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| Birth Name(s) : Mickey Rooney |
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Full Mickey Rooney Biography
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920), is an American film actor and musician whose eighty-five year career in entertainment began in 1922 and continues through 2007.
Rooney was born in Brooklyn, New York to a vaudeville family. His father, Joseph Yule, was from Scotland, and his mother, Nellie W. 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 fifteen months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.
In 1937, Rooney was selected to portray Andy Hardy in A Family Affair (1937), 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 later films). The film was an unexpected success, and led to thirteen more "Andy Hardy" films between 1937 and 1946, and then one final "Andy Hardy" film in 1958. Rooney received top-billing in a feature film 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).Rooney with Judy Garland in Babes in Arms (1939), one of several films they made together.
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 accomplished 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.
Grief-stricken and not in his right frame of mind, Rooney quickly married Barbara's friend, Marge Lane. The union lasted about one hundred days.
Rooney made a successful transition to television and stage work. 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 three Christmas TV animated/stop action specials: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July—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 as too controversial. The role ultimately went to Carroll O'Connor.
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 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 also 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, Jan Chamberlin in a multi-media live stage production called Let's Put On a Show! Chamberlin met Mickey through his son, Mickey Jr., whom she had been dating at the time. On 26 May 2007, he was Grand Marshal at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. It was announced that Rooney will be making his British pantomime debut, playing Baron Hardup in Cinderella, at the Sunderland Empire Theatre over the 2007 Christmas period. He appeared in Points West dressed in a fetching pair of shorts and socks.
Mickey Rooney was dubbed the fifth greatest actor of all time by The Academy of Film Arts and Science, just above Henry Fonda and John Wayne. |
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