Mickey Rooney dead at 93

[redheadbaker]

Mickey Rooney, whose roller-coaster, nine-decade career in show business included vaudeville, silent films, movies, television and Broadway, died Sunday. He was 93.

Rooney died in California, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said.

Rooney's career spanned almost the entire history of motion pictures. He made his first film, the silent "Not to Be Trusted," in 1926 and followed it up with several shorts based on the "Mickey McGuire" comic strip. He was still making movies nine decades later, including "Night at the Museum" (2006) and "The Muppets" (2011).

At the time of his death, he had three more films in the works, according to the Internet Movie Database, including a version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" with Margaret O'Brien.

Rooney had just completed his last movie role in the next installment of "Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller.

"He led a full life but did not have enough time to finish all he had planned to do. He had the time of his life and the utmost respect for the cast and crew," his son Mark Rooney said in a statement to CNN Monday.

He separated from his wife, Jan Chamberlin, two years ago and moved in with his son and his wife, Charlene, according to the statement. "With them he finally found happiness, health and a feeling of safety and was able to enjoy life again."

"Mickey was finally enjoying life as a bachelor, and the morning of his death, they spoke of all their future plans," the statement said. "He loved the business he was in and had a great respect for his fellow actors."

For a period in the 1930s and 1940s, boosted by the popularity of the "Andy Hardy" series of films, Rooney was the No. 1 star in at the box office and perhaps the brightest star at MGM -- a whole studio of "more stars than there are in heaven," as the publicity said. Yet he became as famous for many marriages -- eight, all told -- and his regular tumbles off the Hollywood pedestal as he was for his incredible energy and longevity.

Still, he never stopped getting up.

ttp://www.cnn.com/2014/04/07/showbiz/mickey-rooney-obit/

[laurenpetro]

i love that at 91 he was like, "you know what? i want to be single again!"

[elleblue]

Apr 7, 2014 15:48:37 GMT -5 mockingbird said:

I know this one!

and wow. I liked his segment on 60 minutes growing up.

I think you're thinking of Andy Rooney. He died a few years ago.