Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, producer and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, he appeared in more than 300 films and was one of the last surviving stars of the silent film era.
09/12/2018
Mickey Rooney
1. Profile :-
Born Joseph Yule Jr.
September 23, 1920
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died April 6, 2014 (aged 93)
Studio City, California, U.S.
Resting place Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Residence Westlake Village, California
Nationality American
Other names Michael McGuire
Michael Rooney
Education Hollywood High School
Alma mater Fairfax Senior High School
Occupation Actor, vaudevillian, comedian, producer, radio personality
Years active 1926–2014
Known for Mickey Mulligan on the Mickey Rooney Show
Spouse(s)
1.Ava Gardner
(m. 1942; div. 1943)
2.Betty Jane Phillips
(m. 1944; div. 1949)
3.Martha Vickers
(m. 1949; div. 1951)
4.Elaine Devry
(m. 1952; div. 1958)
5.Barbara Ann Thomason
(m. 1958; died 1966)
6.Marge Lane
(m. 1966; div. 1967)
7.Carolyn Hockett
(m. 1969; div. 1975)
8.Jan Chamberlin (m. 1978)
Children 11, including Mickey, Tim, and Michael
Parent(s)
Joseph Yule
Nellie W. Carter
Relatives Jan Rooney Mickey Rooney, Jr. Teddy Rooney
Awards Juvenile Academy Award, Academy Honorary Award, Emmy, 2 Golden Globes
2. Introduction :-
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, producer and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, he appeared in more than 300 films and was one of the last surviving stars of the silent film era.
At the height of a career that was marked by precipitous declines and raging comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 15 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized American family values. A versatile performer, he became a celebrated character actor later in his career. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney "the best there has ever been". Clarence Brown, who directed him in two of his earliest dramatic roles, National Velvet and The Human Comedy, said he was "the closest thing to a genius I ever worked with".
Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child and made his film debut at the age of six. At 14 he played Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Critic David Thomson hailed his performance as "one of the cinema's most arresting pieces of magic". In 1938, he co-starred in Boys Town. At nineteen he was the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for his leading role in Babes in Arms, and he was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1939. At the peak of his career between the ages of 15 and 25, he made 43 films, which made him one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most consistently successful actors and a favorite of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer.
Rooney was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941 and one of the best-paid actors of that era, but his career would never again rise to such heights. Drafted into the Army during World War II, he served nearly two years entertaining over two million troops on stage and radio and was awarded a Bronze Star for performing in combat zones. Returning from the war in 1945, he was too old for juvenile roles but too short to be an adult movie star, and was unable to get as many starring roles. Nevertheless, Rooney's popularity was renewed with well-received supporting roles in films such as Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and The Black Stallion (1979). In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in Sugar Babies and again became a celebrated star. Rooney made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows, and won an Emmy in 1982 plus a Golden Globe for his role in Bill (1981).
At his death, Vanity Fair called him "the original Hollywood train wreck". He struggled with alcohol and pill addiction. Ava Gardner was his first wife, and he would go on to marry an additional seven times. Despite earning millions during his career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1962 due to mismanagement of his finances. Shortly before his death in 2014 at age 93, he alleged mistreatment by some family members and testified before Congress about what he alleged was physical abuse and exploitation by family members. By the end of his life, his millions in earnings had dwindled to an estate that was valued at only $18,000. He died owing medical bills and back taxes, and contributions were solicited from the public.
3. Early life :-
Rooney was born Joseph Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of vaudevillians Nellie W. Carter, from Kansas City, Missouri and Joe Yule, a native of Glasgow, Scotland. His mother was a former chorus girl and a burlesque performer. When Rooney was born, his parents were appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl. Rooney later recounted in his memoirs that he began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.
4. Career :-
I. Child actor :-
Rooney's parents separated when he was four years old in 1924, and he and his mother moved to Hollywood the following year. He made his first film appearance at age six in 1926, in the short Not to be Trusted. Rooney got bit parts in films such as The Beast of the City (1932) and The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933), which allowed him to work alongside stars such as Joel McCrea, Colleen Moore, Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Wayne and Jean Harlow. He enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School and later attended Hollywood High School, graduating in 1938.
5. Mickey McGuire :-
His mother saw an advertisement for a child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films. Rooney got the role and became "Mickey" for 78 of the comedies, running from 1927 to 1936, starting with Mickey's Circus (1927), his first starring role. During this period, he also briefly voiced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
He made other films in his adolescence, including several more of the McGuire films. At age 15 he played the role of Puck in the Warner Brothers all-star adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1935. Rooney then moved to MGM, where he befriended Judy Garland, with whom he began making a series of musicals that propelled both of them to stardom.
6. Andy Hardy, Boys Town and Hollywood stardom :-
*Rooney with Judy Garland in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
In 1937, Rooney was selected to portray Andy Hardy in A Family Affair, which MGM had planned as a B-movie. Rooney provided comic relief as the son of Judge James K. Hardy, portrayed by Lionel Barrymore (although Lewis Stone would play the role of Judge Hardy in subsequent films). The film was an unexpected success, and led to 13 more Andy Hardy films between 1937 and 1946, and a final film in 1958.
According to author Barry Monush, MGM wanted the Andy Hardy films to appeal to all family members. Rooney's character would portray a typical "anxious, hyperactive, girl-crazy teenager", and he soon became the unintended main star of the films. Although some critics describe the series of films as "sweet, overly idealized, and pretty much interchangeable," their ultimate success was because they gave viewers a "comforting portrait of small-town America that seemed suited for the times", with Rooney instilling "a lasting image of what every parent wished their teen could be like".
