Mickey Rooney, Entertainer

Mickey Rooney Born September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA Died April 6, 2014 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (natural causes) Birth Name Joseph Yule Jr. Nicknames The Mick The Mickster Height 5' 2" (1.57 m) Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He first took the stage as a toddler in his parents vaudeville act at 17 months old. He made his first film appearance in 1926. The following year, he played the lead character in the first Mickey McGuire short film. It was in this popular film series that he took the stage name Mickey Rooney. Rooney reached new heights in 1937 with A Family Affair, the film that introduced the country to Andy Hardy, the popular all-American teenager. This beloved character appeared in nearly 20 films and helped make Rooney the top star at the box office in 1939, 1940 and 1941. Rooney also proved himself an excellent dramatic actor as a delinquent in Boys Town (1938) starring Spencer Tracy. In 1938, he was awarded a Juvenile Academy Award. Teaming up with Judy Garland, Rooney also appeared in a string of musicals, including Babes in Arms (1939) the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role, Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), and Girl Crazy (1943). He and Garland immediately became best of friends. "We weren't just a team, we were magic," Rooney once said. During that time he also appeared with Elizabeth Taylor in the now classic National Velvet (1944). Rooney joined the service that same year, where he helped to entertain the troops and worked on the American Armed Forces Network. He returned to Hollywood after 21 months in Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946), did a remake of a Robert Taylor film, The Crowd Roars (1932) called Killer McCoy (1947) and portrayed composer Lorenz Hart in Words and Music (1948). He also appeared in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Rooney played Hepburn's Japanese neighbor, Mr. Yunioshi. A sign of the times, Rooney played the part for comic relief which he later regretted feeling the role was offensive. He once again showed his incredible range in the dramatic role of a boxing trainer with Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). In the late 1960s and 1970s Rooney showed audiences and critics alike why he was one of Hollywood's most enduring stars. He gave an impressive performance in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film The Black Stallion (1979), which brought him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He also turned to the stage in 1979 in Sugar Babies with Ann Miller, and was nominated for a Tony Award. During that time he also portrayed the Wizard in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with Eartha Kitt at New York's Madison Square Garden, which also had a successful run nationally. Rooney's personal life, including his frequent trips to the altar, has proved to be just as epic as his on-screen performances. His first wife was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, actress Ava Gardner. Mickey permanently separated from his eighth wife Jan in June of 2012. Rooney requested through the Superior Court to permanently reside with his son Mark Rooney, who is a musician and Marks wife Charlene, an artist, in the Hollywood Hills. He legally separated from his eighth wife in June of 2012. Ironically, after eight failed marriages he never looked or felt better and finally found happiness and peace in the single life. Mickey, Mark and Charlene focused on health, happiness and creative endeavors and it showed. Mickey Rooney had once again landed on his feet reminding us that he was a survivor. Rooney died on April 6th 2014. He was taking his afternoon nap and never woke. One week before his death Mark and Charlene surprised him by reunited him with a long lost love, the racetrack. He was ecstatic to be back after decades and ran into his old friends Mel Brooks and Dick Van Patten. Spouse (8) Jan Rooney (28 July 1978 - 6 April 2014) ( his death) Carolyn Hockett (27 May 1969 - 24 January 1975) ( divorced) ( 2 children) Margaret Lane (10 September 1966 - 14 December 1967) ( divorced) Carolyn Mitchell (1 December 1958 - 31 January 1966) ( her death) ( 4 children) Elaine Devry (18 November 1952 - 18 May 1958) ( divorced) ( 2 children) Martha Vickers (3 June 1949 - 25 September 1952) ( divorced) ( 1 child) B.J. Baker (30 September 1944 - 3 June 1949) ( divorced) ( 2 children) Ava Gardner (10 January 1942 - 21 May 1943) ( divorced) Father of Tim Rooney and Mickey Rooney Jr., from his marriage to Betty Jane Rase (B.J. Baker). Father of Jonelle Rooney (born January 11, 1970) from his marriage to Carolyn Hockett. He also adopted Carolyn's son from a previous marriage, Jimmy Rooney (born 1966). Was nominated for Broadway's 1980 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Sugar Babies." With a film career that lasted from 1926 to 2015, he has the longest career in cinema history, surpassing