Every Disney Hero Has a Voice
The Fox and the Hound
Tod
Mickey Rooney
September 23, 1920
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr.; September
23, 1920) is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and
stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime.
He has received multiple awards, including a Juvenile Academy Award, an Honorary Academy Award, two Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. Working as a performer since he was a child, he was a superstar as a teenager for the films in which he played Andy Hardy, and he has had one of the longest careers of any actor, to date spanning 90 years actively making films in ten decades, from 1920s to 2010s. For a younger generation of fans, he gained international fame for his leading role as Henry Dailey in The Family Channel's The Adventures of the Black Stallion, as well as the film itself
Biography
Early life
Rooney was born Joseph Yule, Jr. in Brooklyn, New York.
His father, Joseph Yule, was from Scotland, and his mother, Nellie W. (née
Carter), was from Kansas City, Missouri. Both of his parents were in vaudeville,
appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl when Joseph, Jr. was
born. He began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents'
routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.
When he was 14 months old, unknown to everyone, he
crawled onstage wearing overalls and a little harmonica around his neck. He
sneezed and his father, Joe Sr., grabbed him up, introducing him to the
audience as Sonny Yule. He felt the spotlight on him and has described it as
his mother's womb. From that moment on, the stage was his home.
His father was a womanizer and a heavy drinker, leaving
the family when Joe Jr. was only three. While Joe Sr. was traveling, Joe Jr.
and his mother moved from Brooklyn, New York to Kansas City, Missouri to live
with his aunt. While his mother was reading the entertainment newspaper, Nellie
was interested in getting Hal Roach to approach the young star to participate
in the Our Gang series in Hollywood. Roach offered $5 a day to Joe Jr.
while the other young stars were paid five times more.
As he was getting bit parts in films, he was working with
other established film stars such as Joel McCrea, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Jean
Harlow. While selling newspapers around the corner, he also entered into Hollywood
Professional School, where he went to school with dozens of unfamiliar students
such as: Joseph A. Wapner, Nanette Fabray, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, among
many others, and later Hollywood High School, where he graduated in 1938.
Career
Mickey McGuire
The Yules separated in 1924 during a slump in vaudeville,
and in 1925, Nell Yule moved with her son to Hollywood, California, where she
managed a tourist home. Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a
dark-haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of
short films. Lacking the money to have her son's hair dyed, Mrs. Yule took her
son to the audition after applying burnt cork to his scalp. Joe got the role
and became "Mickey" for 78 of the comedies, running from 1927 to
1936, starting with Mickey's Circus, released September 4, 1927. These
had been adapted from the Toonerville Trolley comic strip, which
contained a character named Mickey McGuire. Joe Yule briefly became Mickey
McGuire legally in order to trump an attempted copyright lawsuit (if it was his
legal name, the film producer Larry Darmour did not owe the comic strip writers
royalties). His mother also changed her surname to McGuire in an attempt to
bolster the argument, but the film producers lost. The litigation settlement
awarded damages to the owners of the cartoon character, as well as compelled
the twelve-year-old actor to refrain from calling himself by the name Mickey
McGuire on and off screen.
Rooney later claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire
days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that
Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him, although Disney always said
that he had changed the name from "Mortimer Mouse" to "Mickey
Mouse" on the suggestion of his wife.
During an interruption in the series in 1932, Mrs. Yule
made plans to take her son on a ten-week vaudeville tour as McGuire, and Fox
sued successfully to stop him from using the name. Mrs. Yule suggested the
stage name of Mickey Looney for her comedian son, which he altered slightly to
Rooney, a less frivolous version. Rooney did other films in his adolescence,
including several more of the McGuire films, and signed with MGM in 1934. MGM
cast Rooney as the teenage son of a judge in 1937's A Family Affair,
setting Rooney on the way to another successful film series.
"Andy Hardy" and Judy Garland
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 13 more Andy Hardy films
between 1937 and 1946, and a final film in 1958. Rooney also received top
billing as "Shockey Carter" in Hoosier Schoolboy (1937).