Behind the scenes, however, Rooney was like the "hyperactive girl-crazy teenager" he portrayed on the screen. Wallace Beery, his co-star in Stablemates, described him as a "brat", but a "fine actor". MGM head Louis B. Mayer found it necessary to manage Rooney's public image, explains historian Jane Ellen Wayne:
Mayer naturally tried to keep all his child actors in line, like any father figure. After one such episode, Mickey Rooney replied, "I won't do it. You're asking the impossible." Mayer then grabbed young Rooney by his lapels and said, "Listen to me! I don't care what you do in private. Just don't do it in public. In public, behave. Your fans expect it. You're Andy Hardy! You're the United States! You're the Stars and Stripes. Behave yourself! You're a symbol!" Mickey nodded. "I'll be good, Mr. Mayer. I promise you that." Mayer let go of his lapels, "All right," he said.
Fifty years later, Rooney realized in hindsight that these early confrontations with Mayer were necessary for him to develop into a leading film star: "Everybody butted heads with him, but he listened and you listened. And then you'd come to an agreement you could both live with. ... He visited the sets, he gave people talks ... What he wanted was something that was American, presented in a cosmopolitan manner."
*Spencer Tracy and Rooney in a scene from Boys Town (1938)
In 1937, Rooney made his first film alongside Judy Garland with Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. Garland and Rooney became close friends as they co-starred in future films and became a successful song-and-dance team. Audiences delighted in seeing the "playful interactions between the two stars showcase a wonderful chemistry". Along with three of the Andy Hardy films, where she portrayed a girl attracted to Andy, they appeared together in a string of successful musicals, including Babes in Arms (1939).
During an interview in the 1992 documentary film MGM : -
When the Lion Roars, Rooney describes their friendship : -
Judy and I were so close we could've come from the same womb. We weren't like brothers or sisters but there was no love affair there; there was more than a love affair. It's very, very difficult to explain the depths of our love for each other. It was so special. It was a forever love. Judy, as we speak, has not passed away. She's always with me in every heartbeat of my body.
In 1937, Rooney received top billing as Shockey Carter in Hoosier Schoolboy but his breakthrough-role as a dramatic actor came in 1938's Boys Town opposite Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan, who runs a home for wayward and homeless boys. Rooney was awarded a special Juvenile Academy Award in 1939, for "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth". Wayne describes one of the "most famous scenes" in the film, where tough young Rooney is playing poker with a cigarette in his mouth, his hat is cocked and his feet are up on the table. "Tracy grabs him by the lapels, throws the cigarette away and pushes him into a chair. 'That's better,' he tells Mickey." Louis B. Mayer said Boys Town was his favorite film during his years at MGM.
The popularity of his films made Rooney the biggest box-office draw in 1939, 1940 and 1941. For their roles in Boys Town, Rooney and Tracy won first and second place in the Motion Picture Herald 1940 National Poll of Exhibitors, based on the box office appeal of 200 players. Boys' Life magazine wrote, "Congratulations to Messrs. Rooney and Tracy! Also to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer we extend a hearty thanks for their very considerable part in this outstanding achievement." Actor Laurence Olivier once called Rooney "the greatest actor of them all".
A major star in the early 1940s, he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1940, timed to coincide with the release of Young Tom Edison; the cover story began : -
Hollywood's No. 1 box office bait in 1939 was not Clark Gable, Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power, but a rope-haired, kazoo-voiced kid with a comic-strip face, who until this week had never appeared in a picture without mugging or overacting it. His name (assumed) was Mickey Rooney, and to a large part of the more articulate U.S. cinema audience, his name was becoming a frequently used synonym for brat.
During his long and illustrious career, Rooney also worked with many of the screen's female stars, including Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet (1944) and Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)." Rooney's "bumptiousness and boyish charm" as an actor would develop more "smoothness and polish" over the years, writes biographer Scott Eyman. The fact that Rooney fully enjoyed his life as an actor played a large role in those changes:
You weren't going to work, you were going to have fun. It was home, everybody was cohesive; it was family. One year I made nine pictures; I had to go from one set to another. It was like I was on a conveyor belt. You did not read a script and say, "I guess I'll do it." You did it. They had people that knew the kind of stories that were suited to you. It was a conveyor belt that made motion pictures.
Mickey Rooney is the closest thing to a genius that I ever worked with. There was Chaplin, then there was Rooney. The little bastard could do no wrong in my book ... All you had to do with him was rehearse it once.
7. World War II and career decline :-
*Rooney entertains American troops in Germany, April 1945
In June 1944, Rooney was inducted into the United States Army, where he served more than 21 months (until shortly after the end of World War II) entertaining the troops in America and Europe in Special Services. He spent part of the time as a radio personality on the American Forces Network and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for entertaining troops in combat zones. In addition to the Bronze Star Medal, Rooney also received the Army Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal, for his military service.
Rooney's career slumped after his return to civilian life. He was now an adult with a height of only 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) and he could no longer play the role of a teenager, but he also lacked the stature of most leading men. He appeared in a number of films, including Words and Music in 1948, which paired him for the last time with Garland on film (he appeared with her on one episode as a guest on The Judy Garland Show). He briefly starred in a CBS radio series, Shorty Bell, in the summer of 1948, and reprised his role as "Andy Hardy", with most of the original cast, in a syndicated radio version of The Hardy Family in 1949 and 1950 (repeated on Mutual during 1952).