Lillian Gish. Rooney's 339 film credits span ten decades: 1920s-2010s. Laemmle's 17 film credits include a break from 1939 to 2010 (except for a video short in 2001). Father of Kelly Ann Rooney (born September 13, 1959), Kerry Yule Rooney (born December 30, 1960), Michael Rooney (VI) (born April 2, 1962) and Kimmy Sue Rooney (born September 13, 1963), from his marriage to Carolyn Mitchell. At age 19 became the first teenager to be Oscar-nominated in a leading role for Babes in Arms (1939). His first of eight marriages was to Ava Gardner but his marriage to Jan Rooney was longer than those of all his other seven wives combined. Had 19 grandchildren, including Shannon Rooney and Dominique Rooney by his son Timothy Rooney, and several great-grandchildren among whom Kaitlyn Rooney and Hunter Rooney. He was most proud of his film The Black Stallion (1979). With the death of James Stewart on July 2, 1997, Rooney was the last surviving entertainer of the 46 caricatured in Hollywood Steps Out (1941). His hobbies included listening to music, football, golfing, dancing, horse racing, painting, getting together with old friends and watching classic movies. Graduated from Hollywood High School in 1938. His future The New Adventures of the Black Stallion (1990) co-star, Richard Ian Cox, was a childhood movie hero of his. Began his career as a contract player for MGM in 1934. Was an animal rights activist. He chose to permanently reside with stepson Mark Rooney and Mark's wife Charlene Rooney. Release of his autobiography, "Life is too Short". [1991] He has been quoted as saying he was proud of President Barack Obama and his policies. Mickey Rooney had passed away on April 6, 2014, just four months before Robin Williams committed suicide. They both starred in the movie: Night at the Museum (2006) and its sequel Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). His third son, Teddy Rooney, died on July 2, 2016, at age 66, just two years after the death of his father. Interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA. When he passed away in 2014, at the age of 93, he had at least three future projects that he was going to perform in. When he died his eight surviving children said in a statement that they were barred from seeing Rooney during his final years.

She was so close to Si Seadler that after her opening at the Palace we were invited to her party at El Morocco. She said, "Si. You have to dance with me." It was a wonderful night. Born June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA Died June 22, 1969 in Belgravia, London, England, UK (barbiturate overdose) Birth Name Frances Ethel Gumm Nicknames Baby Gumm Miss Show Business Joots Height 4' 11½" (1.51 m) One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals. She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on 10 June 1922 in Minnesota, the youngest daughter of vaudevillians Ethel Marion (Milne) and Francis Avent Gumm. She was of English, along with some Scottish and Irish, descent. Her mother, an ambitious woman gifted in playing various musical instruments, saw the potential in her daughter at the tender age of just 2 years old when Baby Frances repeatedly sang "Jingle Bells" until she was dragged from the stage kicking and screaming during one of their Christmas shows and immediately drafted her into a dance act, entitled "The Gumm Sisters", along with her older sisters Mary Jane Gumm and Virginia Gumm. However, knowing that her youngest daughter would eventually become the biggest star, Ethel soon took Frances out of the act and together they traveled across America where she would perform in nightclubs, cabarets, hotels and theaters solo. Her family life was not a happy one, largely because of her mother's drive for her to succeed as a performer and also her father's closeted homosexuality. The Gumm family would regularly be forced to leave town owing to her father's illicit affairs with other men, and from time to time they would be reduced to living out of their automobile. However, in September 1935 the Gumms', in particular Ethel's, prayers were answered when Frances was signed by Louis B. Mayer, mogul of leading film studio MGM, after hearing her sing. It was then that her name was changed from Frances Gumm to Judy Garland, after a popular '30s song "Judy" and film critic Robert Garland. Tragedy soon followed, however, in the form of her father's death of meningitis in November 1935. Having been given no assignments with the exception of singing on radio, Judy faced the threat of losing her job following the arrival of Deanna Durbin. Knowing that they couldn't keep both of the teenage singers, MGM devised a short entitled Every Sunday (1936) which would be the girls' screen test. However, despite being the outright winner and being kept on by MGM, Judy's career did not officially kick off until she sang one of her most famous songs, "You Made Me Love You", at Clark Gable's birthday party in February 1937, during which Louis B. Mayer finally paid attention to the talented