| Mickey Rooney | |
| Birthname: | Joseph Yule, Jr. |
| Born: | 23 September 1920 |
| Birthplace: | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Yearsactive: | 1922 ─ present |
| Spouse: | Ava Gardner (1942 ─ 1943) Betty Jane Rase (1944 ─ 1948) Martha Vickers (1949 ─ 1952) Elaine Devry (1952 ─ 1958) Carolyn Mitchell (1958 ─ 1966) Marge Lane (1966 ─ 1967) Carolyn Hockett (1969 ─ 1974) Jan Chamberlin (1978 ─ present) |
| Homepage: | http://www.mickeyrooney.com/ |
| Academyawards: | Academy Juvenile Award 1939 Academy Honorary Award 1983 Lifetime Achievement |
| Emmyawards: | Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie 1982 Bill |
| Goldenglobeawards: | Best TV Star - Male 1964 Mickey Best Actor - Miniseries or TV Movie 1982 Bill |
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920) is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. During his career he has won multiple awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. Best known for his work as the Andy Hardy character, Rooney has had one of the longest movie careers of any actor.
Rooney was born in Brooklyn, New York to a vaudeville family. His father, Joseph Yule, was from Scotland, and his mother, Nellie W. (née Carter), was from Kansas City, Missouri. Both parents were in vaudeville, and appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl when Joseph, Jr. was born. He began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.[1]
The Yules separated in 1924 during a slump in vaudeville, and in 1925, Nell Yule moved with her son to Hollywood, where she managed a tourist home. Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a dark haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films. Lacking the money to have her son's hair dyed, Mrs. Yule took her son to the audition after applying burnt cork to his scalp.[2] Joe got the role and became "Mickey" for 78 of the comedies, running from 1927 to 1936, starting with Mickey's Circus, released September 4, 1927. These had been adapted from the Toonerville Trolley comic strip, which contained a character named Mickey McGuire. Joe Yule briefly legally became Mickey McGuire to trump an attempted copyright lawsuit (as it was his legal name, the movie producers did not owe the comic strip writers royalties).
Rooney later claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him,[3] although Disney always said that he had changed the name from "Mortimer Mouse" on the suggestion of his wife.
During an interruption in the series in 1932, Mrs. Yule made plans to take her son on a ten week vaudeville tour as McGuire, and Fox sued successfully to stop him from using the name. Mrs. Yule suggested the stage name of "Mickey Looney" for her comedian son, which he altered slightly to Rooney, a less frivolous version.[2] Rooney did other films in his adolescence, including several more of the McGuire films, and signed with MGM in 1934. MGM cast Rooney as the teenage son of a judge in 1937's A Family Affair, setting Rooney on the way to another successful film series.
In 1937, Rooney was selected to portray Andy Hardy in A Family Affair (1937), which MGM had planned as a B-movie.[2] 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 later films). The film was an unexpected success, and led to thirteen more "Andy Hardy" films between 1937 and 1946, and a final "Andy Hardy" film in 1958. Rooney also received top billing as Shockey Carter in Hoosier Schoolboy (1937). The same year, he made his first film alongside Judy Garland with Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. His breakthrough role as a dramatic actor came in 1938's Boys Town opposite Spencer Tracy as Whitey Marsh, which opened shortly before his 18th birthday.
Garland and Rooney became a successful song and dance team. Besides three of the Andy Hardy films, where she portrayed Betsy Booth, a younger girl with a crush on Andy, Garland appeared with Rooney in a string of successful musicals, including the Oscar nominated Babes in Arms (1939). He was named the biggest box-office draw in 1939, 1940, and 1941.
Unquestionably a well known entertainer by the early 1940s, Rooney was one of many celebrities caricatured in Tex Avery's 1941 Warner Bros. cartoon Hollywood Steps Out. , Rooney is the only surviving entertainer depicted in the cartoon.
In 1944, Rooney entered military service for 21 months during World War II, during which time he was a radio personality on the American Forces Network. After his return to civilian life, his career slumped. 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 her CBS variety series in 1963). The Mickey Rooney Show, also known as Hey Mulligan, appeared on NBC television for 39 episodes during 1954 and 1955. In 1951, he directed a feature film for Columbia Pictures, My True Story starring Helen Walker. Rooney also starred as a ragingly egomaniacal television comedian 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 movie The Hollywood Revue Of 1929 which was edited into a film in 1960, by British International Pictures.
