Mickey Rooney (bornNinnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonymMickey Maguire;[1] September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era.[2] He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941,[3] and one of the best-paid actors of that era.[4] At the height of a career ultimately marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role ofAndy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized the mainstream United States self-image.[citation needed]
Drafted into the military duringWorld War II, Rooney served nearly two years, entertaining over two million troops on stage and radio. He was awarded aBronze Star for performing in combat zones. Returning in 1945, he was too old for juvenile roles, but too short at 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) for most adult roles, and was unable to gain as many starring roles. However, numerous low-budget, but critically well-received pictures through the mid-1950s had Rooney playing lead dramatic roles in what were later regarded asfilms noir. Rooney's career was renewed with well-received supporting performances in films such asThe Bold and the Brave (1956),Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962),It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963),Pete's Dragon (1977), andThe Black Stallion (1979). Rooney received Academy Award nominations forBest Actor in a Supporting Role in1957 forThe Bold and the Brave, and1980 forThe Black Stallion. In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway inSugar Babies, a role that earned him nominations forTony Award andDrama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows.
Rooney was born Ninnian Joseph Yule, Jr.,[7] inBrooklyn, New York on September 23, 1920, the only child of Nellie W. Carter andJoe Yule.[8] His mother was an American former chorus girl andburlesque performer fromKansas City, Missouri, while his father was a Scottish-bornvaudevillian, who had emigrated to New York fromGlasgow with his family at the age of three months.[4] They lived in theGreenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.[9] When Rooney was born, his parents were appearing together in a Brooklyn production ofA Gaiety Girl. He later recounted in his memoirs that he began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.[10][11][12]
His mother saw an advertisement for a child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in aseries of short films.[15] Rooney got the role and became "Mickey" for 78 of the films, running from 1927 to 1936, starting withMickey's Circus (1927), his first starring role.[a][b] During this period, he also briefly voicedOswald the Lucky Rabbit forWalter Lantz Productions.[19] He made other films in his adolescence, including several more of the McGuire films. At age 14, he played the role of Puck in the Warner Bros. all-star adaptation ofA Midsummer Night's Dream in 1935. CriticDavid Thomson hailed his performance as "one of the cinema's most arresting pieces of magic". Rooney then moved toMGM, where he befriendedJudy Garland, with whom he began making a series of musicals that propelled both of them to stardom.[20][21][22]
In 1937, Rooney was selected to portrayAndy Hardy inA Family Affair, which MGM had planned as aB-movie.[15] Rooney provided comic relief as the son of Judge James K. Hardy, portrayed byLionel Barrymore (although former silent-film leading manLewis Stone played the role of Judge Hardy in subsequent pictures). The film was an unexpected success, and led to 13 moreAndy Hardy films between 1937 and 1946, and a final film in 1958.
According to author Barry Monush, MGM wanted the Andy Hardy films to appeal to all family members. Rooney's character portrayed a typical "anxious, hyperactive, girl-crazy teenager", and he soon became the unintended main star of the films. Although some critics describe the series of films as "sweet, overly idealized, and pretty much interchangeable," their ultimate success was because they gave viewers a "comforting portrait of small-town America that seemed suited for the times", with Rooney instilling "a lasting image of what every parent wished their teen could be like".[23]
Behind the scenes, however, Rooney was like the "hyperactive girl-crazy teenager" he portrayed on the screen.Wallace Beery, his co-star inStablemates, described him as a "brat", but a "fine actor".[24] MGM headLouis B. Mayer found it necessary to manage Rooney's public image, explains historian Jane Ellen Wayne:
Mayer naturally tried to keep all his child actors in line, like any father figure. After one such episode, Mickey Rooney replied, "I won't do it. You're asking the impossible." Mayer then grabbed young Rooney by his lapels and said, "Listen to me! I don't care what you do in private. Just don't do it in public. In public, behave. Your fans expect it. You're Andy Hardy! You're the United States! You're the Stars and Stripes. Behave yourself! You're a symbol!" Mickey nodded. "I'll be good, Mr. Mayer. I promise you that." Mayer let go of his lapels, "All right," he said.[25]
Fifty years later, Rooney realized in hindsight that these early confrontations with Mayer were necessary for him to develop into a leading film star: "Everybody butted heads with him, but he listened and you listened. And then you'd come to an agreement you could both live with. ... He visited the sets, he gave people talks ... What he wanted was something that wasAmerican, presented in acosmopolitan manner."[26]
In 1937, Rooney made his first film alongside Judy Garland withThoroughbreds Don't Cry.[27] Garland and Rooney became close friends as they co-starred in future films and became a successful song-and-dance team. Audiences delighted in seeing the "playful interactions between the two stars showcase a wonderful chemistry".[28] Along with three of theAndy Hardy films, where she portrayed a girl attracted to Andy, they appeared together in a string of successful musicals, includingcoming-of-age musicalBabes in Arms (1939). For his performance as Mickey Moran,19-year-old Mickey Rooney was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming thesecond-youngest Best Actor nominee. During an interview in the 1992 documentary filmMGM: When the Lion Roars, Rooney describes their friendship:[29]
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 died. She's always with me in every heartbeat of my body.