songstress. Prior to this her film debut in Pigskin Parade (1936), in which she played a teenage hillbilly, had left her career hanging in the balance. However, following her rendition of "You Made Me Love You", MGM set to work preparing various musicals with which to keep Judy busy. All this had its toll on the young teenager, and she was given numerous pills by the studio doctors in order to combat her tiredness on set. Another problem was her weight fluctuation, but she was soon given amphetamines in order to give her the desired streamlined figure. This soon produced the downward spiral that resulted in her lifelong drug addiction. In 1939, Judy shot immediately to stardom with The Wizard of Oz (1939), in which she portrayed Dorothy, an orphaned girl living on a farm in the dry plains of Kansas who gets whisked off into the magical world of Oz on the other end of the rainbow. Her poignant performance and sweet delivery of her signature song, 'Over The Rainbow', earned Judy a special juvenile Oscar statuette on 29 February 1940 for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor. Now growing up, Judy began to yearn for meatier adult roles instead of the virginal characters she had been playing since she was 14. She was now taking an interest in men, and after starring in her final juvenile performance in Ziegfeld Girl (1941) alongside glamorous beauties Lana Turner and Hedy Lamarr, Judy got engaged to bandleader David Rose in May 1941, just two months after his divorce from Martha Raye. Despite planning a big wedding, the couple eloped to Las Vegas and married during the early hours of the morning on 28 July 1941 with just her mother Ethel and her stepfather Will Gilmore present. However, their marriage went downhill as, after discovering that she was pregnant in November 1942, David and MGM persuaded her to abort the baby in order to keep her good-girl image up. She did so and, as a result, was haunted for the rest of her life by her 'inhumane actions'. The couple separated in January 1943. Vincente began to mold Judy and her career, making her more beautiful and more popular with audiences worldwide. He directed her in The Clock (1945), and it was during the filming of this movie that the couple announced their engagement on set on 9 January 1945. Judy's divorce from David Rose had been finalized on 8 June 1944 after almost three years of marriage, and despite her brief fling with Orson Welles, who at the time was married to screen sex goddess Rita Hayworth, on 15 June 1945 Judy made Vincente her second husband, tying the knot with him that afternoon at her mother's home with her boss Louis B. Mayer giving her away and her best friend Betty Asher serving as bridesmaid. They spent three months on honeymoon in New York and afterwards Judy discovered that she was pregnant. On 12 March 1946 in Los Angeles, California, Judy gave birth to their daughter, Liza Minnelli, via caesarean section. It was a joyous time for the couple, but Judy was out of commission for weeks due to the caesarean and her postnatal depression, so she spent much of her time recuperating in bed. She soon returned to work, but married life was never the same for Vincente and Judy after they filmed The Pirate (1948) together in 1947. Judy's mental health was fast deteriorating and she began hallucinating things and making false accusations toward people, especially her husband, making the filming a nightmare. She also began an affair with aspiring Russian actor Yul Brynner, but after the affair ended, Judy soon regained health and tried to salvage her failing marriage. She then teamed up with dancing legend Fred Astaire for the delightful musical Easter Parade (1948), which resulted in a successful comeback despite having Vincente fired from directing the musical. Afterwards, Judy's health deteriorated and she began the first of several suicide attempts. In May 1949, she was checked into a rehabilitation center, which caused her much distress. She soon regained strength and was visited frequently by her lover Frank Sinatra, but never saw much of Vincente or Liza. On returning, Judy made In the Good Old Summertime (1949), which was also Liza's film debut, albeit via an uncredited cameo. She had already been suspended by MGM for her lack of cooperation on the set of The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which also resulted in her getting replaced by Ginger Rogers. After being replaced by Betty Hutton on Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Judy was suspended yet again before making her final film for MGM, entitled Summer Stock (1950). At 28, Judy received her third suspension and was fired by MGM, and her second marriage was soon dissolved. Spouse (5) Mickey Deans (15 March 1969 - 22 June 1969) ( her death) Mark Herron (14 November 1965 - 9 January 1969) ( divorced) Sidney Luft (8 June 1952 - 19 May 1965) ( divorced) ( 2 children) Vincente Minnelli (15 June 1945 - 29 March 1951) ( divorced) ( 1 child) David Rose (28 July 1941 - 8 June 1944) ( divorced)