In 1949 Variety reported that Rooney had renegotiated his deal with MGM. He agreed to make one film a year for them for five years at $25,000 a movie (his fee until then had been $100,000 but Rooney wanted to enter independent production.) Rooney claimed he was unhappy with the billing MGM gave him for Words and Music.
His first television series, The Mickey Rooney Show (also known as Hey, Mulligan; created by Blake Edwards with Rooney as his own producer), appeared on NBC television for 32 episodes between August 28, 1954, and June 4, 1955. In 1951, he made his directorial debut with My True Story, starring Helen Walker. Rooney also starred as a ragingly egomaniacal television comedian, loosely based on Red Buttons, in the live 90-minute television drama The Comedian, in the Playhouse 90 series on the evening of Valentine's Day in 1957, and as himself in a revue called The Musical Revue of 1959 based on the 1929 film The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which was edited into a film in 1960.
In 1958, Rooney joined Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in hosting an episode of NBC's short-lived Club Oasis comedy and variety show. In 1960, Rooney directed and starred in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, an ambitious comedy known for its multiple flashbacks and many cameos. In the 1960s, Rooney returned to theatrical entertainment. He still accepted film roles in undistinguished films but occasionally would appear in better works, such as Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
He portrayed a Japanese character, Mr. Yunioshi, in the 1961 film version of Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. His performance was criticized by some in subsequent years as a racist stereotype. Rooney later said that he would not have taken the role if he had known it would offend people.
On December 31, 1961, Rooney appeared on television's What's My Line and mentioned that he had already started enrolling students in the MRSE (Mickey Rooney School of Entertainment). His school venture never came to fruition. This was a period of professional distress for Rooney; as a childhood friend, director Richard Quine put it: "Let's face it. It wasn't all that easy to find roles for a 5-foot-3 man who'd passed the age of Andy Hardy." In 1962, his debts had forced him into filing for bankruptcy.
In 1966, Rooney was working on the film Ambush Bay in the Philippines when his wife Barbara Ann Thomason— a former model and aspiring actress who had won 17 straight beauty contests in Southern California—was found dead in her bed. Her lover, Milos Milos—who was one of Rooney's actor-friends—was found dead beside her. Detectives ruled it a murder-suicide, which was committed with Rooney's own gun.
Francis Ford Coppola had bought the rights to make The Black Stallion (1979), and when casting it, he called Rooney and asked him if he thought he could play a jockey. Rooney replied saying, "Gee, I don't know. I never played a jockey before." He was kidding, he said, since he had played a jockey in at least three past films, including Down the Stretch, Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, and National Velvet. The film garnered excellent reviews and earned $40 million in its first run, which gave Coppola's struggling studio, American Zoetrope, a major boost. It also gave Rooney newfound recognition, along with a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1983, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Rooney their Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime of achievement.
8. Character roles and Broadway comeback :-
I. Television roles :-
*Rooney and Red Skelton on The Red Skelton Show in 1962
In addition to his movie roles, Rooney made numerous guest-starring roles as a television character actor for nearly six decades, beginning with an episode of Celanese Theatre. The part led to other roles on such television series as Schlitz Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Producers' Showcase, Alcoa Theatre, The Soldiers, Wagon Train, General Electric Theater, Hennesey, The Dick Powell Theatre, Arrest and Trial (1964), Burke's Law (1963), Combat! (1964), The Fugitive, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Jean Arthur Show (1966), The Name of the Game (1970), Dan August (1970), Night Gallery (1970), The Love Boat, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1995), Murder, She Wrote (1992), The Golden Girls (1988) among many others.
In 1961, he guest-starred in the 13-week James Franciscus adventure–drama CBS television series The Investigators. In 1962, he was cast as himself in the episode "The Top Banana" of the CBS sitcom, Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams.
In 1963, he entered CBS's The Twilight Zone, giving a one-man performance in the episode "The Last Night of a Jockey" (1963). Also in 1963, in 'The Hunt' for Suspense Theater, he played the sadistic sheriff hunting the young surfer played by James Caan. In 1964, he launched another half-hour sitcom, Mickey. The story line had "Mickey" operating a resort hotel in southern California. His own son Tim Rooney appeared as his character's teenage son on this program, and Emmaline Henry starred as Rooney's wife. The program lasted for 17 episodes.
Rooney garnered a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his role in 1981's Bill. Playing opposite Dennis Quaid, Rooney's character was a mentally handicapped man attempting to live on his own after leaving an institution. His acting quality in the film has been favorably compared to other actors who took on similar roles, including Sean Penn, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks. He reprised his role in 1983's Bill: On His Own, earning an Emmy nomination for the turn.
Rooney did voice acting from time to time. He provided the voice of Santa Claus in four stop-motion animated Christmas TV specials: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979) and A Miser Brothers' Christmas (2008). In 1995, he appeared as himself on The Simpsons episode "Radioactive Man".
After starring in one unsuccessful TV series and turning down an offer for a huge TV series, Rooney, now 70, starred in the Family Channel's The Adventures of the Black Stallion, where he reprised his role as Henry Dailey in the film of the same name, eleven years earlier. The series ran for three years and was an international hit.,
Rooney appeared in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company in 2002.
