Name

Mickey Rooney

Known For

Acting

Birthday

1920-09-23

Deathday

2014-04-06 (94 years old)

Place of Birth

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 among the last surviving stars of the silent film era.

At the height of a career that was 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. 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 19, 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).

Known For
The Fox and the Hound
(3,616 Votes)
7.175

When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes frien...

Relase Date : 10 Jul, 1981
Trailer Details

When the magic powers of The Tablet of Ahkmenrah begin to die out, Larry Daley spans the g...

Relase Date : 17 Dec, 2014
Trailer Details
Night at the Museum
(11,295 Votes)
6.601

Chaos reigns at the natural history museum when night watchman Larry Daley accidentally st...

Relase Date : 20 Dec, 2006
Trailer Details
7.61

Holly Golightly is an eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian mil...

Relase Date : 6 Oct, 1961
Trailer Details
Pete's Dragon
(745 Votes)
6.318

Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, so...

Relase Date : 3 Nov, 1977
Trailer Details
Babe: Pig in the City
(1,376 Votes)
5.694

Babe, fresh from his victory in the sheepherding contest, returns to Farmer Hoggett's farm...

Relase Date : 25 Nov, 1998
Trailer Details
The Muppets
(1,752 Votes)
6.672

When Kermit the Frog and the Muppets learn that their beloved theater is slated for demoli...

Relase Date : 23 Nov, 2011
Trailer Details

Lady and Tramp's mischievous pup, Scamp, gets fed up with rules and restrictions imposed o...

Relase Date : 18 Feb, 2001
Trailer Details

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them a...

Relase Date : 7 Nov, 1963
Trailer Details
Erik the Viking
(262 Votes)
5.912

Erik the Viking gathers warriors from his village and sets out on a dangerous journey to V...

Relase Date : 1 Sep, 1989
Trailer Details
Movies
Tv Shows