Also in 1937, Mickey made his first film alongside Judy
Garland with Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. Garland and Rooney became close
friends and 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,
they appeared together in a string of successful musicals, including the
Oscar-nominated Babes in Arms (1939). During an interview in the
documentary film When the Lion Roars, Rooney describes their friendship:
Judy and I were so close we could've come from the same
womb. We weren't like brothers or sisters but there was no love affair there;
there was more than a love affair. It's very, very difficult to explain the
depths of our love for each other. It was so special. It was a forever love.
Judy, as we speak, has not passed away. She's always with me in every heartbeat
of my body.
Rooney's 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. Rooney was awarded a special Juvenile Academy
Award in 1939
and was named the biggest box-office draw in 1939, 1940 and 1941.
Unquestionably a well-known entertainer by the early 1940s, Rooney, with Garland,
was one of many celebrities caricatured in Tex Avery's 1941 Warner Bros. cartoon
Hollywood Steps Out. As of 2012, Rooney is the only surviving
entertainer depicted in the cartoon. In 1991, Rooney was honored by the Young
Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement"
Award recognizing his achievements within the film industry as a child actor.
After presenting the award to Rooney, the foundation subsequently renamed the
accolade "The Mickey Rooney Award" in his honor.
After the war
In 1944, Rooney entered military service. He served more
than 21 months, until shortly after the end of World War II. During and after
the war he helped entertain the troops in America and Europe, and spent part of
the time as a radio personality on the American Forces Network and was awarded
the Bronze Star Medal for entertaining troops in combat zones. In addition to
the Bronze Star Medal, Rooney also received the Army Good Conduct Medal, American
Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and World War
Two Victory Medal for his military service.
After his return to civilian life, his career slumped. He
appeared in a number of 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 1963). He briefly starred in a
CBS radio series, Shorty Bell, in the summer of 1948, and reprised his
role as "Andy Hardy", with most of the original cast, in a syndicated
radio version of The Hardy Family in 1949 and 1950 (repeated on Mutual
during 1952).
His first television series, The Mickey Rooney Show:
Hey, Mulligan (created by Blake Edwards with Rooney as his own producer),
appeared on NBC television for thirty-two episodes between August 28, 1954 and
June 4, 1955. In 1951, he directed a feature film for Columbia Pictures, My
True Story starring Helen Walker. Rooney also starred as a ragingly
egomaniacal television comedian in the live 90-minute television drama The
Comedian, in the Playhouse 90 series on the evening of Valentine's
Day in 1957, and as himself in a revue called The Musical Revue of 1959
based on the 1929 film The Hollywood Revue of 1929 which was edited into
a film in 1960, by British International Pictures.
In 1958, Rooney joined Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in
hosting an episode of NBC's short-lived Club Oasis comedy and variety
show. In 1960, Rooney directed and starred in The Private Lives of Adam and
Eve, an ambitious comedy known for its multiple flashbacks and many cameos.
In the 1960s, Rooney returned to theatrical entertainment. He still accepted
film roles in undistinguished films, but occasionally would appear in better
works, such as Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), It's A Mad, Mad,
Mad, Mad World (1963), and The Black Stallion (1979). One of
Rooney's more controversial roles came in the highly acclaimed 1961 film Breakfast
at Tiffany's where he played a stereotyped buck-toothed myopic Japanese
neighbor (Mr. Yunioshi) of the main character, Holly Golightly. Despite
Rooney's protests that he was congratulated for the role by Asians, that role
would later be held up as one of the most notorious examples of Hollywood's
history of stereotypical depictions of that racial group, evidenced in the film
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story when future Asian-American film star, Bruce
Lee, was deeply offended seeing the film.
On December 31, 1961, he appeared on television's What's
My Line and mentioned that he had already started enrolling students in the
MRSE (Mickey Rooney School of Entertainment). His school venture never came to
fruition, but for several years he was a spokesman/partner in Pennsylvania's
Downingtown Inn, a country club and golf resort.
In 1966, while Rooney was working on the film Ambush
Bay in the Philippines, his wife Barbara Ann Thomason (akas: 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 committed with Rooney's own gun.
Rooney 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. He was mentioned in the 1972
song "Celluloid Heroes" by The Kinks: "If you stomped on
Mickey Rooney/ He'd still turn round and smile..."