In 1960, he 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 movies, but occasionally would appear in better works, such as Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) and The Black Stallion (1979). One of Rooney's more controversial roles came in the highly acclaimed 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's where he played a stereotyped buck-toothed myopic Japanese neighbor (Mr. Yunioshi) of the main character, Holly Golightly. Producer Richard Shepherd apologized for this in the 45th anniversary DVD, though Director Blake Edwards and Rooney himself do not.
On December 31, 1961, he 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, but for several years he was a spokesman/partner in Pennsylvania's Downingtown Inn, a country club and golf resort.
In 1966, while Rooney was working on a film in the Philippines, his wife Barbara Ann Thomason (aka Tara Thomas, Carolyn Mitchell), a former pin-up model and aspiring actress who had won 17 straight beauty contests in Southern California, was found dead in their bed. Beside her was her lover, Milos Milos, an actor friend of Rooney's. Detectives ruled it murder-suicide, which was committed with Rooney's own gun. Milos was also a bodyguard and was connected to Stevan Markovic, bodyguard of French star Alain Delon. Markovic was also found dead in mysterious circumstances in Paris two years later.
Rooney was awarded an Academy Juvenile Award in 1938, and in 1983 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted him their Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime of achievement.
Rooney made a successful transition to television and stage work. In 1961, he guest starred in the 13-week James Franciscus adventure-drama television series The Investigators on CBS. In 1963, he even entered The Twilight Zone, giving a one-man performance in the episode "The Last Night of a Jockey". In 1964, he launched a half-hour sitcom Mickey on ABC. The story line had "Mickey" operating a resort hotel in southern California. Son Tim Rooney appeared as Rooney's teenaged son on the program, and Emmaline Henry starred as Rooney's wife.
He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his role in 1981's Bill. Playing opposite Dennis Quaid, Rooney was a mentally challenged man attempting to live on his own after leaving an institution. He reprised his role in 1983's Bill: On His Own, earning an Emmy nomination for the role.
Rooney did the voices for four Christmas TV animated/stop action 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) - always playing Santa Claus. In 1970, he was approached by television producer Norman Lear to consider taking on the role of Archie Bunker in the upcoming CBS series, All in the Family. Like Jackie Gleason before him, Mickey rejected the project. The role ultimately went to Carroll O'Connor.
Rooney continued to work on stage and television through the 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the acclaimed stage play Sugar Babies with Ann Miller beginning in 1979. He starred in the long-running TV series The Adventures of the Black Stallion, reprising his role as Henry Daily from The Black Stallion film, and 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 Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt at Madison Square Garden. Kitt was later replaced by Jo Anne Worley. He also appeared in the documentary That's Entertainment! III.
Rooney voiced Mr. Cherrywood in The Care Bears Movie (1985), and starred as the Movie Mason in a Disney Channel Original Movie family film 2000's Phantom of the Megaplex. He had a guest spot on an episode of The Golden Girls as Sophia's boyfriend Rocko, who claimed to be a bank robber. He played himself in the Simpsons episode "Radioactive Man" of 1995. In 1996-97, Mickey played Talbut on the TV series, Kleo The Misfit Unicorn produced by Gordon Stanfield Animation (GSA). He co-starred in Night at the Museum in 2006 with Dick Van Dyke and Ben Stiller.
Rooney appeared in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company in 1999, alongside his wife Jan. In commercials shown in 2007, Rooney can be seen in the background washing imaginary dishes.
Rooney continues to work in film and tours with his wife in a multi-media live stage production called Let's Put On a Show! 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.[4] [5] He appeared on BBC Points West dressed in a pair of shorts and socks. He is currently playing Baron Hardup in Cinderella now at the Bristol Hippodrome from December 12, 2008 to January 8, 2009.
, Rooney and his wife, Jan Chamberlin, live in Westlake Village, California. They met through his son, Mickey Jr., whom Jan had been dating at the time. They were married on August 7, 1978, when Jan was 39 and Mickey was 57. Both are outspoken advocates for veterans and animal rights.
