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34-491: Born into a show business family, the members are daughters of the singing group The King Sisters . Sisters Tina Cole & Cathy Cole Green are the daughters of King Sister Yvonne King, and musician Buddy Cole ; Candy Conkling Brand is the daughter of King Sister Donna King and music executive Jim Conkling, Carolyn Cameron is the daughter of original King Sister Maxine Thomas and King Family performer LaVarn Thomas. Tina, Cathy, Candy, and Carolyn are all cousins. The members of

68-544: 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

102-439: A list of star performers including Dick Clark , Fred MacMurray , Ron Howard , Barry Manilow and The Lennon Sisters on ABC’s "Silver Anniversary Celebration." Concurrent with her performances with The Four King Cousins, Tina Cole also established herself as an actress on television series including Hawaiian Eye and Adam-12 and in particular starring as Katie Douglas (wife of Don Grady ’s Robbie) for five seasons on

136-895: A 1969 revival. A second generation of the King Family, the Four King Cousins , carries on the musical tradition. More prominently, Luise's grandsons Win and William Butler are also musicians as part of the rock band Arcade Fire . Alyce King Clarke died on August 23, 1996, from respiratory problems, aged 81. Luise King Rey died on August 4, 1997, aged 83, from cancer, in the year of her 60th wedding anniversary to Alvino Rey. Donna King Conkling died on June 16, 2007, aged 88, in Plano, Texas . Maxine King Thomas died on May 13, 2009, aged 97 in Corona, California . Yvonne "Vonnie" King Burch died on December 13, 2009, aged 89, after suffering

170-807: A collection of songs written for and about the baby boom generation. Boomer was his first original album as an artist since Homegrown was released by Elektra Records in 1973. Grady's parents were divorced when he started My Three Sons and he stated later that Fred MacMurray and show producers Don Fedderson and Ed Hartman were the "father figures I needed." Grady's first marriage to Julie Boonisar ended in divorce in 1979. The couple had no children. Grady married Virginia "Ginny" Lewsader in 1985, having met her at Disneyland . The couple had two children, Joey and Tessa, and they remained married for 27 years, until Grady's death on June 27, 2012. He died of myeloma at age 68 in Thousand Oaks, California , and

204-542: A fall at her home in Santa Barbara, California . Marilyn King died on August 7, 2013, aged 82, from cancer, also in California ; she was the last surviving sister. Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers Alvino Rey See latter 1960s recordings supporting The King Family Show Don Grady Don Grady (born Don Louis Agrati ; June 8, 1944 – June 27, 2012) was an American actor and musician. He

238-477: A less sympathetic Confederate named Townsend. In 1960, he began an 11-year run as Robbie Douglas in the show My Three Sons starring Fred MacMurray . Initially airing on ABC, the show moved to CBS in 1965. During production of My Three Sons , Grady appeared with his own band The Greefs on the series, writing two original songs for the show ("A Good Man to Have Around the House" and "Leaving It Up to You"), recorded

272-564: A musical career. His works included music for the Blake Edwards comedy film Switch , the theme song for The Phil Donahue Show and for EFX , a Las Vegas multimedia stage show starring Michael Crawford , David Cassidy , Tommy Tune , and Rick Springfield . As a stage performer, he starred in the national tour of Pippin and had roles in Godspell and Damn Yankees . In fall 2008, Grady released Boomer: JazRokPop ,

306-684: A request to be the vocal group for the Glenn Miller Orchestra . They recorded for Bluebird Records , a sub-label of RCA Victor and the same label as Miller, and also had their first hit with a vocal version of Miller's hit, " In the Mood ". In 1937, Luise married Horace Heidt's guitarist, Alvino Rey . Rey left the Heidt orchestra to form his own band, and the King Sisters became Rey's resident vocalists. Most vintage-movie fans know

340-505: 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

374-611: A second album which was released by the Playboy/Trio Records label in 1976 only for the Japanese market. Titled The Way We Were , it featured a mix of pop hits of the era including, Leon Russell’s "A Song For You", Neil Sedaka’s "Solitaire", and Marvin Hamlisch’s title track, alongside standards including "In the Mood" and "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön". At the end of the 1970s the group ceased substantive operations in order for