Character actor
In addition to his movie roles, Rooney made numerous
guest-starring roles as a character actor for nearly six decades, beginning
with an episode of Celanese Theatre. The part led to other roles on such
television series as Schlitz Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Producers'
Showcase, Alcoa Theatre, Wagon Train, G.E. True Theater,
Hennesey,
The Dick Powell Theatre, Arrest and Trial, Burke's Law, Combat!,
The Fugitive, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Jean
Arthur Show, The Name of the Game, Dan August, Night
Gallery, The Love Boat, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, among
many others.
Television, stage and The Black Stallion
Rooney made a successful transition to television and
stage work. In 1961, he guest starred in the 13-week James Franciscus adventure–drama
television series The Investigators on CBS. In 1963, he even entered The
Twilight Zone, giving a one-man performance in the episode "The Last
Night of a Jockey". In 1964, he launched another half-hour sitcom, Mickey,
on ABC. The story line had "Mickey" operating a resort hotel in
southern California. Son Tim Rooney appeared as Rooney's teenaged son on the
program, and Emmaline Henry starred as Rooney's wife. It lasted 17 episodes,
ending primarily due to the suicide of co-star Sammee Tong in October 1964.
He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his role in
1981's Bill. Playing opposite Dennis Quaid, Rooney's character 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 four Christmas TV animated/stop
action specials: Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970), The Year
Without a Santa Claus (1974), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
(1979), and A Miser Brothers' Christmas (2008)—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 role,
which ultimately went to Carroll O'Connor.
He continued to work on stage and television through the
1980s and 1990s, appearing in the acclaimed stage play Sugar Babies with
Ann Miller beginning in 1979. Following this, he toured as Pseudelous in
Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In
the 1990's, he returned to Broadway for the final months of Will Rogers
Follies, playing the ghost of Will's father. On television, starred in the
short-lived sitcom, One of the Boys, along with 2 unfamiliar young
stars, Dana Carvey and Nathan Lane, in 1982. He toured Canada in a dinner
theatre production of The Mind with the Naughty Man in the mid-1990s. He
played The Wizard in a stage production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
with Eartha Kitt at Madison Square Garden. Kitt was later replaced by Jo Anne
Worley. In 1995 he starred with Charlton Heston, Peter Graves and Deborah
Winters in the Warren Chaney docudrama America: A Call to Greatness. He
also appeared in the documentary That's Entertainment! III.
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 had a guest spot on an
episode of The Golden Girls as Sophia's boyfriend "Rocko", who
claimed to be a bank robber. He voiced 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.
After starring in one unsuccessful TV series and for
turning down an offer on a huge TV series, Rooney finally hit the jackpot, at
70, when he was offering a starring role on The Family Channel's, The
Adventures of the Black Stallion, where he reprised his role as Henry
Dailey from the film of the same name, eleven years earlier. The show was based
on a novel by Walter Farley. For this role, he had to travel to Vancouver. Just
like the film itself, the Black Stallion TV series, Rooney became one of
the most beloved stars, that the show itself became an immediate hit
with teenagers, young adults and people all over the world. The show was also
seen in 70 countries.
In December 2009, he appeared as a guest to a dinner party hosted by David Gest on Come Dine With Me.
Current work
Rooney appeared in television commercials for Garden
State Life Insurance Company in 1999, alongside his wife Jan Rooney. In
commercials shown in 2007, he can be seen in the background washing imaginary
dishes.
In 2003, Rooney and his wife began their association with
Rainbow Puppet Productions, providing their voices to the 100th Anniversary
production of "Toyland!" an adaptation of Victor Herbert's Babes
in Toyland. He created the voice for the Master Toymaker while Jan provided
the voice for Mother Goose. Since that time, they have created voices for
additional Rainbow Puppet Productions including "Pirate Party" which
also features vocal performances by Carol Channing. Both productions continue
to tour theaters across the country.
He continues to work in film and tours with his wife in a
multi-media live stage production called Let's Put On a Show! His first
performance of this show after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack was in Bend,
Oregon, in which Mickey and Jan requested the show begin with the singing of
the "Star Spangled Banner" by Jan offstage with only the American
Flag visible on stage.