After battling drug addiction and a near bankruptcy caused by gambling and bad investments,[6] Rooney became a born-again Christian in the 1970s, reportedly after an angel appeared to him in a coffee shop.[7] Rooney shared his religious beliefs on Jim and Tammy Bakker's Christian television show The PTL Club.[8]
Rooney's son Mickey Rooney, Jr. is also a born-again Christian, and has an evangelical ministry in Hemet, California.[9]
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1927 | Orchids and Ermine |
| 1932 | The Beast of the City |
| Sin's Pay Day | |
| High Speed | |
| Fast Companions | |
| My Pal, the King | |
| Officer Thirteen | |
| 1933 | The Big Cage |
| The Life of Jimmy Dolan | |
| The Big Chance | |
| Broadway to Hollywood | |
| The Chief | |
| The World Changes | |
| 1934 | Beloved |
| The Lost Jungle | |
| I Like It That Way | |
| Manhattan Melodrama | |
| Love Birds | |
| Half a Sinner | |
| Hide-Out | |
| Chained | |
| Blind Date | |
| Death on the Diamond | |
| 1935 | The County Chairman |
| Reckless | |
| The Healer | |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | |
| Rendezvous | |
| Ah, Wilderness! | |
| 1936 | Riffraff |
| Little Lord Fauntleroy | |
| Down the Stretch | |
| The Devil is a Sissy | |
| 1937 | A Family Affair |
| Captains Courageous | |
| Slave Ship | |
| Hoosier Schoolboy | |
| Live, Love and Learn | |
| Thoroughbreds Don't Cry | |
| You're Only Young Once | |
| 1938 | Love Is a Headache |
| Judge Hardy's Children | |
| Hold That Kiss | |
| Lord Jeff | |
| Love Finds Andy Hardy | |
| Boys Town | |
| Stablemates | |
| Out West with the Hardys | |
| 1939 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
| The Hardys Ride High | |
| Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever | |
| Babes in Arms | |
| Judge Hardy and Son | |
| 1940 | Young Tom Edison |
| Andy Hardy Meets Debutante | |
| Strike Up the Band |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1941 | Andy Hardy's Private Secretary |
| Men of Boys Town | |
| Life Begins for Andy Hardy | |
| Babes on Broadway | |
| 1942 | The Courtship of Andy Hardy |
| A Yank at Eton | |
| Andy Hardy's Double Life | |
| 1943 | The Human Comedy |
| Thousands Cheer | |
| Girl Crazy | |
| 1944 | Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble |
| National Velvet | |
| 1946 | Love Laughs at Andy Hardy |
| 1947 | Killer McCoy |
| 1948 | Summer Holiday |
| Words and Music | |
| 1949 | The Big Wheel |
| 1950 | Quicksand |
| The Fireball | |
| He's a Cockeyed Wonder | |
| 1951 | My Outlaw Brother |
| The Strip | |
| 1952 | Sound Off |
| 1953 | Off Limits |
| All Ashore | |
| A Slight Case of Larceny | |
| 1954 | Drive a Crooked Road |
| The Atomic Kid | |
| 1955 | The Bridges at Toko-Ri |
| The Twinkle in God's Eye | |
| 1956 | The Bold and the Brave |
| Francis in the Haunted House | |
| Magnificent Roughnecks | |
| 1957 | Operation Mad Ball |
| Baby Face Nelson | |
| 1958 | A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed |
| Andy Hardy Comes Home | |
| 1959 | The Big Operator |
| The Last Mile | |
| 1960 | Platinum High School |
| The Private Lives of Adam and Eve | |
| 1961 | King of the Roaring 20's - The Story of Arnold Rothstein |
| Breakfast at Tiffany's | |
| Everything's Ducky | |
| 1962 | Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| 1963 | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World |
| 1964 | The Secret Invasion |
| 1965 | Twenty-Four Hours to Kill |
| How to Stuff a Wild Bikini | |
| 1966 | The Devil In Love |
| Ambush Bay | |
| 1968 | Skidoo |
| 1969 | The Extraordinary Seaman |
| The Comic | |
| 80 Steps to Jonah |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1970 | Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County |
| 1971 | Mooch Goes to Hollywood |
| The Manipulator | |
| 1972 | Richard |
| Pulp | |