II. Broadway shows :-
A major turning point came in 1979, when Rooney made his Broadway debut in the acclaimed stage play Sugar Babies, a musical revue tribute to the burlesque era costarring former MGM dancing star Ann Miller. Aljean Harmetz noted that "Mr. Rooney fought over every skit and argued over every song and almost always got things done his way. The show opened on Broadway on October 8, 1979, to rave reviews, and this time he did not throw success away. Rooney and Miller performed the show 1,208 times in New York and then toured with it for five years, including eight months in London. Co-star Miller recalls that Rooney "never missed a performance or a chance to ad-lib or read the lines the same way twice, if he even stuck to the script". Biographer Alvin Marill states that "at 59, Mickey Rooney was reincarnated as a baggy-pants comedian—back as a top banana in show biz in his belated Broadway debut."
Following this, he toured as Pseudelous in Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In the 1990s, he returned to Broadway for the final months of Will Rogers Follies, playing the ghost of Will's father. On television, he starred in the short-lived sitcom, One of the Boys, along with two unfamiliar young stars, Dana Carvey and Nathan Lane, in 1982.
He toured Canada in a dinner theatre production of The Mind with the Naughty Man in the mid-1990s. He played The Wizard in a stage production of The Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt at Madison Square Garden. Kitt was later replaced by Jo Anne Worley.
Mickey Rooney speaks at the Pentagon in 2000 during a ceremony honoring the USO
9. Final years :-
Rooney wrote a memoir titled Life is Too Short, published by Villard Books in 1991. A Library Journal review said that "From title to the last line, 'I'll have a short bier', Rooney's self-deprecating humor powers this book." He wrote a novel about a child star, published in 1994, The Search For Sunny Skies.
Despite the millions of dollars that he earned over the years, such as his $65,000 a week earnings from Sugar Babies, Rooney was plagued by financial problems late in life. His longtime gambling habit caused him to "gamble away his fortune again and again". He declared bankruptcy for the second time in 1996 and described himself as "broke" in 2005. He kept performing on stage and in the movies, but his personal property was valued at only $18,000 when he died in 2014.
Rooney and his wife Jan toured the country in 2005 through 2011 in a musical revue called Let's Put on a Show. Vanity Fair called it "a homespun affair full of dog-eared jokes" that featured Rooney singing George Gershwin songs.
In 2006, Rooney played Gus in Night at the Museum. He returned to play the role again in the sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in 2009, in a scene that was deleted from the final film.
On May 26, 2007, he was grand marshal at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. Rooney made his British pantomime debut, playing Baron Hardup in Cinderella, at the Sunderland Empire Theatre over the 2007 Christmas period, a role he reprised at Bristol Hippodrome in 2008 and at the Milton Keynes theatre in 2009.
In 2011, Rooney made a brief cameo appearance in The Muppets and in 2014, at age 93, he reprised his role as Gus in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, with the film being dedicated in the honor of Rooney and Robin Williams, who also died that year. Although confined to a wheelchair, he was described by director Shawn Levy as "energetic and so pleased to be there. He was just happy to be invited to the party."
An October 2015 article in The Hollywood Reporter maintained that Rooney was frequently abused and financially depleted by his closest relatives in the last years of his life. The article said that it was clear that "one of the biggest stars of all time, who remained aloft longer than anyone in Hollywood history, was in the end brought down by those closest to him. He died humiliated and betrayed, nearly broke and often broken." Rooney suffered from bipolar disorder and had attempted suicide two or three times over the years, with resulting hospitalizations reported as "nervous breakdowns".
10. Personal life :-
*Mickey Rooney in 1986, aged 66
At the time of his death, he was married to Jan Chamberlin Rooney, although they had separated in June 2012. He had nine children and two stepchildren, as well as 19 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
Rooney had been addicted to sleeping pills; he overcame the sleeping pill addiction in 2000, when he was in his late 70s.
*Rooney and his wife Jan at a military concert in Beverly Hills, California in 2000
On February 16, 2011, Rooney was granted a temporary restraining order against stepson Christopher Aber and Aber's wife, Christina, and they were ordered to stay 100 yards from Rooney, his stepson Mark Rooney and his wife, Charlene Rooney. Rooney claimed that he was a victim of elder abuse.
On March 2, 2011, Rooney appeared before a special U.S. Senate committee that was considering legislation to curb elder abuse, testifying about the abuse he claimed to have suffered at the hands of family members. In 2011 all of Rooney's finances were permanently handed over to a conservator, who called Rooney "completely competent".
In April 2011, the temporary restraining order that Rooney was previously granted was replaced by a confidential settlement between Rooney and his stepson, Aber. Christopher Aber and Jan Rooney denied all the allegations.
In 1997, Rooney was arrested on suspicion of beating his wife, but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
In May 2013, Rooney sold his home of many years, reportedly for $1.3 million, and split the proceeds with his wife, Jan.
11. Marriages :-
Rooney was married eight times, with six of the marriages ending in divorce. In 1942, he married his first wife, actress Ava Gardner, who at that time was still an obscure teenage starlet. They divorced the following year, partly because he had apparently been unfaithful. While stationed in the military in Alabama in 1944, Rooney met and married Betty Jane Phillips, who later became a singer under the name B.J. Baker. They had two sons together. This marriage ended in divorce after he returned from Europe at the end of World War II. His marriage to actress Martha Vickers in 1949 produced one son but ended in divorce in 1951. He married actress Elaine Mahnken in 1952 and they divorced in 1958.