In 1937, Rooney received top billing as Shockey Carter inHoosier Schoolboy, but his breakthrough role as a dramatic actor came in 1938'sBoys Town oppositeSpencer Tracy as Father Flanagan, who runs a home for wayward and homeless boys. 18-year-old Rooney and 17-year-oldDeanna Durbin were awarded a specialJuvenile Academy Award in1939, for "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth".[30][31] Jane Ellen Wayne describes one of the "most famous scenes" in the film, where tough young Rooney is playing poker with a cigarette in his mouth, his hat is cocked, and his feet are up on the table. "Tracy grabs him by the lapels, throws the cigarette away, and pushes him into a chair. 'That's better,' he tells Mickey."[25] Louis B. Mayer saidBoys Town was his favorite film during his years at MGM.[30]
Rooney was the biggest box-office draw in 1939, 1940, and 1941.[32] For their roles inBoys Town, Rooney and Tracy won first and second place in theMotion Picture Herald 1940 National Poll of Exhibitors, based on the box-office appeal of 200 players. A contributor toBoys' Life magazine wrote, "Congratulations to Messrs. Rooney and Tracy! Also to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer we extend a hearty thanks for their very considerable part in this outstanding achievement."[33] ActorLaurence Olivier once called Rooney "the greatest actor of them all".[34] He appeared on the cover ofTime magazine in 1940, timed to coincide with the release ofYoung Tom Edison;[35] thecover story began:[36]
Hollywood's No. 1 box office bait in 1939 was not Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, or Tyrone Power, but a rope-haired, kazoo-voiced kid with a comic-strip face, who until this week had never appeared in a picture without mugging or overacting it. His name (assumed) was Mickey Rooney, and to a large part of the more articulate U.S. cinema audience, his name was becoming a frequently used synonym for brat.
