Don Grady

Don Grady (born Don Louis Agrati; June 8, 1944 – June 27, 2012) was an American actor, composer, and musician. He was best known as one of the Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club, and as Robbie Douglas on the long-running ABCCBS television series My Three Sons. During his short-lived career in music he was a solo singer and the drummer for the pop band The Yellow Balloon. Life and career Grady was born Don Louis Agrati in San Diego, California, the son of Mary B. (née Castellino), a talent agent, and Lou Anthony Agrati, a sausage maker. His sister Lanita became an actress known professionally as Lani O'Grady. He grew up in Lafayette, California, before being signed by Walt Disney and leaving the town. He graduated from Burbank High School in 1962. His acting credits included Western series, including John Payne's The Restless Gun, Have Gun – Will Travel, Buckskin, Wagon Train and The Rifleman, in which he played two roles in the second season. He played Jeff, son of a barber that got into fights with Mark McCain (Lucas' son). This episode is called "The Patsy" and originally aired September 29, 1959. In December 1959, at the age of 15, Grady appeared in two episodes of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, playing opposite Joan Crawford and Dick Powell. In "Rebel Ranger", he was cast as Rob Faring, the young son of Crawford's character, Stella Faring, a Confederate widow who tries to reclaim her former home and Rob's birthplace from the Unionist owner, Cass Taggart, played by Scott Forbes. Character actor John Anderson is cast as Fisk Madden, who tries to drive Taggart off his land and gain Stella's favor. The episode ends with Stella and Rob heading into a nearby town with the understanding that Taggart would call upon Stella for possible courtship, even though Crawford was fifteen years Forbes' senior. Stella Faring reveals that she had been living in San Antonio, Texas, during the war, also the birthplace of Joan Crawford.