Mickey Rooney Jr, an original Mouseketeer, actor, and musician who was the eldest of screen legend Mickey Rooney’s children, died Saturday at his home in Glendale, Arizona. He was 77 years old. Chrissie Brown said that he died from a cause unknown to THR and that he had been battling cancer for about two months.
Over the weekend, fellow Mouseketeer Paul Peterson paid tribute to Rooney in a Facebook post.”I first met Mickey, the oldest of nine siblings sired by his famous father when he and Timmy were hired by Disney to be Mouseketeers in 1955,” he wrote. “Mickey Junior was tall and talented. He could sing, dance and act…and get in trouble. We three were fired for Conduct Unbecoming a Mouse! Mickey Junior was the personification of ‘damaged goods.’ He gave all he could.”
In 1955, the eight-year-old Rooney was discovered by The Mickey Mouse Club while he and his brother Tim were still in junior high school. They only worked on the program for a little while before being let go. After that, Rooney made a name for himself as a musician.
In addition to his musical abilities, he also played the harmonica and drums. He was a member of bands with Willie Nelson and played the guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, and harmonica. He made appearances in films such as Honeysuckle Rose and Songwriter. Rooney recorded songs such as “The Wandering Wind,” “It Certainly Ain’t A Nice Thing”.
Attentive readers may recall that Brown, while still a teenager, collaborated with Rooney in a number of hit songs, most notably “Since You’ve Been Gone.” Inevitably, it was her personal life that made the headlines. Brown and Rooney dated for around 16 years before finally tying the knot in an intimate ceremony on May 5th. “He was a wonderful man,” she said. “The last 18 years with me and my family, he’s been an angel.”
His dad Mickey Rooney was born on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the most popular and successful actors in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. He became a teen idol in the late 1930s, and continued to be popular into the 1940s. He won an Oscar for his performance in “The Bold and the Brave” (1956). Rooney also appeared in “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “National Velvet” (1944), “The Black Stallion” (1979), and many other films. He died on April 6, 2014 at the age of 93.
In 1920, Mickey Rooney was born in Brooklyn, New York to parents of Irish descent. He was the son of vaudeville performer and comedian Patrick J. Rooney Sr., and his wife Nellie W. (née Carr). His early years were spent touring with his parents in vaudeville shows around the country.
Rooney made his film debut in 1926, appearing in the short film “Not to Be Trusted”. He then appeared in a number of successful films during the 1930s and 1940s, such as “Boys Town” (1938), “Young Tom Edison” (1940), “The Human Comedy” (1943), and “National Velvet” (1944). In 1956, he won an Oscar for his performance in “The Bold and the Brave”.
During his long career, Rooney appeared in over 300 films. He also had a successful television career, appearing in such shows as “The Mickey Mouse Club” (1955-1959) and “General Hospital” (1963-1964).