From co-starring with Gable and Tracy to singing and dancing with Judy, Mickey Rooney became the All American teen in the Andy Hardy series. After that, his career continued for another seventy years and included more than his fair share of comebacks.
It all came to an end today when he passed away at 93.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
Mickey Rooney, the pint-sized ball of energy who starred as Andy Hardy, America’s boy next door, in 16 films for MGM — merely one highlight in an irrepressible and unimaginable nine-decade career in show business — has died, TMZ reported. He was 93.
TMZ reported that Rooney, who had been "in ill health for quite some time," died Sunday. At the time of his death, he was working on a film called
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
From childhood stardom through two honorary Academy Awards, four Oscar nominations and one Emmy Award, Rooney was a phenom, one of the most remarkable and popular entertainers of the 20th century. With movie appearances stretching from 1926 through 2013, his 87-year cinematic career matches seldom-used actress Carla Laemmle’s as the longest in Hollywood history.
“American’s Most Lovable Munchkin” landed on the cover of Time magazine in March 1940 -- rare for any actor at the time -- and in 1941 was the biggest ticket-selling star for the third straight year, ranking ahead of such icons as Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Gene Autry, Bette Davis and Abbott & Costello.
At age 18, Rooney received a special Juvenile Academy Award for his performance as Whitey Marsh opposite Spencer Tracy in Boys Town (1938), and 45 years later he was presented with an Honorary Oscar “in recognition of his 50 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances.”
The Brooklyn-born son of vaudeville entertainers sang, danced, cracked wise and played several instruments, and he composed songs that were popular with Big Band orchestras back in the day. With his career on the wane, he turned things around by playing opposite Ann Miller in Broadway’s Sugar Babies, starring in more than 1,200 performances of the burlesque hit and receiving a Tony nomination in 1980.
“When I open a refrigerator door and the light goes on, I want to perform,” he said in one of his often-told jokes.
Rooney earned Oscar nominations for putting on a show with frequent co-star Judy Garland in the Busby Berkeley musical Babes in Arms (1939); as a teenager at home feeling the effects of World War II in The Human Comedy (1943); as a soldier who runs a memorable crap game across Italy in The Bold and the Brave (1956); and as a retired jockey turned horse trainer in The Black Stallion (1979), another milestone for him on the comeback trail.
Rooney made more than 200 films, and he also received notice for his work as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935); in the family adventure Captains Courageous (1937); as the title character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939); as a drifter in National Velvet (1944) opposite teenager Elizabeth Taylor; as a Navy man in the James Michener adaptation The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954); as Audrey Hepburn’s bucktoothed Japanese landlord in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961); and as Anthony Quinn’s trainer and cutman in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962).
He earned his Emmy Award for his portrayal of a mentally ill man who emerges from an institution and finds love for the first time in the emotional 1981 CBS telefilm Bill.
Another incredible Rooney achievement: He was married eight times. His wives were Hollywood bombshell and future Mrs. Frank Sinatra Ava Gardner (1942-43); Alabama beauty queen and singer Betty Jane Phillips (1944-48); actress Martha Vickers (1949-51); actress-model Elaine Devry (1952-58); starlet Barbara Ann Thompson (1958 until her 1966 murder by her jealous lover in the Rooney’s Brentwood home); writer Marge Lane (1966-67); secretary Carolyn Hockett (1969-75); and actress-singer Jan Chamberlin, whom he wed in 1978. She survives him.
For more;
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/m ... tor-694041