In 1958, Rooney married Barbara Ann Thomason, but she was murdered by her secret lover in 1966. He then married Barbara's best friend, Marge Lane. That marriage lasted 100 days. He was married to Carolyn Hockett from 1969 to 1975. In 1978, Rooney married his eighth and final wife, Jan Chamberlin. Their marriage lasted until his death, a total of 34 years (longer than his seven previous unions combined), although they separated in 2012.
Wife Years Children
Ava Gardner 1942–43
Betty Jane Rase (née Phillips) 1944–49 2, Mickey Rooney, Jr. and Tim Rooney
Martha Vickers 1949–51 1
Elaine Devry
(a.k.a.: Elaine Davis) 1952–58 2, Jimmy and Jonelle
Barbara Ann Thomason
(a.k.a.: Tara Thomas, Carolyn Mitchell) 1958–66 4, including Michael Joseph Rooney
Marge Lane 1966–67
Carolyn Hockett 1969–75 2
Jan Chamberlin 1978–2014 (separated, June 2012)
12. Death :-
Rooney died on April 6, 2014, of natural causes, including complications from diabetes in Los Angeles at the age of 93.
A group of family members and friends, including Mickey Rourke, held a memorial service on April 18. A private funeral, organized by another set of family members, was held at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where he was ultimately interred, on April 19. His eight surviving children said in a statement that they were barred from seeing Rooney during his final years.
13. Legacy :-
Rooney was one of the last surviving actors of the silent picture era. His movie career spanned 88 years, from 1926 to 2014, continuing until shortly before his death. During his peak years from the late 1930s to the early 1940s, Rooney was among the top box-office stars in the United States.
He made forty-three pictures between the age of 15 and 25. Among those, his role as Andy Hardy became one of "Hollywood's best-loved characters," with Marlon Brando calling him "the best actor in films". For his acting the part in fifteen Andy Hardy films, he received an honorary Oscar in 1938 for "bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth" and for "setting a high standard of ability and achievement".
"There was nothing he couldn't do", said actress Margaret O'Brien. MGM boss Louis B. Mayer treated him like a son and saw in Rooney "the embodiment of the amiable American boy who stands for family, humbug, and sentiment," writes critic and author, David Thomson.
By the time Rooney was 20, his consistent portrayals of characters with youth and energy suggested that his future success was unlimited. Thomson also explains that Rooney's characters were able to cover a wide range of emotional types, and gives three examples where "Rooney is not just an actor of genius, but an artist able to maintain a stylized commentary on the demon impulse of the small, belligerent man:"
Rooney's Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) is truly inhuman, one of cinema's most arresting pieces of magic. ... His toughie in Boys Town (1938) struts and bullies like something out of a nightmare and then comes clean in a grotesque but utterly frank outburst of sentimentality in which he aspires to the boy community ... His role as Baby Face Nelson (1957), the manic, destructive response of the runt against a pig society.
By the end of the 1940s, Rooney's movie characters were no longer in demand and his career went downhill. "In 1938," he said, "I starred in eight pictures. In 1948 and 1949 together, I starred in only three." However, film historian Jeanine Basinger notes that although his career "reached the heights and plunged to the depths, Rooney kept on working and growing, the mark of a professional." Some of the films which reinvigorated his popularity, were Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and The Black Stallion (1979). In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in Sugar Babies, and "found himself once more back on top".
Basinger tries to encapsulate Rooney's career:
Rooney's abundant talent, like his film image, might seem like a metaphor for America: a seemingly endless supply of natural resources that could never dry up, but which, it turned out, could be ruined by excessive use and abuse, by arrogance or power, and which had to be carefully tended to be returned to full capacity. From child star to character actor, from movie shorts to television specials, and from films to Broadway, Rooney ultimately did prove he could do it all, do it well, and keep on doing it. His is a unique career, both for its versatility and its longevity.
14. Filmography :-
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr.; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor of film, television, Broadway, radio, and vaudeville. Beginning as a child actor, his career extended over 88 years, making him one of the most enduring performers in show business history. He appeared in more than 300 films and was one of the last surviving stars of the silent film era, having one of the longest careers in the medium's history.
