including The Emperor’s New Groove, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin and Jungle Book.
In 2008 he released his final compilation, Boomer: JazRokPop, a collection of songs that he wrote for baby boomers.
Grady died 19 days after his 68th birthday. He is survived by his wife Virginia [[whom he met at Disneyland of all places), and his two children, Joey and Tessa.
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