Mickey Rooney is a unique, living piece of Hollywood history. One of very select group of performers still alive today who started their careers in Silent movies, Rooney has seen it all. From precocious child star, to stalwart partner of Judy Garland,  then at 18 he almost caused a scandal by having an affair with superstar Norma Shearer, 20 years his senior, and at the height of her fame. He was the husband of Ava Gardner, and seven other ladies, top box-office star in America for 2 years, TV star in the 1950's, honorary Oscar winner in 1983, still performing today, full energy and loving every minute of it.

There is a lot more to Micky Rooney than light musicals and frothy comedies. He is a successful author, an accomplished musician and composer, a prolific inventor, and is an avid golfer and sportsman. He was a close friend to Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn and James Cagney. He returned to the stage in the 1960s, and made some successful TV movies in the 80s. As well as his honorary Oscar he was nominated twice for Best Actor Oscars, and twice for Best Supporting Actor. With movie appearances stretching from 1926 to 2007, totaling 81 years, his is the longest career in cinema history. A living Hollywood legend indeed.

Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jnr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were both successful vaudevillians and when Joe was 2 weeks old he was taken on tour and he made his first appearance on the stage with them aged only seventeen months.

His parents divorced when he was three and his mother took him to Hollywood a year later to audition him for the 'Our Gang' series headed by Al Roach. They were unsuccessful on that occasion but they returned two years later and this time young Joe was offered his first movie role - as a cigar-smoking midget- in the film 'Not To Be Trusted'. The part was small-in every way- but it opened a door into the world of Hollywood, a door that was never to close.

Joe's next move came in 1926 when, at the age of six, he was cast in the role of the cocky, self-assured tough little kid, Mickey 'Himself' McGuire, a series based on a popular comic strip, "Toonerville Folks." . In all, between 1926 and 1933 he made over 50 two-reel film comedies in the series. After initially legally taking the name of his character—Mickey McGuire—as his own, he changed his name again , at his mother's suggestion, to Mickey Rooney, when the series ended.

The newly named Mickey then played 'lead character as a boy' roles such as in 'The World Changes' in 1933 and 'Manhattan Melodrama' with Myrna Loy in 1934- which was later made famous when notorious gangster John Dillinger was shot and killed while leaving the theater where he had been watching it.

His work in this film led to his being signed to a long-term contract with MGM and he began landing bit parts in feature films. In 1935 he gave a much-praised performance of Puck in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' which starred James Cagney, Dick Powell and Olivia de Haviland.

A star turn as a good-natured, trouble-prone teen in a B-picture called 'A Family Affair, in 1937, led to a 15 film series spanning 9 years of folksy Andy Hardy pictures that represented MGM head Louis B Mayer's ideal of the United States happy families.  Rooney played the title role, the good-hearted teenage son of a small-town judge and the role made him a household name and shot him to superstardom.

The Andy Hardy movies were cheap to make but had an appealing message. The characters are solidly middle American, the wise and strong father, Judge Hardy, and the affectionate and hardworking  Mrs Hardy, and, of course, young Andy who manages to muddle his way through girl trouble, money and other problems,  and he learns a life lesson in each film.

Rooney's stock rose when he gave a riveting performance as a tough punk reformed by Spencer Tracy in Boys Town in 1938 and his fame rose even higher during the following years as he made a  string of successful musicals with Judy Garland, including the Oscar nominated Babes in Arms (1939), Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), and Girl Crazy (1943). and classic films such as ‘National Velvet’ with the young Elizabeth Taylor in 1944.


 Never short in confidence, and seemingly blessed with an endless supply of energy and talent, Rooney was one of the top 10 box office stars from 1938 to 1943, heading the list for 2 years from 1939-1941. He did not know it then, but at the age of 21 Mickey Rooney's career had reached its peak.

Rooney did 21 months military service during World War II and, although making successful radio broadcasts during this time his film career was put on hold. When he tried to restart his career after the war, he found it difficult. Like many child stars, Rooney never quite outgrew his pint-sized kid image. His drawing power as a star had decreased dramatically, and never fully recovered.

 Rooney kept trying, however, and earned a reputation as a fine character actor in such films as 'Quicksand' in 1950 and an especially vicious gangster biopic 'Baby Face Nelson' in 1957.

In the 1960's he began touring nightclubs and theaters again, though he continued in occasional movie roles.  He caricatured himself enjoyably as a movie star with underworld connections in Pulp in 1972, and has since worked steadily in crusty old-timer roles such as in The Black Stallion in 1979. In the same year he somewhat reluctantly went back to the stage in the burlesque production of "Sugar Babies". The production ended up being an outstanding success, and ran for three years on Broadway, and four and a half years on tour.

In 1983, following 60 years as an actor, he received the "Lifetime Achievement" Oscar." Rooney, now well into his 80's, has been surprisingly active and has found himself far more in demand that he was 30 years ago, recently seen to good advantage in the hit Night at the Museum (2006).

During the course of his career, Rooney received two Best Actor and two Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations, the last of which for his work in 1979's The Black Stallion. He also won a Golden Globe for the 1981 TV movie Bill. In 1983, while undergoing a well-publicized conversion to Christianity, he was awarded a special Lifetime Achievement Oscar "in recognition of his 60 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances." Rooney published his autobiography, Life Is Too Short, in 1991.

Rooney admits to a roistering, bacchanalial lifestyle and in his autobiography describes in lurid detail his many sexual conquests. He has had eight wives and cracks that when he says 'I do', the vicar says 'I know.'

He married Hollywood star Ava Gardner on January 10, 1942, but their marriage only lasted 16 months. He married Betty Jane Rase on September 30, 1944, ending in divorce in June 1948 after producing two children, Mickey Rooney Jr. and Timothy Rooney.
Mickey then married to Michigan-born actress Martha Vickers the following year, and had a son named Theodore. They divorced in 1952 and in the same year he married actress Elaine Devry, then actress Carolyn Mitchell (aka. Barbara Ann Thompson) in 1958, and stayed with her until her death in 1966, (she was murdered). The couple had a son, Kyle, and three daughters, Kimmy Sue, Kerry and Kelly Ann.

Mickey then married Marge Lane, a close friend of Carolyn, in 1966. They divorced in 1967 after 100 days of marriage. In 1969, Mickey married Carolyn Hockett, but they divorced in 1974. They have a daughter, Jonelle, and an adopted son, Jimmy. Mickey married his current wife, actress Jan Rooney, on July 28, 1978. He has a stepson named Christopher Aber (born on February 5, 1959). He has been with Jan longer than all his other wives put together.