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R.I.P. – Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)

Mickey Rooney

Acting icon and screen legend Mickey Rooney died today. He was 93. You may be asking why this diminutive actor is being memorialized here at Horror Society. While Mickey Rooney was much better known for his hundreds of film and TV roles in his eight decades in Hollywood, he also had brushes with the horror genre on several occasions. You may remember Rooney from his famous roles in the films “Boys Town,” “National Velvet,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and so many more, but horror fans will remember him in the films “Francis in the Haunted House,” “Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker,” “Phantom of the Megaplex,” “The Voices from Beyond.” Rooney appeared in the TV shows “Twilight Zone,” and “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery.” Rooney was also in the middle of filming the horror film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” when he passed away.

According to Variety, Mickey Rooney, the pint-sized actor who was one of MGM’s giant box office attractions in the late ’30s and early ’40s, died on Sunday. He was 93.

As adept at comedy as drama and an excellent singer and dancer, Rooney was regarded as the consummate entertainer. During a prolific career on stage and screen that spanned eight decades (“I’ve been working all my life, but it seems longer,” he once said), he was nominated for four Academy Awards and received two special Oscars, the Juvenile Award in 1939 (shared with Deanna Durbin) and one in 1983 for his body of work.

He also appeared on series and TV and in made for television movies, one of which, “Bill,” the touching story of a mentally challenged man, won him an Emmy. He was Emmy nominated three other times. And for “Sugar Babies,” a musical revue in which he starred with Ann Miller, he was nominated for a Tony in 1980.

Fans may also remember Rooney for his voice portrayals of Santa Claus in the beloved Rankin Bass animated holiday specials. Rooney did the voices for four Christmas TV animated/stop action specials over the years. He played Santa in “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (1970), “The Year Without a Santa Claus” (1974), “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July” (1979) and “A Miser Brothers’ Christmas” (2008) and also played St. Nick in a 1982 episode of “The Love Boat.”

Mickey Rooney is survived by wife Jan Chamberlin, a singer he married in 1978; son Mickey Rooney Jr. from his marriage to singer Betty Jane Rase; son Theodore Michael Rooney from his marriage to actress Martha Vickers; daughters Kelly Ann Rooney, Kerry Rooney and Kimmy Sue Rooney and son Michael Joseph Rooney from his marriage to Barbara Ann Thomason; and daughter Jonelle Rooney and adopted son Jimmy Rooney from his marriage to Carolyn Hockett.

We here at Horror Society would like to offer our sincere condolences to Mr. Rooney’s family and friends. Mickey, you will be missed but your acting legacy will be with us forever!

 

 

 

Michael Juvinall

I am a Horror journalist, producer, ravenous Horror fiend, aficionado of the classic Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, Werewolves, and all things Horror.

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