*Poster for The Big Chance (1933)
*Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
*Poster for The Devil Is a Sissy (1936)
Poster for the reissue of The Healer (1935), retitled Little Pal, with Mickey Rooney featured to capitalize on his film stardom
Year Title Role Notes
1927 Orchids and Ermine Mickey McGuire
1932 The Beast of the City Mickey Fitzpatrick
1932 Sin's Pay Day Chubby Dennis
1932 High Speed Buddy Whipple
1932 Fast Companions Midge
1932 My Pal, the King King Charles V
1932 Officer Thirteen Buddy Malone
1933 The Big Cage Jimmy O'Hara
1933 The Life of Jimmy Dolan Freckles Alternate title: The Kid's Last Fight
1933 The Big Chance Arthur Wilson
1933 Broadway to Hollywood Ted Hackett III as a Child
1933 The Chief Willie
1933 The World Changes Otto Peterson, as a Child
1934 Beloved Tommy
1934 The Lost Jungle Mickey
1934 I Like It That Way Messenger Boy
1934 Manhattan Melodrama Blackie as a Boy
1934 Love Birds Gladwyn Tootle
1934 Half a Sinner Willie Clark
1934 Hide-Out William 'Willie' Miller
1934 Chained Boy Shipboard Swimmer
1934 Blind Date Freddie
1934 Death on the Diamond Mickey
1935 The County Chairman Freckles
1935 Reckless Eddie Alternate titles: Born Reckless and Hard to Handle
1935 The Healer Jimmy Alternate title: Little Pal
1935 A Midsummer Night's Dream Puck or Robin Goodfellow, a Fairy
1935 Rendezvous Country Boy
1935 Ah, Wilderness! Tommy
1936 Riffraff Jimmy
1936 Little Lord Fauntleroy Dick
1936 Down the Stretch 'Snapper' Sinclair
1936 The Devil Is a Sissy James 'Gig' Stevens
1937 A Family Affair Andy Hardy
1937 Captains Courageous Dan Troop
1937 Slave Ship Swifty
1937 Hoosier Schoolboy Shockey Carter
1937 Live, Love and Learn Jerry Crump
1937 Thoroughbreds Don't Cry Timmie Donovan
1937 You're Only Young Once Andy Hardy
1938 Love Is a Headache Mike O'Toole
1938 Judge Hardy's Children Andy Hardy
1938 Hold That Kiss Chick Evans
1938 Lord Jeff Terry O'Mulvaney
1938 Love Finds Andy Hardy Andy Hardy
1938 Boys Town Whitey Marsh
1938 Stablemates Mickey
1938 Out West with the Hardys Andy Hardy
1939 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn
1939 The Hardys Ride High Andy Hardy
1939 Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever Andy Hardy
1939 Babes in Arms Mickey Moran
1939 Judge Hardy and Son Andy Hardy
1940 Young Tom Edison Thomas Edison
1940 Andy Hardy Meets Debutante Andy Hardy
1940 Strike Up the Band Jimmy Connors
1941 Andy Hardy's Private Secretary Andy Hardy
1941 Men of Boys Town Whitey Marsh
1941 Life Begins for Andy Hardy Andy Hardy
1941 Babes on Broadway Tommy Williams
1942 The Courtship of Andy Hardy Andy Hardy
1942 A Yank at Eton Timothy Dennis
1942 Andy Hardy's Double Life Andy Hardy
1943 The Human Comedy Homer Macauley
1943 Thousands Cheer Emcee at the Show
1943 Girl Crazy Daniel "Danny" Churchill, Jr.
1944 Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble Andrew "Andy" Hardy
1944 National Velvet Michael "Mi" Taylor
1946 Love Laughs at Andy Hardy Andrew "Andy" Hardy
1947 Killer McCoy Tommy McCoy / Killer McCoy
1948 Summer Holiday Richard Miller
1948 Words and Music Lorenz Hart
1949 The Big Wheel William "Billy" Coy
1950 Quicksand Daniel "Dan"
1950 The Fireball Jonathan "Johnny" Casar
1950 He's a Cockeyed Wonder Frederick "Freddie" Frisby
1951 My Outlaw Brother J. Dennis 'Denny' O'Moore
1951 The Strip Stanley Maxton
1952 Sound Off Michael "Mike" Donnelly
1953 Off Limits Herbert Tuttle
1953 All Ashore Francis 'Moby' Dickerson
1953 A Slight Case of Larceny Augustus 'Geechy' Cheevers
1954 Drive a Crooked Road Edward "Eddie" Shannon
1954 The Atomic Kid Barnaby 'Blix' Waterberry
1955 The Bridges at Toko-Ri Michael "Mike" Forney
1955 The Twinkle in God's Eye Rev. William Macklin II
1956 The Bold and the Brave Dooley
1956 Francis in the Haunted House David Prescott
1956 Magnificent Roughnecks Francis "Frank" Sommers
1957 Operation Mad Ball MSgt. Yancy Skibo
1957 Baby Face Nelson Lester M. 'Baby Face Nelson' Gillis
1958 A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed Gustav "Gus" Harris
1958 Andy Hardy Comes Home Andrew "Andy" Hardy
1959 The Big Operator Joseph "Little Joe" Braun Alternate title: Anatomy of the Syndicate
1959 The Last Mile 'Killer' Mears
1960 Platinum High School Steven Conway
1960 The Private Lives of Adam and Eve Nicholas "Nick" Lewis / The Devil
1961 The Big Bankroll Jonathan "Johnny" Burke Alternate title: King of the Roaring 20s: The Story of Arnold Rothstein
1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's I.Y. Yunioshi
1961 Everything's Ducky Kermit 'Beetle' McKay
1962 Requiem for a Heavyweight Army
1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World "Dingy" Bell
1964 The Secret Invasion Terence Scanlon
1965 Twenty-Four Hours to Kill Norman Jones
1965 How to Stuff a Wild Bikini Peachy Keane
1966 The Devil in Love Adramalek
1966 Ambush Bay Sgt. Ernest Wartell
1968 Skidoo George 'Blue Chips' Packard
1969 The Extraordinary Seaman Cook 3 / C W. J. Oglethorpe
1969 The Comic Martin 'Cockeye' Van Buren
1969 80 Steps to Jonah Wilfred Bashford
1970 The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County Indian Tom
1970 Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town Kris Kringle\Santa Claus (voice)
1971 Mooch Goes to Hollywood Himself
1971 The Manipulator B.J. Lang
1972 Evil Roy Slade Nelson Stool
1972 Richard Guardian Angel
1972 Pulp Preston Gilbert
1973 The Godmothers Rocky Mastrasso
1974 Thunder County Gas Station Attendant
1974 Journey Back to Oz Scarecrow (voice)