You weren't going to work, you were going to have fun. It was home, everybody was cohesive; it was family. One year I made nine pictures; I had to go from one set to another. It was like I was on a conveyor belt. You did not read a script and say, "I guess I'll do it."You did it. They had people that knew the kind of stories that were suited to you. It was a conveyor belt that made motion pictures.[38]
Mickey Rooney is the closest thing to a genius that I ever worked with. There was Chaplin, then there was Rooney. The little bastard could do no wrong in my book ... All you had to do with him was rehearse it once.[39]
Rooney's career declined after his return to civilian life. He was now an adult with a height of only 5 feet 1 inch (1.55 m) according to his 1942 draft registration[43] (popularly reported as 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m)[44]), and he could no longer play the role of a teenager, but he also lacked the stature of a leading man. He appeared in the filmWords and Music in 1948, which paired him for the last time with Garland on film (he appeared with her on one episode as a guest onThe Judy Garland Show). He briefly starred in a CBS radio series,Shorty Bell, in the summer of 1948, and reprised his role as Andy Hardy, with most of the original cast, in a syndicated radio version ofThe Hardy Family in 1949 and 1950 (repeated onMutual during 1952).[45]
In 1949,Variety reported a renegotiation of Rooney's deal with MGM. He agreed to make one film a year for them for five years at $25,000 a movie (his fee until then had been $100,000, but Rooney wanted to enter independent production.) Rooney claimed he was unhappy with the billing MGM gave him forWords and Music,[46] but his career was at a low point. HisNew York Times obituary reported, "at one point in 1950, the only job he could get was touring Southern states with theHadacol Caravan", promoting a patent medicine that was later forced off the market.[7]
His first television series,The Mickey Rooney Show, also known asHey, Mulligan, was created byBlake Edwards with Rooney as his own producer, and appeared onNBC television for 32 episodes from August 1954 to June 1955.[47] In 1951, he made his directorial debut withMy True Story, starringHelen Walker.[48] Rooney also starred as a ragingly egomaniacal television comedian, in the live 90-minute television dramaThe Comedian, in thePlayhouse 90 series on the evening ofValentine's Day in 1957, and as himself in a 1960revue calledThe Musical Revue of 1959, based on the 1929 filmThe Hollywood Revue of 1929. In May 1956,Sequoia University awarded Rooney an honorary degree of PhD in Fine Arts for his work.[49]
In 1958, Rooney joinedDean Martin andFrank Sinatra in hosting an episode of NBC's short-livedClub Oasis comedy and variety show. In 1960, Rooney directed and starred inThe Private Lives of Adam and Eve, an ambitious comedy known for its multiple flashbacks and many cameos. In the 1960s, Rooney returned to theatrical entertainment. He accepted film roles in undistinguished films, but still appeared in better works, such asRequiem for a Heavyweight (1962) andIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
He portrayed a Japanese character,Mr. Yunioshi, in the1961 film version ofTruman Capote's novellaBreakfast at Tiffany's. When his performance was criticized by some in subsequent years as a racist caricature,[50][51] Rooney contended that he would not have taken the role if he had known it would offend people.[52]
In 1961, Rooney appeared on television'sWhat's My Line?, and mentioned that he had already started enrolling students in the Mickey Rooney School of Entertainment. His school venture never came to fruition. This was a period of professional distress for Rooney; as a childhood friend, directorRichard Quine put it: "Let's face it. It wasn't all that easy to find roles for a 5-foot-3 man who'd passed the age of Andy Hardy."[53] In 1962, although he had earned $12 million by that point, his debts and multiple divorces had forced him into filing for bankruptcy.[54][55]
In 1966, Rooney was working on the filmAmbush Bay in the Philippines when his wife Barbara Ann Thomason—a former model and aspiring actress who had won 17 straight beauty contests in Southern California—was found dead in her bed in Los Angeles. Her lover,Milos Milos—who was one of Rooney's actor-friends—was found dead beside her. Detectives ruled it amurder-suicide, which was committed with Rooney's own gun.[56]
Francis Ford Coppola had bought the rights to makeThe Black Stallion (1979), and when casting it, he called Rooney and asked him if he thought he could play a jockey. Rooney replied saying, "Gee, I don't know. I never played a jockey before." He was kidding, he said, since he had played a jockey in at least three past films, includingDown the Stretch,Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, andNational Velvet.[57] The film garnered excellent reviews and earned $40 million in its first run, which gave Coppola's struggling studio,American Zoetrope, a significant boost. It also gave Rooney newfound recognition, along with an Academy Award nomination forBest Supporting Actor.[58]
In 1963, he entered CBS'sThe Twilight Zone,[68] giving a one-man performance in the episode "The Last Night of a Jockey" (1963).[65] Also in 1963, in 'The Hunt' forSuspense Theater,[65] he played the sadistic sheriff hunting the young surfer played byJames Caan. In 1964, he launched another half-hour sitcom,Mickey. The story line had "Mickey" operating a resort hotel in Southern California. His own sonTim Rooney appeared as his character's teenaged son on this program, andEmmaline Henry starred as Rooney's wife. The program lasted for 17 episodes.[53]
Rooney garnered aGolden Globe and anEmmy Award forOutstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his role in 1981'sBill. Playing oppositeDennis Quaid, Rooney's character was a mentally handicapped man attempting to live on his own after leaving an institution. His acting quality in the film has been favorably compared to other actors who took on similar roles, includingSean Penn,Dustin Hoffman, andTom Hanks.[70] He reprised his role in 1983'sBill: On His Own, earning an Emmy nomination for the turn. He appeared on "The Love Boat" S6 E11 "A Christmas Presence" as Angelorum Dominicus (a guardian angel character). His wife Jan Rooney played Sister Bernadette, a nun with a beautiful singing voice. The episode aired on December 18, 1982.
