Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; September 23, 1920 â April 6, 2014) was an American actor, producer, radio entertainer and vaudevillian. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until his death, he appeared in more than 300 films, and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era.[1] He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941,[2] and one of the best-paid actors of that era.[3] At the height of a career marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized mainstream America’s self-image.
Rooney, drafted for military service in World War II, was initially classified as 4-F for high blood pressure. But in 1944 he was drafted into the U.S. Army; he spent the next 21 months entertaining troops and was awarded a Bronze Star for performing in combat zones.
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