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Mickey Rooney is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter and Producer American born on 23 september 1920 at New York City (USA)

Mickey Rooney

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Birth name Joseph Yule
Nationality USA
Birth 23 september 1920 at New York City (USA)
Death 6 april 2014 (at 93 years) at Los Angeles (USA)
Awards Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, Academy Honorary Award, Bronze Star Medal, Academy Juvenile Award

Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr.; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor of film, television, Broadway, radio, and vaudeville. In a career spanning nearly nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, he appeared in more than 300 films and was one of the last surviving stars of the silent film era.
At the height of a career that was marked by precipitous declines and raging comebacks, Rooney played the role of Andy Hardy in a series of fifteen films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized American family values. A versatile performer, he could sing, dance, clown and play various musical instruments, becoming a celebrated character actor later in his career. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney "the greatest actor of them all." 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 age six. At thirteen he played the role of Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. His acclaimed film performance was hailed by critic David Thomson as "one of cinema's most arresting pieces of magic." In 1938, he co-starred with Spencer Tracy in the Academy Award-winning film, Boys Town. At nineteen 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 forty-three films and co-starred alongside Judy Garland, Wallace Beery, Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor. He was one of MGM's most consistently successful actors and a favorite of 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 never rose to such heights again. 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 he was not able to obtain acting roles as significant as before. Nevertheless, Rooney was tenacious and he rebounded, his popularity renewed with well-received supporting roles in films such as Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and The Black Stallion (1979), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. 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. During his career, he received four Academy Award nominations and was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning one.

At his death, Vanity Fair called him "the original Hollywood train wreck." He struggled with alcohol and pill addiction and married eight times, the first time to Ava Gardner. Despite earning millions during his career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1962 due to mismanagement of his finances. Shortly before his death in 2014 at age 93, he alleged mistreatment by some family members, and testified in Congress about what he alleged was physical abuse and exploitation by family members. By the end of his life, his millions in earnings had dwindled to an estate that was valued at only $18,000, and he died owing medical bills and back taxes, and contributions were solicited from the public.

Biography

Rooney was married eight times. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was often the subject of comedians' jokes due to his alleged inability to stay married. At the time of his death, he was married to Jan Chamberlin Rooney, although they had separated in June 2012. He had a total of nine children, as well as 19 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

He was addicted to gambling and was addicted to sleeping pills, which he was only able to overcome in 2000, when he was in his late 70s.

Rooney married his first wife, Ava Gardner, Hollywood starlet at the age of 21 (she was 19) in 1942, but the two were divorced in 1943, well before she became a star in her own right. She divorced him because he couldn't remain faithful to her. While stationed in the military in Alabama in 1944, Rooney met and married local beauty queen Betty Jane Phillips, who later became known as a singer under the name BJ Baker. They had two sons together. This marriage ended in divorce after he returned from Europe at the end of World War II.

His marriage to actress Martha Vickers in 1949 produced one son but ended in divorce in 1951. He married Elaine Mahnken, better known as actress Elaine Devry, in 1952. They divorced in 1958.

In 1958, Rooney married Barbara Ann Thomason (stage name Carolyn Mitchell), but tragedy struck when she was murdered in 1966. He then married Barbara's best friend, Marge Lane. That marriage lasted 100 days. He was married to Carolyn Hockett from 1969 to 1974, but financial instability ended the relationship.

Finally, in 1978, Rooney married his eighth wife, Jan Chamberlin. Their marriage lasted longer than his previous seven combined, although they became estranged in 2009 and legally separated in 2012.

On September 23, 2010, he celebrated his 90th birthday at Feinstein's at Loews Regency on the Upper East Side of New York City. Among those who attended the fete were Donald Trump, Regis Philbin, Nathan Lane and Tony Bennett.

On February 16, 2011, Rooney was granted a temporary restraining order against Christopher Aber and Aber's wife Christina. Aber was one of Jan Rooney's two sons from a previous marriage.The court order stated that the Abers were to stay 100 yards from Rooney, his stepson Mark Rooney and his wife, Charlene Rooney. Mickey charged Chris and Christina Aber with elder abuse and fraud, and Rooney's attorneys alleged that Aber "threatens, intimidates, bullies and harasses Mickey" and refused to reveal the actor's finances to him, "other than to tell him that [he] is broke." On March 2, 2011, Rooney appeared before a special U.S. Senate committee that was considering legislation to curb elder abuse, testifying about the abuse he claimed to have suffered at the hands of family members. On March 27, 2011, all of Rooney's finances were permanently handed over to a conservator, who called Rooney "completely competent."

In April 2011, the temporary restraining order that Rooney was previously granted was replaced by a confidential settlement between Rooney and his stepson, Aber. Christopher Aber and Jan Rooney have denied all the allegations, and after Rooney's death, Aber contended that Rooney was abusive to his wife and addicted to sleeping pills. Rooney was arrested for beating his wife in February 1997, although prosecutors decided not to file battery charges against him. In June 2012, Mickey requested through the Superior Court to reside with Mark and Charlene permanently and legally separated from his wife, Jan Rooney.

Rooney's eldest child, Mickey Rooney, Jr., is a born-again Christian, and has an evangelical ministry in Hemet, California. He and several of Rooney's other eight children have worked at various times in show business. He is known to have an illegitimate son, William James Rooney. Tim Rooney, died in 2006, aged 59.

In May 2013, Rooney sold his home of many years, and split the proceeds with Jan Rooney.

Marriages

Wife
Years
Children

Ava Gardner

1942–1943

Betty Jane Rase (née Phillips)

1944–1949

Mickey Rooney, Jr. (Joseph Yule III) (born July 3, 1945)

Tim Rooney (Timothy Hayes Yule)(January 4, 1947 – September 23, 2006)

Martha Vickers

1949–1951

Theodore Michael Rooney (born April 13, 1950)

Elaine Devry

1952–1958

Barbara Ann Thomason
(a.k.a.: Tara Thomas, Carolyn Mitchell)

1958–1966

Kelly Ann Rooney (born September 13, 1959)

Kerry Yule 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 in 1966)

Jonelle Rooney (born January 11, 1970)

Jan Chamberlin

1978–2014 (Separated June 2012)