actress cheryl holdridge died

Cheryl Holdridge was born June 20, 1944 and died January 5, 2009, of lung cancer. She was an American actress, best known for having been a cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club.
The Mickey Mouse Club and the Mouseketeers photo (c) by dbking from flickr.
Holdridge's first husband was sportsman and athlete Lance Reventlow, the only son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton. The couple were devoted to each other, but maintained residences in separate states. Reventlow died in the crash of a small plane eight years after their marriage.
Her second husband Manning J. Post was a major figure in Democratic politics in California. He died of natural causes on March 13, 2000. Both of her marriages were childless. Holdridge was a long-time supporter of environmental causes and charities, and with her second marriage became more active in fund-raising events.
Holdridge first performed professionally at the age of nine, when she landed a role in the New York City Ballet's version of The Nutcracker in Los Angeles. Her first screen appearance was as an uncredited extra in the 1956 film production of Carousel.
She auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club in the spring of 1956, was hired, and joined the club's "Red Team" the most visible and popular of the Mouseketeers. Though a good dancer, her weak singing voice kept her in the background of most musical numbers performed by the Mouseketeers. A competent actress with a pleasant speaking voice, she was employed for two of the show's episodic serials: Boys of the Western Sea and Annette.
After the show's run ended, Cheryl returned to Van Nuys High School and graduated from Grant High School with the winter 1961 class. She received a big break when she was cast in two episodes of Leave It to Beaver in 1959 as 'Gloria Cusick'. (She would later play an occasional, recurring role on that show as Wally Cleaver's girlfriend, Julie Foster.)

In May 1960, Holdridge went on a live tour to Australia with other former Mouseketeers. While there, she became involved with Lucky Starr, an Australian singer. She would later be linked in fan magazines and gossip columns with many other celebrities, including Elvis Presley.

Holdridge's television career went into high gear starting in 1960. She had guest appearances on over twenty different shows, including The Rifleman, My Three Sons, Bewitched, Bringing Up Buddy, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. She was also cast in the lead role of Betty in an unsold television series pilot based on the Archie Comics. While still very much in demand, Holdridge left acting abruptly in 1964 to get married.
After the death of her second husband, Holdridge made a cameo appearance in the 2000 feature film, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. In 2005 she appeared at Disneyland for 50th anniversary celebrations of both the opening of the park and The Mickey Mouse Club. More recently, she appeared in televised documentary specials about Cary Grant (2005) and Barbara Hutton (2006), and has also done a special feature interview for a Disney DVD. Bio info (c) http://en.wikipedia.org