After starring in one unsuccessful TV series and turning down an offer for a huge TV series, Rooney, now 70, starred inthe Family Channel'sThe Adventures of the Black Stallion, where he reprised his role as Henry Dailey in the film of the same name, 11 years earlier.[67] The series ran for three years and was an international hit.[72]
Rooney appeared in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company in 2002.[73]
A major turning point came in 1979, when Rooney made hisBroadway debut in the acclaimed stage playSugar Babies, amusical revue tribute to theburlesque era co-starring former MGM dancing starAnn Miller.Aljean Harmetz noted, "Mr. Rooney fought over every skit and argued over every song and almost always got things done his way. The show opened on Broadway on October 8, 1979, to rave reviews, and this time he did not throw success away.[7] Rooney and Miller performed the show 1,208 times in New York and then toured with it for five years, including eight months in London.[74] Co-star Miller recalls that Rooney "never missed a performance or a chance to ad-lib or read the lines the same way twice, if he even stuck to the script".[54] Biographer Alvin Marill states, "at 59, Mickey Rooney was reincarnated as a baggy-pants comedian—back as a top banana in show biz in his belated Broadway debut."[54] For his performance, Rooney received nominations forTony Award andDrama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
Mickey Rooney speaks atthe Pentagon in 2000 during a ceremony honoring theUSO
Rooney wrote a memoir titledLife Is too Short, published byVillard Books in 1991. ALibrary Journal review said, "From title to the last line, 'I'll have a short bier', Rooney's self-deprecating humor powers this book." He wrote a novel about a child star, published in 1994,The Search for Sonny Skies.[80] On November 10, 2000, he starred in the Disney Channel original moviePhantom of the Megaplex.
Despite the millions of dollars that he earned over the years, such as his $65,000-a-week earnings fromSugar Babies, Rooney was plagued by financial problems late in life. His longtime gambling habit caused him to "gamble away his fortune again and again". He declared bankruptcy for the second time in 1996 and described himself as "broke" in 2005. He kept performing on stage and in the movies, but his personal property was valued at only $18,000 when he died in 2014.[81]
Rooney and his wife Jan toured the country in 2005 through 2011 in a musicalrevue calledLet's Put on a Show.Vanity Fair called it "a homespun affair full of dog-eared jokes" that featured Rooney singingGeorge Gershwin songs.[3]
On May 26, 2007, Rooney was grand marshal at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. He made his Britishpantomime debut, playing Baron Hardup inCinderella, at theSunderland Empire Theatre over the 2007 Christmas period,[84][85] a role he reprised at Bristol Hippodrome in 2008 and at the Milton Keynes theater in 2009.[86]
In 2011, Rooney made a cameo appearance inThe Muppets, and in 2014, at age 93, six weeks before his death, he reprised his role as Gus inNight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, which was dedicated toRobin Williams, who also died that year, and to him.[87] Although reliant on a wheelchair, he was described by directorShawn Levy as "energetic and so pleased to be there. He was just happy to be invited to the party."[82]
An October 2015 article inThe Hollywood Reporter maintained that Rooney was frequently abused and financially depleted by his closest relatives in the last years of his life. The article said that it was clear that "one of the biggest stars of all time, who remained aloft longer than anyone in Hollywood history, was in the end brought down by those closest to him. He died humiliated and betrayed, nearly broke, and often broken."[4]
Rooney and his wife Jan at a Beverly Hills military concert in 2000
At the time of his death (April 6, 2014), Rooney was married to his eighth wife, Jan Chamberlin Rooney, although they had separated in June 2012.[88] He had nine children and two stepchildren, as well as 19 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.[89][90]
Rooney hadbipolar disorder and had attempted suicide two or three times over the years, with resulting hospitalizations reported as "nervous breakdowns".[4] He also had been addicted to sleeping pills, and overcame the addiction in 2000 when he was in his late 70s.[3] In February 1997, he was arrested on suspicion of beating his wife, Jan, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.[91]
