April 9, 2014 (Wednesday )
Hollywood legends who were stars in their childhood are growing old and many of them have died. Over the weekend Mickey Rooney died at 93 years of age. He literally spent his life in the entertainment industry.
His show business career began as Joe Yule, Jr. in vaudeville with his parents (Joe Yule from Glasgow, Scotland and Nell Carter from Kansas City, Missouri) when he was 17 months old and he was making movies right up until his final days of life. He was among the last of surviving stars of silent films. He was married eight times, and had separated from his last wife two years ago, after 37 years of marriage. He lived with his son for the remainder of his life.
His fame as an actor was remarkable in that he played many different kinds of characters. A few years ago I saw him as a child in Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He showed a wide variety of emotions in “Boy’s Town,” co-starring with Spencer Tracy. As Andy Hardy, his and Judy Garland’s names together guaranteed that every movie would draw huge crowds. He played the parts of a child, teenager, young adult, middle-aged adult, old adult, and advanced aged adult. One of my favorites was the role of a mentally challenged man in “Bill” in 1981, for which he won significant awards. He could sing, dance, excel in drama, comedy, musicals, you name it.
He claimed to be abused by his stepson, and as a result became an advocate for laws protecting the elderly from abuse, even testifying before a congressional committee in the nation’s capitol.
Some people become institutions in themselves. He was one of them. As the saying goes, “He was a legend in his own time.”