Mickey Rooney Fact Sheet: Who was Mickey Rooney? The following short biography and fact sheet provides interesting facts about the life, times and history of Mickey Rooney.

Mickey Rooney Fact File Biography: Lifespan: 1920 - 2014 *** Full Name: Joseph Yule, Jr and would become known as Mickey Rooney *** Occupation: American Actor in Film, Television, Radio, Vaudeville and Broadway *** Date of Birth: Mickey Rooney was born on September 23rd 1920 *** Place of Birth: Mickey Rooney was born in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. *** Family background: His father was Ninian Joseph Ewell who was born in Glasgow, Scotland and his mother was Nellie W. Carter who was born in Kansas City, Missouri. They were both vaudeville performers and his mother had been a chorus girl and burlesque performer *** Early life and childhood: He grew up around the vaudeville theatres where he was known to have begun performer almost as soon as he could walk *** Education: Mickey Rooney attended the Hollywood Professional School and also Hollywood High School ***

Mickey Rooney Fact 1: Mickey Rooney was born on September 23rd 1920 and during the 20th century period in history when so many wonderful and terrible events shaped the world. World War I and World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War but also such marvels as advances in medicine, technology, travel, the expansion of car travel and air travel and a massive change within the industry of entertainment.

Mickey Rooney Fact 2: His parents split up when he was just four years old, with his mother moving them to Hollywood in 1925 and she began running a tourist home

Mickey Rooney Fact 3: His first appearance was in a film in 1926 called Not to be Trusted.

Mickey Rooney Fact 4: The following year his mother answered an advertisement that required a dark haired child to play the part of Mickey McGuire in several short movies.

Mickey Rooney Fact 5: Although he did not have dark hair his mother improvised to darken his hair with burnt cork and he was successful in getting the role.

Mickey Rooney Fact 6: Between 1927 and 1936 he played Mickey. He briefly changed his name legally to Mickey McGuire when a lawsuit for copyright was against the film producers but the case was lost and the then twelve year old had to stop calling himself Mickey McGuire on or off screen.

Mickey Rooney Fact 7: His mother, in an attempt to find a similar name for her son, suggested Mickey Looney but again copyright prevented it and because of Looney Tunes and so he chose Mickey Rooney which was close enough.

Mickey Rooney Fact 8: In 1937 MGM cask Mickey in a B-movie called A Family Affair in which he played the teenage son of a judge, the film was a success and was followed up by thirteen more movies starring Mickey as Andy Hardy and although the movie had not been written with Mickey as the star he became the star character.

Mickey Rooney Fact 9: During 1937 Mickey would make his first movie beside Judy Garland in Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry and during the film the pair would become friends and would remain lifelong friends.

Mickey Rooney Fact 10: Together they also became a song and dance duo as the two were both natural comedians and played off one another so easily.

Mickey Rooney Fact 11: He once said of Judy “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.”

Mickey Rooney Fact 12: His next big defining role came in the 1938 movie Boys Town in which he starred with Spencer Tracy and in which Rooney would be awarded a specially created Juvenile Academy Award..

Mickey Rooney Fact 13: As well as top male movie stars such as James Cagney, George Peppard , Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason he also starred with such leading ladies as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

Mickey Rooney Fact 14: In 1944 as had happened to many, Rooney would be drafted into the United States Army and served in World War II. As well as facing the enemy he would also whenever possible entertain the troops in America and in Europe.

Mickey Rooney Fact 15: Post war he found work difficult to find. No longer able to play the younger teenage rolls as a mature adult he was only five foot two inches tall and leading men were generally much taller.

Mickey Rooney Fact 16: He began performing more on the radio and he appeared in his first television series and during the 1960’s he made a return to theatre entertaining.

Mickey Rooney Fact 17: In time he would make a comeback to television as a character actor which he did for almost six decades.

Mickey Rooney Fact 18: By 2006 he was still working and in a film starring Benjamin Stiller and Robin Williams, Night at the Museum and its sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian although his scene was deleted.

Mickey Rooney Fact 19: Mickey Rooney married eight times, Ava Gardner, no children, Betty Jane Phillips, two sons, Mickey Jr and Tim, Martha Vickers, one son, Theodore, Elaine Devry, no children, Barbara Ann Thomason, four children, Kelly, Kerry, Michael and Kimmy Sue, Marge Lane, no children, Carolyn Hocket, two children Jimmy and Jonelle and finally Jan Chamberlin with whom he separated in almost two years before he died.

Mickey Rooney Fact 20: Mickey Rooney died in his sleep on April 6th 2014 in Los Angeles, California aged ninety three years. His body laid to rest at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Influence & Legacy: Mickey Rooney has left behind a history of comedy in movies with a career that lasted for eighty eight years. Jeanine Basinger tried to sum him up “Rooney's abundant talent, like his film image, might seem like a metaphor for America: a seemingly endless supply of natural resources that could never dry up, but which, it turned out, could be ruined by excessive use and abuse, by arrogance or power, and which had to be carefully tended to be returned to full capacity. From child star to character actor, from movie shorts to television specials, and from films to Broadway, Rooney ultimately did prove he could do it all, do it well, and keep on doing it. His is a unique career, both for its versatility and its longevity.”