Mickey Rooney, one of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has passed away at age 93. His first screen credit came as a six year old in 1926 and he continued to work for his entire life, recently shooting footage for the upcoming Night at the Museum 3. In his heyday he was the star of 15 Andy Hardy films in which he played the titular All-American teenager. He was the first teenager nominated for an Oscar for a leading role, and from 1939 to 1941 he was Hollywood’s biggest draw. He and fellow teen star Judy Garland were partnered in films nine different times. Though best remembered for his boy-next-door roles as a youth, Rooney had many powerful dramatic roles in his lifetime, including his role as a tough kid in Boys Town, and much later for his acclaimed work as a developmentally disabled man learning to live on his own in his Emmy Award-winning role in Billy, a made-for-TV movie from 1982.
His cherubic, genial persona belied a tumultuous personal life which included eight marriages and bouts with depression and the bottle. But on some level the public he never stopped seeing that All-American boy, and for the past few decades he became a beloved representative of Classic Hollywood.
Learn more about the life of Mickey Rooney from the Los Angeles Times excellent obituary:
Mickey Rooney, a celebrated child actor who embodied the All-American boy in the “Andy Hardy” films of the 1930s and ’40s and became one of the era’s top box-office draws, has died. He was 93.
Rooney, whose roller-coaster show-business career was marked by an often-turbulent personal life, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith and the Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirmed his death.