The consummate performer, MICKEY ROONEY made his first stage appearance at the age of one when he crawled out on stage during his parents' vaudeville act. MICKEY was born Joe Yule, Jr., on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, son of well-known performers Joe Yule and Nell Carter.
All of Mickey's eighty three years have been busy. At five, he made his motion picture debut, as is midget in "Not To Be Trusted'. A year later, he became Mickey McGuire for seventy-eight short film comedies based on Fontaine Fox's tough little cartoon character. He outgrew the role at twelve and went on the road taking the name of MICKEY ROONEY.
His motion picture career would encompass such movie classics as "Boys Town", "The Andy Hardy" films, "The Human Comedy", "National Velvet", "Midsummer Night's Dream", his beloved teamings with Judy Garland and more recently, "The Black Stallion'. In his career, he has had multiple Oscar nominations and a Best Actor Emmy for "Bill". MICKEY ROONEY's versatility was proven again during his eight year run in the Broadway smash "Sugar Babies".
In the 1930's, he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for whom he made the famous "Andy Hardy" series. Box office receipts for 1938-1940 made him the number one star in the world. In 1939, he received a special Academy Award® for the film "Boy's Town" with Spencer Tracy and for his work in the Andy Hardy series. This was also the year he made his first major musical with Judy Garland, "Babes in Arms", which earned him an Academy Award® nomination as best actor. It was the first time a juvenile had competed with adult stars for the honor.
The next time he was so honored was in 1943 for his work in "The Human Comedy". It could be said that MICKEY ROONEY made his first "adult" appearance in "National Velvet" with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944, before joining the army. After the war, Rooney set about rebuilding his career He worked on movies such as "The Bridges At Toko-Ri" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" as well as working on television, stage, nightclubs and Las Vegas.
The list of his credits for the past six decades is impressive, containing more than three hundred films, such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Little Lord Fauntleroy", "Captains Courageous", "National Velvet" and The "Twinkle In God's Eye"(directing and composing the film score), He continued to please audiences in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", "Pete's Dragon", "The Bold and the Brave", and "The Black Stallion" again he also received Academy Award® nominations for the latter two films.
MICKEY has also been active in many classic dramas, such as "The Comedian", with famed director John Frankenheimer, earning an Emmy nomination. In 1982, he portrayed Bill Sackter in the television film "Bill" and "Bill On His Own" receiving an Emmy, The Golden Globe, and the Peabody Award for his performance.
In 1979, MICKEY achieved a new triumph, which took him to the cover of "Life" magazine, the starring role in the theatrical production of "Sugar Babies". The show ran successfully on Broadway for three years and had a record breaking eight-year run. In 1988, MICKEY wowed London's West End audiences in "Sugar Babies".
His stage success continued in 1989 when he and Donald O'Connor made a twenty-city tour in "Two For The Show", which they co-wrote. In 1990, they enjoyed similar success, with a thirteen-city tour in Neil Simon's "The Sunshine Boys".
More active than ever, his 1991 schedule included starring in The Family Channel Network's "The Adventures of the Black Stallion" series, the European theatrical feature "The Milky Life", release of "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys", which teamed him with Scott Glenn and Ben Johnson and the publication of his long-awaited autobiography, "Life Is Too Short" by Random House.
During 1993, Mickey starred in the play "Lend Me A Tenor" in Chicago; he also did "The Will Rogers Follies" on Broadway. He taped an episode of "Murder She Wrote" and recently completed the film, "The Legend Of O.B. Taggart" which he also wrote.
In 1995, Mickey revived "Sugar Babies" with Juliette Prowse at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Later that year he was in Toronto, Canada doing "Crazy for You", a stage revival of his 1943 film "Girl Crazy". In 1996 he went to Jordan for the film "Sinbad and the Dark Knights" with Richard Greico and to Moab, Utah for "Animals" with John Tutturro and Tim Roth. 1997 brought him back to Australia to film the sequel to the hit film "Babe" with director George Miller, "Babe, Pig in The City". In 1997 thru 1999 Mickey toured the United States and Canada as "The Wizard" and "Professor Marvel", in Madison Square Gardens' highly acclaimed stage production of "The Wizard Of Oz". In 1998 Mickey and his wife Jan launched a successful tour of "The One Man One Wife Show" in Australia and New Zealand. The show has been a continued success delighting audiences thru out the United States and Europe.
Mickey is also an accomplished musician and can play almost every instrument in an orchestra. As a member of ASCAP, MICKEY has composed numerous pop songs, a symphony and several film scores.
All of his achievements pale, in comparison to what Mickey considers his greatest life achievement. That is Mickey's 25-year marriage to Jan (Chamberlin) Rooney. A stellar talent in her own right, Jan is a multi-faceted Singer, Actress, Songwriter and Abstract Artist. Mickey finds his most fulfilling moments when he performs "The One Man One Wife Show" with Jan and has the opportunity to enjoy her talents with an audience. They remain deeply in love with one another. They currently reside in Ventura County, California. There they enjoy the pleasure and quiet of the country with the other loves of their lives, their two birds. They are both strong Animal Rights Advocates.