In the late 1970s, Rooney became a born-again Christian and was a fan ofPat Robertson.[92]
Rooney in 2006
On February 16, 2011, Rooney was granted a temporary restraining order against his stepson Christopher Aber and Aber's wife Christina, and they were ordered to stay 100 yards from Rooney, his stepson Mark Rooney, and Mark's wife Charlene.[93][94] Rooney claimed that he was a victim ofelder abuse.[95] 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.[93] In 2011, all of Rooney's finances were permanently handed over to a conservator,[96] who called Rooney "completely competent".[95]
In April 2011, the temporary restraining order that Rooney was previously granted was replaced by a confidential settlement between Rooney and Aber.[97] Aber and Jan Rooney denied all the allegations.[98][99]
In May 2013, Rooney sold his home of many years, reportedly for $1.3 million, and split the proceeds with his wife, Jan.[13][100]
Rooney was married eight times, with six of the unions ending in divorce; his eighth and final marriage lasted longer than the previous seven put together. During the 1960s and 1970s he was often the subject of comedians' jokes over his apparent inability to stay married. In 1942, he married his first wife, actressAva Gardner, who at that time was still an obscure teenaged starlet. They divorced the following year, partly because of his alleged infidelity.[4] While stationed in the military in Alabama in 1944, Rooney met and married Betty Jane Phillips, who later became a singer under the nameB. J. 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 actressMartha Vickers in 1949 produced one son, but ended in divorce in 1951. He married actressElaine Mahnken in 1952, and they divorced in 1958.[89][90]
In 1958, Rooney married model and actress Barbara Ann Thomason (stage name Carolyn Mitchell), they had four children. She was murdered in 1966 by stuntman and actorMilos Milos (at the time bodyguard for French actorAlain Delon) who then shot himself. Thomason and Milos had an affair while Rooney was traveling, and police theorized that Milos had shot her after she wanted to end it.[101] Rooney then married Barbara's best friend, Marge Lane, though the marriage lasted only 100 days. He was married to Carolyn Hockett from 1969 to 1975; they had two children.[89] In 1978, he married his eighth and final wife, Jan Chamberlin. Their marriage lasted until his death, a total of 34 years (longer than his seven previous unions combined). However, they separated in 2012.[88]
Grave and Crypt of Mickey Rooney at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Rooney died ofnatural causes (including complications fromdiabetes) inStudio City, Los Angeles, California, on April 6, 2014,[103] at the age of 93.[104] A group of family members and friends, includingMickey Rourke, held a memorial service on April 18. A private funeral, organized by another set of family members, was held atHollywood Forever Cemetery, where he was interred, on April 19. His eight surviving children said in a statement that they were barred from seeing Rooney during his final years.[105][106][107]
At his death,Vanity Fair called Rooney "the original Hollywood train wreck".[3] Despite earning millions during his career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1962 due to mismanagement of his finances. In his later years, Rooney had entrusted his finances to his stepson, who funneled Rooney's earnings to pay for his own lavish lifestyle. His millions in earnings had dwindled to an estate that was valued at only $18,000. He died owing medical bills and back taxes, and contributions were solicited from the public.[108][109]
Rooney was one of the last surviving actors of the silent-film era. His film career spanned 88 years, from 1926 to 2014, continuing until shortly before his death. During his peak years from the late 1930s to the early 1940s, Rooney was among the top box-office stars in the United States,[110] and in 1939 wasthe biggest box-office draw, followed immediately byTyrone Power.[111]
He made 43 films between the ages of 15 and 25. Among those, his role as Andy Hardy became one of "Hollywood's best-loved characters," withMarlon Brando calling him "the best actor in films".[23]
"There was nothing he couldn't do," said actressMargaret O'Brien.[110] MGM boss Louis B. Mayer treated him like a son and saw in Rooney "the embodiment of the amiable American boy who stands for family, humbug, and sentiment," wrote critic and authorDavid Thomson.[112]