| 1973 | The Godmothers |
| 1974 | Thunder County |
| Rachel's Man | |
| 1975 | Ace of Hearts |
| From Hong Kong with Love | |
| 1976 | Find the Lady |
| 1977 | The Domino Principle |
| Pete's Dragon | |
| 1979 | The Black Stallion |
| Arabian Adventure | |
| 1981 | The Fox and the Hound (voice) |
| 1982 | The Emperor of Peru |
| 1983 | Bill: On his own |
| 1984 | It Came Upon the Midnight Clear |
| 1986 | Lightning, the White Stallion |
| 1988 | Bluegrass |
| 1989 | Erik the Viking |
| 1991 | My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys |
| 1992 | The Milky Life |
| Sweet Justice | |
| Maximum Force | |
| 1993 | The Legend of Wolf Mountain |
| 1994 | Revenge of the Red Baron |
| The Outlaws: The Legend of O.B. Taggart | |
| Making Waves | |
| 1997 | Killing Midnight |
| 1998 | The Face on the Barroom Floor |
| Animals and the Tollkeeper | |
| Michael Kael vs. the World News Company | |
| Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights | |
| 1999 | Holy Hollywood |
| The First of May | |
| 2000 | Internet Love |
| Phantom of the Megaplex | |
| 2002 | Topa Topa Bluffs |
| 2003 | Paradise |
| 2005 | Strike the Tent |
| A Christmas Too Many | |
| 2006 | The Thirsting |
| To Kill a Mockumentary | |
| Night at the Museum | |
| 2007 | The Yesterday Pool |
| Bamboo Shark | |
| 2008 | |
| Driving Me Crazy |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1926 | Not to Be Trusted |
| 1927 | Mickey's Circus |
| Mickey's Pals | |
| Mickey's Eleven | |
| Mickey's Battles | |
| 1928 | Mickey's Minstrels |
| 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 Explorers | |
| Mickey's Menagerie | |
| Mickey's Last Chance | |
| Mickey's Brown Derby | |
| Mickey's Northwest Mounted | |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1929 | 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 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 | |
| Mickey's Helping Hand | |
| Mickey's Sideline | |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 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 Touchdown | |
| Mickey's Tent Show | |
| Mickey's Covered Wagon | |
| 1934 | Mickey's Medicine Man |
| 1935 | Pirate Party on Catalina Isle |
| 1936 | Mickey's Derby Day |
| 1937 | Cinema Circus |
| 1938 | Andy Hardy's Dilemma |
| 1940 | Rodeo Dough |
| 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 |
| 1974 | Just One More Time |
| 1975 | The Lion Roars Again |
| 2008 | Wreck the Halls |
Mickey Rooney has made countless appearances in TV sitcoms and TV movies. He has also lent his voice to many animation films. Only his most important work is listed in this section.
| Year(s) | Title |
|---|---|
| 1954-1955 | The Mickey Rooney Show |
| 1964-1965 | Mickey |
| 1981 | Bill (won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody Award for role of Bill) |
| 1982 | One of the Boys (canceled after 13 episodes) |
| 1983 | Bill: On His Own (sequel to 1981's "Bill" nominated for Emmy) |
| 1990-1993 | The Adventures of the Black Stallion |
| Name | Years | Children | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ava Gardner | 1942-1943 | |||
| rowspan=2 | Betty Jane Rase | rowspan=2 | 1944-1949 | Mickey Rooney, Jr. (born July 3, 1945) |
| Tim Rooney (January 4, 1947 - September 23, 2006) | ||||
| Martha Vickers | 1949-1951 | Theodore Michael Rooney (born April 13, 1950) | ||
| Elaine Devry | 1952-1958 | |||
| Barbara Ann Thomason (Carolyn Mitchell) | 1958-1966 | Kelly Ann Rooney (born September 13, 1959) | ||
| Kerry Rooney (born December 30, 1960) | ||||
| Michael Joseph Rooney (born April 2, 1962) | ||||
| Kimmy Sue Rooney (born September 13, 1963) | ||||
| Marge Lane | 1966-1967 | |||
| Carolyn Hockett | 1969-1974 | Jimmy Rooney (adopted from Carolyn's previous marriage) (born 1966) | ||
| Jonelle Rooney (born January 11, 1970) | ||||
| Jan Chamberlin | 1978-present |