1974 The Year Without a Santa Claus Santa Claus (voice)
1975 Rachel's Man Laban
1975 Ace of Hearts Papa Joe
1975 From Hong Kong with Love Marty Alternate title: Bons Baisers de Hong Kong
1976 Find the Lady Trigger
1977 The Domino Principle Spiventa
1977 Pete's Dragon Lampie
1978 The Magic of Lassie Gus
1979 The Black Stallion Henry Dailey
1979 Arabian Adventure Daad El Shur
1979 Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July Santa Claus (voice)
1981 The Fox and the Hound Adult Tod (voice)
1981 Bill Bill Sackter
1982 Odyssey of the Pacific The Railway Engineer Alternate titles: The Emperor of Peru and Treasure Train
1983 Bill: On His Own Bill Sackter
1984 It Came Upon the Midnight Clear Mike Halligan
1985 The Care Bears Movie Mr. Cherrywood (voice)
1986 Lightning, the White Stallion Barney Ingram
1986 Little Spies Jimmie The Hermit [2]
1988 Bluegrass John Paul Jones
1989 Erik the Viking Erik's Grandfather
1989 Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland Flip (voice)
1990 Home For Christmas Elmer
1991 My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys Junion
1991 The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw The Director
1992 Sweet Justice Zeke
1992 Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker Joe Petto
1992 The Magic Voyage Narrator (voice)
1992 Maximum Force Chief of Police
1993 The Legend of Wolf Mountain Pat Jensen
1993 The Milky Life Barry Reilly
1994 Revenge of the Red Baron Grandpa Spencer
1994 Outlaws: The Legend of O.B. Taggart O.B. Taggart
1994 Making Waves Gabriel
1997 Killing Midnight Professor Mort Sang
1998 The Face on the Barroom Floor
1998 Animals with the Tollkeeper Tollkeeper
1998 Michael Kael vs. the World News Company Griffith
1998 The Snow Queen Ol Dreamy
1998 Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights Sage
1998 Babe: Pig in the City Fugly Floom
1999 Holy Hollywood
1999 The First of May Boss Ed
2000 Internet Love
2000 Phantom of the Megaplex Movie Mason
2001 Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure Sparkey (voice) Direct-to-video film
2002 Topa Topa Bluffs Prospector
2003 Paradise Simon / Henry Sr.
2005 The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams David McCord
2005 The Happy Elf Santa (voice)
2006 The Thirsting Savy
2006 To Kill a Mockumentary Max
2006 Night at the Museum Gus
2007 The Yesterday Pool Trobadar
2007 Bamboo Shark Brooks
2007 A Christmas Too Many Grandpa Direct-to-video film
2008 Lost Stallions: The Journey Home Chief
2008 A Miser Brothers' Christmas Santa Claus (voice)
2008 Empire State Building Murders Paulie Genovese
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Gus Deleted scene only
2009 Saddle Up with Dick Wrangler & Injun Joe Owen Blumenkrantz
2010 Gerald The Doctor
2010 Now Here Swifty
2011 Night Club Jerry Sherman
2011 The Muppets Elderly Smalltown Resident
2012 Last Will and Embezzlement Himself
2012 Driving Me Crazy Mr. Cohen
2012 The Voices from Beyond Johnny O'Hara
2012 The Woods Lester
2014 Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb Gus Released posthumously
2017 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Mr. Louis Released posthumously
15.Short subjects :-
Year Title Role Notes
1926 Not to Be Trusted The Nephew
1927 Mickey's Circus Mickey McGuire
Mickey's Pals
Mickey's Eleven
Mickey's Battles
1928 Mickey's Parade
Mickey in School
Mickey's Nine
Mickey's Little Eva
Mickey's Wild West
Mickey in Love
Mickey's Triumph
Mickey's Babies
Mickey's Movies
Mickey's Rivals
Mickey the Detective
Mickey's Athletes
Mickey's Big Game Hunt
1929 Mickey's Great Idea
Mickey's Menagerie
Mickey's Last Chance
Mickey's Brown Derby
Mickey's Northwest Mounted
Mickey's Initiation
Mickey's Midnite Follies
Mickey's Surprise
Mickey's Mix-Up
Mickey's Big Moment
Mickey's Strategy
1930 Mickey's Champs
Mickey's Explorers
Mickey's Master Mind
Mickey's Luck
Mickey's Whirlwinds
Mickey's Warriors
Mickey the Romeo
Mickey's Merry Men
Mickey's Winners
Screen Snapshots Series 9, No. 24
Mickey's Musketeers
Mickey's Bargain
1931 Mickey's Stampede
Mickey's Crusaders
Mickey's Rebellion
Mickey's Diplomacy
Mickey's Wildcats
Mickey's Thrill Hunters
The Hare Mail[3] Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (voice)
The Fisherman[3]
Mickey's Helping Hand Mickey McGuire
Mickey's Sideline
1932 Mickey's Busy Day
Mickey's Travels
Mickey's Holiday
Mickey's Big Business
Mickey's Golden Rule
Mickey's Charity
1933 Mickey's Ape Man
Mickey's Race
Mickey's Big Broadcast
Mickey's Disguises
Mickey's Touchdown
Mickey's Tent Show
Mickey's Covered Wagon
1934 Mickey's Minstrels
Mickey's Rescue
Mickey's Medicine Man
1935 Pirate Party on Catalina Isle Himself
1937 Cinema Circus Mickey McGuire Archive Footage
1940 Andy Hardy's Dilemma Andy Hardy
Rodeo Dough Himself
1941 Meet the Stars #4: Variety Reel #2
1943 Show Business at War
1947 Screen Snapshots: Out of This World Series
1953 Screen Snapshots: Mickey Rooney – Then and Now
1958 Screen Snapshots: Glamorous Hollywood
1968 Vienna Kidnapper
1974 Just One More Time Himself
1975 The Lion Roars Again
2008 Wreck the Halls Santa Claus
Box-office ranking
For a number of years, film exhibitors regularly voted Rooney as one of the top money making stars in the country in the annual Quigley Poll:[4]
1938 – 4th
1939 – 1st
1940 – 1st
1941 – 1st
1942 – 4th
1943 – 9th
1944 – 18th
Television :-
Rooney made countless appearances in TV sitcoms and television films. He also lent his voice to many animation films. Only his most important work is listed in this section.
