Famous Like Me > Actor > R > Mickey Rooney
Profile of Mickey Rooney
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Name: |
Mickey Rooney |
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Also Know As: |
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Date of Birth: |
23rd September 1920 |
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Place of Birth: |
Brooklyn, New York, USA |
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Profession: |
Actor |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Joseph Yule, Jr. (born September 23, 1920), better known as Mickey Rooney, is an American film actor. Born into a vaudeville family, Rooney began performing at the age of 17 months in 1922.
Entering the movie business in 1927, he literally made his name as the title character in the Mickey McGuire shorts. These were a series of over forty silent, two-reel comedies adapted from the Toonerville Trolley comic strip, in which he starred through 1936. For a time he billed himself as Mickey McGuire, but legally changed his name to Mickey Rooney in 1932. Also during this period he met Walt Disney, and later he would claim Disney had named Mickey Mouse after him.
In 1934 he signed to MGM and was educated at the studio's School for Professional Children.
Rooney's successful role as Andy Hardy in A Family Affair (1937) led to fourteen further films featuring that character from 1938 to 1958. His first role as the top-billed star in a feature film was as Shockey Carter in Hoosier Schoolboy (1937) with Edward Pawley playing his father. His breakthrough serious role came in 1938's Boys Town opposite Spencer Tracy as Whitey Marsh, which opened shortly before his 18th birthday. His fame peaked in World War II with a string of successful musicals with Judy Garland, including the Oscar nominated Babes in Arms (1939) as well as more serious roles in films such as The Human Comedy (1943) and National Velvet (1944).
In 1944 Rooney entered military service for 21 months during World War II; after his return his career slumped. He appeared in a number of indifferent 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 the early 60's), and one final Andy Hardy film in the late 1950s. The Mickey Rooney Show, also known as Hey Mulligan, appeared on NBC for 39 episodes during 1954 and 1955. In the 1960s Rooney returned to theatrical entertainment. He still accepted film roles in undistinguished movies, but occasionally he would appear in better works such as Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) and The Black Stallion (1979).
He 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 did the voices for three Christmas TV animated/stop action specials: Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July—always playing Santa Claus.
He continued to be busy in stage and television work through the 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the acclaimed stage play Sugar Babies with Ann Miller beginning in 1979, starring in a long-running TV series based on The Black Stallion, touring Canada in a dinner theatre production of The Mind with the Naughty Man in the mid-1990s, and playing The Wizard in a stage production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt. He also appeared in the documentary That's Entertainment III.
He also voiced Mr. Cherrywood in 1985's The Care Bears Movie.
Rooney continues to work in film in 2005. As of September 2005, Rooney tours with his wife, Jan Chamberlain, in a multi-media live stage production called "Let's Put On a Show!"
Selected filmography
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) - as Puck
- Ah, Wilderness! (1935)
- Riffraff (1936) - starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy
- Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
- The Devil is a Sissy (1936)
- A Family Affair (1937) - the first Andy Hardy film
- Captains Courageous (1937)
- Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937) - his first appearance with Judy Garland
- Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
- Boys Town (1938)
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
- Babes in Arms (1939)
- Strike Up the Band (1940)
- Babes on Broadway (1941)
- A Yank at Eton (1942)
- The Human Comedy (1943)
- Girl Crazy (1943)
- National Velvet (1944)
- Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)
- Words and Music (1948) - his last film appearance with Judy Garland
- The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955)
- Baby Face Nelson (1957)
- Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958) - the final Andy Hardy film
- Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
- Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
- It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
- How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
- Pete's Dragon (1977)
- The Magic of Lassie (1978)
- The Black Stallion (1979)
- The Care Bears Movie (1985)
- Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Marriages
He has been married eight times:
- Ava Gardner (1942-1943)
- Betty Jane Rase (1944-1949), two children
- Martha Vickers(1949-1951), one child
- Elaine Devry (1952-1958)
- Carolyn Mitchell (born Barbara Ann Thomasen) (1958-1966), four children
- Marge Lane (1966-1967)
- Carolyn Hockert (1969-1974), two children
- January Chamberlin (1978-present)
Five sons:
- Tim Rooney, actor
- Teddy Rooney, actor
- Mickey Rooney Jr., actor and musician
- Kyle Rooney
- Jimmy Rooney
Four daughters:
- Kimmy Rooney
- Kelly Rooney
- Kerry Rooney
- Jonelle Rooney
Two Stepsons:
- Chris Aber Rooney, actor
- Mark Aber Rooney, musician
In January 2005, Rooney made headlines again, starring in a commercial that was barred as "indecent" from its scheduled slot during Super Bowl XXXIX. The ad included a comic turn (literally) that saw Rooney's backside briefly exposed. The pulling of the ad is considered more fallout from Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" a year earlier.
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