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408-485: A series of appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson where they joined the Mighty Carson Art Players in comedy sketches. Concurrently they were appearing on the King Family's syndicated series of television specials including "Thanksgiving with the King Family", "Christmas with the King Family", "Valentines Day with the King Family", "Mother's Day with the King Family", "Backstage with

442-532: A single with the Palace Guard ("Little People" b/w "Summertime Game") in 1966, and was the drummer for The Yellow Balloon , whose self-titled song became a minor hit in 1967. For a while during the run of the series, he attended Los Angeles City College . While on My Three Sons Grady also appeared in the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour , and The F.B.I. (Season 6,Ep:11) as well as two episodes of

476-603: A station in Oakland, California. In the early 1930s sisters Luise, Maxine, and Alyce formed a vocal trio along the lines of their idols, the Boswell Sisters , and traveled to San Francisco to audition for radio station KGO (to replace the Boswell Sisters themselves, who were leaving the station). After this, Maxine retired to home life in Oakland and sisters Donna and Yvonne were added to the roster. In 1935,

510-670: A trio or quartet. Six sisters were in the group at one time or another: Alyce, Donna, Luise, Marilyn, Maxine, and Yvonne King. Born and raised in Pleasant Grove, Utah , the King sisters were part of the Driggs family of entertainers. They were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Their father was William King Driggs. Their first professional job was with a Salt Lake City radio station, from which they graduated to

544-639: The Columbus (Ohio) Citizen-Journal heralded their performance as "hugely entertaining... a dynamite musical variety act" and noted that "The Cousins virtually explode with excitement... an express train of entertainment", while the Orlando Sentinel called their act "powerful" and avowed that "the King Cousins, four of the liveliest, loveliest and most entertaining young women to hit the area, harmonize beautifully." The Four King Cousins recorded

578-636: The Four King Cousins made their individual professional television debuts, along with their mothers, as part of the extended family of musical performers known as the King Family. The King Family starred in two network musical variety television series titled The King Family Show , in addition to seventeen syndicated television specials which aired for over a decade. Following the successful run of The King Family’s initial ABC television series, sisters Tina & Cathy Cole, along with their cousins Carolyn Thomas, and Candy & Jamie Conkling, joined

612-620: The Gene Autry Blue Jeans, replacing the Pinafores (Eunice, Beulah, and Ione Kettle), and continued there along with Alvino Rey until the program's end in early May 1956. In 1965, the King Sisters began hosting their own ABC TV series, The King Family Show , which featured family members including Alyce's husband, actor Robert Clarke , and her sons Ric de Azevedo, pianist-arranger Lex de Azevedo , and Cam Clarke , as well as other talent. The show ran from 1965 to 1966, with

646-808: The King Family", "Holiday Cruise with the King Family", "The King Family in Washington DC" and others. The group also headlined the King Family’s second ABC television variety series, becoming star performers on The King Family Show during the 1969 season. Throughout the 1970s the group continued to appear on television. They joined the King Sisters and Diahann Carroll as guest stars on ABC’s "Christmas in New York", sang with Dionne Warwick on ABC TV’s bicentennial show "The Great American Music Celebration", appeared on The Merv Griffin Show , and later joined

680-462: The King Sisters accepted a job with bandleader Horace Heidt . Their employment was on-again, off-again, with the sisters leaving the band in November 1935 to return to their home state, only to be rehired by Heidt the next year. In the following years, the sisters sang separately and together with the bands of Artie Shaw 's Old Gold program and Charlie Barnet and Al Pearce series. They turned down

714-524: The NBC education drama Mr. Novak , starring James Franciscus . Originally the frustrated middle brother on My Three Sons , Grady's role of Robbie became that of the confident eldest brother with two cast changes. The character of the original oldest brother, Mike (played by Tim Considine , who had earlier appeared with Grady in The New Adventures of Spin and Marty ), was gradually eased out of

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748-580: The United Kingdom in 2006. Indie record store Dusty Groove has reviewed this album as "a sublime blend of vocals and lightly snapping rhythms that's totally outta site!" while Richie Unterberger described their harmonies as "sunny [and] bland". Following their 1969 Las Vegas debut with Wayne Newton at the Frontier Hotel , the Four King Cousins presented their concert act at top nightclubs, performing arts centers and concert halls throughout