On May 26, 2007, he was grand marshal at the Garden Grove
Strawberry Festival. Rooney made his British pantomime debut, playing Baron
Hardup in Cinderella, at the Sunderland Empire Theatre over the 2007 Christmas
period, a role he reprised in 2009 at the Milton Keynes theatre.
In 2008, Rooney starred as Chief, a wise old ranch owner,
in the independent family feature film Lost Stallions: The Journey Home,
marking a return to starring in equestrian-themed productions for the first
time since the 1990s TV show Adventures of the Black Stallion. Even
though they've acted together before, Lost Stallions: The Journey Home
is the sole film to date in which he and Jan portrayed a married couple on
screen.
Rooney made a brief cameo appearance in The Muppets,
making his career span 10 decades.
Personal life
Rooney has been married 8 times. In the 1950s and 1960s,
he was often the subject of comedians' jokes for his alleged inability to stay
married. He is currently married to Jan Chamberlin. He has 9 children from his
eight marriages, as well as nineteen grandchildren and several
great-grandchildren.
In 1942, he married Hollywood starlet Ava Gardner, but the
two were divorced well before she became a star in her own right. While
stationed in the military in Alabama in 1944, Rooney met and married local
beauty queen Betty Jane Phillips. This marriage ended in divorce after he
returned from Europe at the end of World War II. His subsequent marriages to Martha
Vickers (1949) and Elaine Mahnken (1952) were also short-lived and ended in
divorce. In 1958, Rooney married Barbara Ann Thomason, but tragedy struck when
she was murdered in 1966. Falling into deep depression, he married Barbara's
friend, Marge Lane, who helped him take care of his young children. The
marriage lasted only 100 days. He was married to Carolyn Hockett from 1969 to
1974, but financial instability ended the relationship. Finally, in 1978, Rooney
married Jan Chamberlin, his 8th wife. As of 2012,
they live in Westlake Village, California. Mickey is an outspoken advocates for
veterans and senior rights.
On September 23, 2010, Rooney celebrated his 90th
birthday at Feinstein's at Loews Regency in the Upper East Side of New York
City. Among the people who were attending the party were: Donald Trump, Regis
Philbin, Nathan Lane and Tony Bennett. In December 2010 he was honored as Turner
Classic Movies Star of the Month.
On February 16, 2011, Rooney was granted a temporary
restraining order against Christopher Aber. Christopher is the oldest of Jan
Rooney's two sons from a previous marriage. Many press releases state that the
restraining order included Mickey Rooney, Jan's son Mark Rooney, who is
currently Mickey's caregiver, and wife Jan Rooney. Public record states that
the restraining order in fact included Mickey Rooney, Mark Rooney and Mark's
wife Charlene Rooney. Jan Rooney was not included in the restraining order and
has publicly denied any abuse in defense of her son Christopher. On March 2,
2011 Rooney appeared before a special US Senate committee that was considering
legislation to curb elder abuse. Rooney stated that he was financially abused
by unnamed family members. On March 27, 2011, all of Rooney's finances were
permanently handed over to lawyers over the claim of missing money.
In April 2011, the temporary restraining order that
Rooney was. previously granted was replaced by a confidential settlement
between Rooney and his stepson Christopher Aber and Jan Rooney have denied all
the allegations.
Marriages
" Always get married early in the morning.
That way, if it doesn't work out,
you haven't wasted a whole day."
~ Mickey Rooney
|
Name
|
Years
|
Children
|
|
Ava Gardner
|
1942–1943
|
|
|
Betty Jane Rase
|
1944–1949
|
Mickey Rooney, Jr. (born July 3, 1945)
|
|
Tim Rooney (January 4, 1947 – September 23, 2006)
|
||
|
Martha Vickers
|
1949–1951
|
Theodore Michael Rooney (born April 13, 1950)
|
|
Elaine Devry
|
1952–1958
|
|
|
Barbara Ann Thomason (akas: Tara Thomas, Carolyn Mitchell)
|
1958–1966
|
Kelly Ann Rooney (born September 13, 1959)
|
|
Kerry Rooney (born December 30, 1960)
|
||
|
Michael Joseph Rooney (born April 2, 1962)
|
||
|
Kimmy Sue Rooney (born September 13, 1963)
|
||
|
Marge Lane
|
1966–1967
|
|
|
Carolyn Hockett
|
1969–1975
|
Jimmy Rooney (adopted from Carolyn's previous marriage)
(born 1966)
|
|
Jonelle Rooney (born January 11, 1970)
|
||
|
Jan Chamberlin
|
1978–present
|
Filmography
Selected
films
This is a selected list of Rooney's full-length films, both theatrical and made for television.
