Remembering: Mickey Rooney

Born Joseph Yule Jr. in Brooklyn, NY on September 23rd, 1920

Mickey Rooney is one of my favorite actors. He was one of the best teenage actors around. Almost as good as Shirley Temple was a child actor. But aside from his brilliant performances (that I'll get into in just a second) I want to point out what I will finally admit I truly loved about him! In a world of statuesque models in Hollywood, both male and female, the fact that Mickey Rooney, at only 5'1" (some have him as tall as 5'3"!) he was able to "get the girl" as good as any other more handsome man in the business. And while his roles were not exactly the kind you'd find Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, or Jimmy Stewart in, he left his mark in the cinema world same as the did. Being someone who is 5'1" myself I appreciated that he didn't let his short stature limit his career in any way.

His movie career, you could argue, started with the Andy Hardy movies. I must also now admit I have never seen any of those. I will rectify this of course after realizing he did a few with Judy Garland. Ah, Judy. I loved every movie (I saw) those two were in. And I think it only fitting to share a clip of the two of them doing what each does best:

That clip, if you don't recognize it, is from the movie Girl Crazy (1943), and definitely one of my favorite. No, I take that back, it IS my favorite Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland films. But, the song and the moment I believe they are most noted for comes from them singing Good Mornin' in the movie Babes in Arms (1939).



And those come from Mickey Rooney's teenage years. But his acting career (like many child stars) didn't stop or fizzle out, although his height was a hinderance for him when it came to getting roles where the man gets the girl. I guess Hollywood didn't think it would be possible for a man of 5'1" to get a girl unless she was his height? That's funny since his first wife happened to be Ava Gardner (listed as 5'6")!

She was gorgeous! But their marriage barely lasted a year. He didn't let that get him down though. In the course of his lifetime he had 8 wives! Yep, you read that right, the man had 8 wives! Of the 8, his last wife, Jan Chamberlain (Jan Rooney) was his longest lasting marriage. They were together for 37 years, which is more than all 7 of his previous marriages combined. He is survived by Jan, 8 children (one died in 2006 at the age of 59), 19 grand children and several great grand children. I think he may have had the most marriages of any Hollywood star, including Elizabeth Taylor who although she was married 8 times two of them were to Richard Burton.

But, Mickey Rooney did some great movies when he got older. I won't mention them all since it's a LONG list. But I will share with you pictures and video clips of some that were my favorite and aside from his teen years with Judy, this adds to how I'll always remember him...

What, no images of Mickey and Judy?! Would I do that?

What, if any, Mickey Rooney movies have you seen? Did you love it or hate it?