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PEOPLE /ARTS A31
‘Versace’ stars: Anti-gay bias led to designer’s death
By LYNN ELBER
AP Television Writer
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) —
Do the intersecting lives of
a fashion designer and the
serial killer who murdered
him add up to a political
saga?
Absolutely, says Ryan Mur-
phy, the powerhouse ex-
ecutive producer of “The
Assassination of Gianni
Versace: American Crime
Story,” season two of the
FX showcase that debuted
with 2016’s Emmy-winning
“The People v. O.J. Simp-
son.”
“It was a political murder,”
Murphy said, defending
the striking use of “assas-
sination” in the title of the the FBI’s most-wanted list
10-episode series that be-
gins airing at 10 p.m. East-
ern on Wednesday. The
1997 shooting by Andrew
Cunanan of the ground-
breaking Italian designer is
enveloped in social issues
that resonate today, Mur-
phy and series stars Edgar
Ramirez and Ricky Martin
said.
Cunanan (“Glee” star Dar-
ren Criss) was a “person
who targeted people spe-
cifically to shame them
and to out them, and to
have a form of payback for
a life that he felt he could
not live,” Murphy said dur-
ing a Q&A with reporters.
Doreen Tracey, an original Disney Mouseketeer, dies at 74
By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Do-
reen Tracey, a former
child star who played
one of the original cute-
as-a-button Mouseke-
teers on “The Mickey
Mouse Club” in the 1950s,
has died, according to
Disney publicist Howard
Green. She was 74.
Tracey died from pneu-
monia Wednesday at
a hospital in Thousand
Oaks, California, follow-
ing a two-year battle
with cancer.
Tracey maintained ties to
Disney and show business
throughout her life, ap-
pearing in the film “West-
ward Ho the Wagons!”
and touring with the
Mouseketeers. She later
served as a publicist to
Ramirez, who plays the
adult Versace, and Martin,
who portrays his longtime
partner, Antonio D’Amico,
concurred in separate in-
terviews with Murphy’s as-
sessment.
Versace, who was 50 and
reaching new heights
of success when he was
gunned down in front of his
lavish Miami Beach estate,
died because of preju-
dice, said Ramirez (who,
with weight added and
hair dyed and thinned for
“Versace,” is unrecogniz-
able as the actor who ap-
peared in “Zero Dark Thirty”
and “Carlos”).
Although Cunanan was on
and circulated openly in
Miami Beach before Ver-
sace became his final vic-
tim in a cross-country ram-
page, he wasn’t stopped
because of his gay con-
nections, Ramirez said.
Cunanan, 27, fatally shot
himself about a week after
Versace’s murder.
“The underlying subject
is homophobia and how
homophobia killed him,”
Ramirez said. “That’s some-
thing that comes up over
and over when we look
into the investigation. ...
Cunanan was on the news
every night, on the most-
wanted list, and for some
musician Frank Zappa and
worked at Warner Bros.
It was the pig-tailed Tracey
and her talented co-stars
— including Annette Funi-
cello — who appeared on
television in black hats with for its four-year run.
ears following the anthem
“M-I-C, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E
...” on ABC’s “The Mickey
Mouse Club.” Millions of
kids raced home from
school to watch in wonder
as the bouncy Mouseke-
teers announced them-
selves at the top of the
show. “The Mickey Mouse
Club” was the brainchild
of Walt Disney during the
flowering of his company’s
fortunes in the mid-1950s.
To help finance the Disney-
land park, he agreed to
supply ABC with TV shows.
One was designed for chil-
dren in the pre-dinner hour.
Darren Criss, from left, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin participates in the “The Assassination of
Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter
Press Tour on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif.
reason all the law-enforce-
ment authorities couldn’t
get him.”
The California-born Cunan-
an, portrayed as a deeply
disturbed con man, had
cultivated relationships
with wealthy older men
and reportedly had been
lovers or friends with two of and discrimination.
the five men whose deaths
are blamed on him. The
other victims included a
wealthy Chicago develop-
er and a New Jersey cem-
The hour-long show proved
a sensation with its Oct. 3,
1955, debut. It flourished
for two seasons, then was
reduced to a half-hour for
two more. Tracey stayed
The black-and-white series
was syndicated in 1962-
65. The 1990s version of
“The Mickey Mouse Club”
launched the careers of
singers Justin Timberlake,
Britney Spears and Chris-
tina Aguilera, and actors
Keri Russell and Ryan Gos-
ling. Born in London on
April 3, 1943, to parents
who worked in vaudeville,
Tracey arrived in the Unit-
ed States when she was 4
and learned to sing and
dance. She nabbed a spot
on “The Mickey Mouse
Club” when she was 12.
Lorraine Santoli, a former
Saturday 13 January 2018

Associated Press
etery caretaker. Martin said. His friendships
Illuminating anti-gay bias with Ramirez and Penelo-
is important because the pe Cruz, who plays Dona-
LGBTQ community still must tella Versace, were other
fight it, Martin said. As a inducements to join the se-
member of the communi- ries, as was its depiction of
ty, the pop star-actor said, the Versace-D’Amico rela-
he feels compelled to use tionship.
his fame to combat hate Their attachment was illu-
minated in a conversation
“If I don’t use the power Martin had with D’Amico,
that that music gives or, in who in the show’s opening
this case, a character like scene is shown discovering
this gives me, I’d be allow- Versace’s body immedi-
ing the crime to happen,” ately after the shooting.q
executive at Disney who This undated photo released
wrote “The Official Mickey
Mouse Club Book,” said by Disney, shows Disney
Tracey remained close to
her Disney roots, maintain- Mouseketeer Doreen
ing long-time friendships
with her fellow Mouseke- Tracey.
teers.
Tracey strained her rela- Associated Press
tionship with Disney by
posing for a men’s maga-
zine in 1976 with nothing
on except her mouse ears
and later wearing nothing
but an open trench coat
in front of Disney Studios.
Still, she often appeared
at Mickey Mouse Club re-
union shows at Disneyland
and at Disney conventions,
last celebrating the show’s
60th anniversary in 2015.
Tracey is survived by her
son, Bradley, and two
grandchildren, Gavin, 9,
and Autumn, 12.q