Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, radio personality, and producer. He appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent film era. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney ‘the best there has ever been’ Rooney was born Joseph Yule Jr. in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on September 23, 1920, the only child of Nellie W. Carter and Joe Yule.

About Mickey Rooney in brief

Summary Mickey RooneyMickey Rooney was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, radio personality, and producer. He appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent film era. He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized American family values. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney ‘the best there has ever been’ Rooney was born Joseph Yule Jr. in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on September 23, 1920, the only child of Nellie W. Carter and Joe Yule. His mother was a former chorus girl and burlesque performer from Kansas City, Missouri, while his father was a Scottish vudevillian who had emigrated to New York from Glasgow with his family at the age of three months. 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. At age 14, he played Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He became a celebrated character actor later in his career and made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows.

Rooney was the first teenager to be nominated for an Academy Award for his leading role in Babes in Arms and became the second-youngest nominee in the category. He won a Golden Globe Award in 1981 and an Emmy Award in 1982. He also briefly voiced Oswald in the Lucky Rabbit series of films for Walter Lantz Productions. His last film role was in The Life of Jimmy Dolan, which allowed him to work alongside stars such as Joel McCrea, Colleen Moore, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, John Wayne and Jean Harlow. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, on November 14, 2013. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son, Michael Rooney, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in New Jersey, New Jersey and Los Angeles. His son Michael Rooney is an actor and producer who appeared in several films, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Black Stallion. His grandson Michael Rooney also appeared in a number of films and TV shows, including The Big Lebowski, The Godfather, The Searchers, and The Muppets. Rooney died of cancer on November 15, 2013, at the home of his longtime friend and former co-star Robert De Niro. He had been battling lung cancer for more than a decade. He suffered from lung cancer since the early 1980s and died on November 16, 2013 at the Los Angeles home of the family he shared with his wife.