Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)

Rooney in 1945.

Rooney in 1945.

Mickey Rooney: American actor, died April 6, aged 93. He made his screen debut in 1926 and genre appearances include The Atomic Kid (1954), the 1963 Twilight Zone episode “The Last Night of a Jockey,” Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (“Rare Objects,” 1972), Journey Back to Oz (1974), Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989, adapted from Windsor McCay’s classic newspaper strip), Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991), The Magic Voyage (1992), the 1997 tv series Kleo the Misfit Unicorn, Sinbad: the Battle of the Dark Knights and Babe: Pig in the City (both 1998), The Happy Elf (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), The Muppets (2011), The Voices From Beyond (2012).

Rooney as Puck in 1935.

Rooney as Puck in 1935.

As a teenager he appeared as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Warner Brothers. The shooting schedule had to be rearranged after he broke his leg in a skiing accident. According to Rooney’s memoirs, Jack Warner was furious and threatened to kill him and then break his other leg…

His career lasted more than 80 years. Indeed, Rooney was filming a new version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the time of his death.

[Thanks to Steve Green for the story.]