Year(s) Title Role Notes
1954–1955 The Mickey Rooney Show Mickey Mulligan 33 episodes
1957 Playhouse 90 Sammy Hogart "The Comedian"; lead role
1959 Wagon Train Samuel T. Evans Episode: "The Greenhorn Story"
1960 Wagon Train Samuel T. Evans Episode: "Wagons Ho!"
1960 General Electric Theater Al Roberts Episode: "The Money Driver"
1963 The Twilight Zone Grady Episode: "The Last Night of a Jockey"
1964 Rawhide Pan Macropolous Episode: "Incident of the Odyssey"
1964 Combat Harry White Episode: "Silver Service"
1964–1965 Mickey Mickey Grady 17 episodes
1972 Night Gallery August Kolodney Episode: "Rare Objects"
1977 A Year at the Top Uncle Mickey Durbin Episode: "Pilot"
1979 The Wonderful World of Disney Old Bailey Episodes: "Donovan's Kid: Parts 1 & 2"
1982 One of the Boys Oliver Nugent 13 episodes
1982 The Love Boat Angelarum Dominicus Episode: "The Christmas Presence"
1986 The Disney Sunday Movie James Turner Episode: "Little Spies"
1986 Care Bears Noble Heart Horse 4 episodes; uncredited
1988 The Golden Girls Rocco Episode: "Larceny and Old Lace"
1990–1993 The Adventures of the Black Stallion Henry Dailey 78 episodes
1993 Murder, She Wrote Matt Cleveland Episode: "Bloodlines"
1994 Full House Mr. Dreghorn Episode: "Arrest Ye Merry Gentlemen "
1995 The Simpsons Himself (voice) Episode: "Radioactive Man"
1996 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Harold Lang Episode: "A Shaolin Treasure"
2000 Phantom of the Megaplex Movie Mason Television film
2002–2006 Kleo the Misfit Unicorn Talbut (voice) 26 episodes
2003 GodRocks! Coach Bullseye Episode: "Splatball Square-Off"
2011 Eagleheart Himself Episode: "Once in a Wattle"
2015 American Dad! Short Producer (voice) Episode: "A Star Is Reborn"
Released posthumously
Awards and honors
Year Award Category Nominated work / Honor Result
1938 Academy Award Academy Juvenile Award (with Deanna Durbin)
"For their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement." Honored
1939 Academy Award Best Actor in a Leading Role Babes in Arms Nominated
1943 Academy Award Best Actor in a Leading Role The Human Comedy Nominated
1956 Academy Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role The Bold and the Brave Nominated
1957 Emmy Award Best Single Performance in a Leading or Supporting Role "The Comedian", episode of Playhouse 90 Nominated
1957 Laurel Award Top Male Action Star Baby Face Nelson 3rd Place
1958 Emmy Award Best Single Performance in a Leading or Supporting Role Alcoa Theatre: Eddie Nominated
1960 Hollywood Walk of Fame Star of Motion Picture Star at 1718 Vine Street Honored
Star of Television Star at 6372 Hollywood Boulevard Honored
Star of Radio Star at 6541 Hollywood Boulevard Honored
1961 Emmy Award Best Single Performance in a Leading or Supporting Role "Somebody's Waiting", episode of The Dick Powell Show Nominated
1962 Laurel Award Top Male Supporting Performance Requiem for a Heavyweight Nominated
1964 Golden Globe Best TV Star – Male Mickey Won
1980 Academy Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role The Black Stallion Nominated
1980 Tony Award Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Sugar Babies Nominated
1980 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical Sugar Babies Nominated
1981 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Special Bill Won
1981 Golden Globe Best Actor in a TV Mini-Series or Motion Picture Bill Won
1983 Academy Award Academy Honorary Award "In recognition of his 50 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances." Honored
1983 Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special Bill: On His Own Nominated
1991 Gemini Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role The Adventures of the Black Stallion Nominated
1991 Young Artist Award Former Child Star Award For lifetime achievement as a child star
(Subsequently renamed "The Mickey Rooney Award") Honored
1996 Giffoni Film Festival François Truffaut Award Honored
2004 Pocono Mountains Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award
***
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