|
|
|
Short
subjects
|
|
|
Television
Rooney has made countless appearances in TV sitcoms and television films. He has also lent his voice to many animation films. Only his most important work is listed in this section.
|
Year(s)
|
Title
|
|
1954–1955
|
The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey Mulligan
|
|
1957
|
The Comedian (on Playhouse 90)
|
|
1964–1965
|
Mickey
|
|
1981
|
Bill (won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody Award for
role of Bill)
|
|
1982
|
One of the Boys (canceled after 13 episodes)
|
|
1983
|
Bill: On His Own (sequel to 1981's "Bill"
nominated for Emmy)
|
|
1990–1993
|
The Adventures of the Black Stallion
|
Awards
|
Year
|
Award
|
Category
|
Nominated Work /
Honor
|
Result
|
|
1938
|
Academy Award
|
Academy Juvenile
Award
|
(With Deanna Durbin)
"For their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players setting a high standard of ability and achievement." |
Honored
|
|
1939
|
Academy Award
|
Best Actor in a
Leading Role
|
Babes in Arms
|
Nominated
|
|
1943
|
Academy Award
|
Best Actor in a
Leading Role
|
The Human Comedy
|
Nominated
|
|
1956
|
Academy Award
|
Best Actor in a
Supporting Role
|
The Bold and the
Brave
|
Nominated
|
|
1957
|
Emmy Award
|
Best Single
Performance in a Leading or Supporting Role
|
Playhouse 90
|
Nominated
|
|
1957
|
Laurel Award
|
Top Male Action
Star
|
Baby Face Nelson
|
3rd Place
|
|
1958
|
Emmy Award
|
Best Single
Performance
|
Alcoa Theatre
|
Nominated
|
|
1960
|
Hollywood Walk of
Fame
|
Star of Motion
Picture
|
Star at 1718 Vine
Street
|
Honored
|
|
Star of Television
|
Star at 6372 Hollywood
Boulevard
|
Honored
|
||
|
Star of Radio
|
Star at 6541 Hollywood
Boulevard
|
Honored
|
||
|
1962
|
Laurel Award
|
Top Male Supporting
Performance
|
Requiem for a Heavyweight
|
Nominated
|
|
1964
|
Golden Globe
|
Best TV Star – Male
|
Mickey
|
Won
|
|
1980
|
Academy Award
|
Best Actor in a
Supporting Role
|
The Black
Stallion
|
Nominated
|
|
1981
|
Emmy Award
|
Outstanding Lead
Actor in a Limited Series or Special
|
Bill
|
Won
|
|
1981
|
Golden Globe
|
Best Actor in a TV
Mini-Series or Motion Picture
|
Bill
|
Won
|
|
1983
|
Academy Award
|
Academy Honorary
Award
|
"In
recognition of his 50 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film
performances."
|
Honored
|
|
1983
|
Emmy Award
|
Outstanding Lead
Actor in a Limited Series or Special
|
Bill: On His Own
|
Nominated
|
|
1991
|
Gemini Award
|
Best Performance by
an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role
|
The Adventures
of the Black Stallion
|
Nominated
|
|
1991
|
Young Artist Award
|
Former Child Star
Award
|
For lifetime
achievement as a child star
(Subsequently renamed "The Mickey Rooney Award") |
Honored
|
|
1996
|
Giffoni Film
Festival
|
François Truffaut
Award
|
—
|
Honored
|
|
2004
|
Pocono Mountains
Film Festival
|
Lifetime
Achievement Award
|
—
|
Honored
|
http://en.wikipedia.org
No comments:
Post a Comment