By the time Rooney was 20, his consistent portrayals of characters with youth and energy suggested that his future success was unlimited. Thomson also explains that Rooney's characters were able to cover a wide range of emotional types, and gives three examples where "Rooney is not just an actor of genius, but an artist able to maintain a stylized commentary on the demon impulse of the small, belligerent man:"[112]
Rooney's Puck inA Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) is truly inhuman, one of cinema's most arresting pieces of magic. ... His toughie inBoys Town (1938) struts and bullies like something out of a nightmare and then comes clean in a grotesque but utterly frank outburst of sentimentality in which he aspires to the boy community ... His role asBaby Face Nelson (1957), the manic, destructive response of the runt against a pig society.[112]
By the end of the 1940s, Rooney was no longer in demand, and his career declined. "In 1938," he said, "I starred in eight pictures. In 1948 and 1949 together, I starred in only three."[61] Film historianJeanine Basinger observed while his career "reached the heights and plunged to the depths, Rooney kept on working and growing, the mark of a professional." Some of the films that reinvigorated his profile wereRequiem for a Heavyweight (1962),It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), andThe Black Stallion (1979). In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway inSugar Babies, and "found himself once more back on top".[61]
Basinger tries to encapsulate Rooney's career:
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.[61]
^The film was long believed lost, but in 2014 was reported found in the Netherlands.[16]
^The Mickey McGuire films were adapted from theToonerville Trolley comic strip, which contained a character named Mickey McGuire. Joe Yule briefly became Mickey McGuire legally to "trump an attempted copyright lawsuit so the film producer Larry Darmour would not have to pay the comic-strip writers royalties". His mother also changed her surname to McGuire in an attempt to bolster the argument, but the film producers lost. The litigation settlement awarded damages to the owners of the cartoon character, compelling the 12-year-old actor to refrain from calling himself Mickey McGuire on- and off-screen.[17][18] During an interruption in the series in 1932, Mrs. Yule made plans to take her son on a 10-week vaudeville tour as McGuire, and Fox sued successfully to stop him from using the name. Mrs. Yule suggested the stage name of Mickey Looney for her comedian son. He altered this to Rooney, which did not infringe upon the copyright ofWarner Bros.' animation series calledLooney Tunes.[15]
^"Mickey Rooney's Own Story".The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 29, no. 1, 470. South Australia. July 27, 1940. p. 5 (Magazine Section). RetrievedOctober 13, 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"11th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. RetrievedJuly 6, 2011.
^Branagh, Kenneth (2009).1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (Movie).Turner Classic Movies.By 1939, [Rooney] was the top box-office star in the world, a title he held for three consecutive years.
^"Young Tom Edison (1940)".Turner Classic Movies. RetrievedSeptember 16, 2013.Time put Rooney on the cover, noting that his movies had grossed a whopping $30 million for MGM the previous year and praising him for 'his most sober and restrained performance to date' as young Edison, 'who (like himself) began at the bottom of the American heap, (like himself) had to struggle, (like himself) won, but a boy whose main activity (unlike Mickey's) was investigating, inventing, thinking.'
^"Cinema: Success Story".Time. March 18, 1940. RetrievedSeptember 16, 2013.Hollywood's No. 1 box office bait in 1939 was notClark Gable,Errol Flynn, orTyrone Power, but a rope-haired, kazoo-voiced kid with a comic-strip face, who until this week had never appeared in a picture without mugging or overacting it. His name (assumed) was Mickey Rooney, and to a large part of the more articulate U. S. cinema audience, his name was becoming a frequently used synonym for brat.
^"U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 for Mickey Rooney", February 15, 1942, Ancestry.com. [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011
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