782-473: The cast of NBC ’s Kraft Summer Music Hall during the summer of 1966. The group, then billed as The Five King Cousins, were featured in the show’s youthful ensemble of performers which included host John Davidson , and comedians Richard Pryor , Flip Wilson and George Carlin . The series led to a nationwide concert tour with John Davidson and George Carlin. Before the tour began, Jamie Conkling left to pursue her education at Brigham Young University , and thus

816-529: The group as The Four King Sisters: Yvonne, Luise, Alyce, and Donna. The foursome made their first appearance in the 1939 musical Second Fiddle (1939) and went on to be featured in a number of 1940s Hollywood films, both feature-length and short-subject musicals, as well as three-minute Soundies musicals filmed for coin-operated film jukeboxes. During World War II , they appeared regularly on Kay Kyser 's radio series. In late 1953, Alyce, Yvonne, and Marilyn joined Gene Autry's Melody Ranch on CBS Radio as

850-679: The group officially became The Four King Cousins. The Four King Cousins appeared on musical variety and talk shows of the day including The Hollywood Palace , Operation: Entertainment (where they entertained the troops at military bases around the country), The Don Knotts Show , Della (the Della Reese Show), The Barbara McNair Show , The Pat Boone Show , The Donald O'Connor Show , The Merv Griffin Show , It's Happening , The Joey Bishop Show , The Mike Douglas Show and as semi-regular guest-star performers on The Jonathan Winters Show . The Four King Cousins also made

884-800: The group performed their first live concert in three decades at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles. The Four King Cousins concert dates in 2015 included the Lobrero Theater in Santa Barbara and a college concert in Salt Lake City. They were scheduled to return to Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles in August 2016. The King Sisters The King Sisters were an American big band -era vocal group, appearing as

918-545: The members to raise their own families. In 2009, group members Tina, Cathy, and Candy appeared on the PBS television retrospective special "Christmas with the King Family", a musical celebration of the King Family’s classic holiday television specials. To coincide with the special, four King Family albums were released on CD. The Four King Cousins jazz-vocal rendition of the Al Burt Christmas carol "Some Children See Him"

952-403: The popular, long-running series My Three Sons . Signed to Capitol Records , the Four King Cousins released their debut album titled Introducing the Four King Cousins which was produced, arranged and conducted by their cousin, Golden Globe nominee Lex de Azevedo , in 1968. The album displayed the group’s four-part vocal style in covers of hits of the era. The album was re-released on CD in

986-447: 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,

1020-559: The series, and a new youngest son, Ernie ( Barry Livingston ), was adopted into the family. At the end of 1970, Grady said he would "cut the umbilical cord " and leave his role after 11 years. He said, "I don't even know that acting is where my head is" and that "Robbie is something you do automatically like putting on your clothes. It's got no challenge." Grady had served in the United States Army Reserve for four years. After leaving My Three Sons , Grady pursued

1054-856: The world for the next decade. Their schedule of concert appearances included engagements at the Hollywood Bowl, the Fairmont Hotels in Dallas, and New Orleans, multiple appearances at the Playboy Resort in Lake Geneva, annual appearances at Walt Disney World’s Top of the World supper club, and Disneyland ’s Tomorrowland Stage, as well as international appearances in Canada, Tahiti, France, and throughout Japan. In reviewing their show,

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1088-614: Was best known as one of the Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club , and as Robbie Douglas on the long-running ABC  / CBS 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 . Grady was born Don Louis Agrati in San Diego, California , the son of Mary B. (née Castellino), a talent agent , and Lou Anthony Agrati,

1122-687: Was featured on the CD release Christmas with the King Family They also contributed personal selections from their own family’s recipes to The King Family Cookbook, also released that year. In 2013, the Four King Cousins released a third album, More Today Than Yesterday: Classic Songs of the 60s & 70s . The tracks were recorded between 1968 and 1976 for the King Family television series and TV specials such as "Mother's Day with The King Family" and "The King Family in San Francisco". In 2013,

1156-489: 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. In "Death in a Wood", Grady played a young Unionist, Zachary, who grows to understand that a Confederate soldier, Lawrence (played by Dick Powell), who is holding him prisoner, is a man of decency and strength of commitment. Simon Oakland appeared in this episode as

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