Indeed, it was in the 1970s that Rooney started to turn his prospects around, as he gave up drinking, became a born-again Christian, and married Jan Chamberlain, who remained his wife on through to Rooney's death.īesides netting yet another Oscar nod for Black Stallion (the fourth in his career), Rooney continued to regain more star-power for his song-and-dance work in the Broadway show Sugar Babies, starting in the late 1970s. ![]() ![]() Rooney with Dick Van Dyke and Bill Cobbs in 'Night at the Museum' He also pressed ahead with supporting roles in small screen fare, with a list of performances that includes roles on The Dick Powell Theatre TV series, the original The Fugitive TV show, The Red Skeleton Hour, and the TV Movie The Year Without a Santa Claus. Yunioshi character), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Pete's Dragon, and The Black Stallion (in another Oscar-nominated turn) among several others. Nonetheless, Rooney kept on amassing even more roles to his name throughout the 1960s and '70s, in such films as Breakfast at Tiffany's (with his infamous, but well-meant Mr. He took to gambling as a hobby for some time, while also going through eight different marriages over the course of his life - though, Rooney never expressed regret about being wed so many times, having said (read: his wives) "I loved every one of them." Hardy, like McGuire, was constantly landing in hot water for his comical misdeeds, before he would learn a valuable lesson and change his misbehaving ways (until the next film, anyway).Įventually the whirlwind nature of Rooney's commitment to entertaining the masses and his sky-rocket jump to stardom, coupled with his plunge in box office popularity during the second half of the 20th century, took its toll on his personal life in a bad way. That was not long after he began portraying the character of Andrew Hardy in 1937 with A Family Affair, before playing the role in more than 15 movies total. Rooney took on additional work during his tenure playing McGuire, such as voicing Walt Disney's pre-Mickey Mouse cartoon creation Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in a handful of shorts and headlining The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a few years later in 1939. That devotion to irreverent entertainment, yet being armed with a social conscience and big ol' heart of gold within the rough edges, would go on to define a good chunk of Rooney's career-work over the many, many years ahead. ![]() McGuire was a street-wise kid who caused much in the way of mischief (often involving babysitting his younger brother), though in later years the character became a hero of sorts, often helping the down-trodden and less fortunate people. He thereafter began playing the character who would come to be known as Mickey McGuire in the 1927 short comedy "Mickey's Circus", before Rooney would reprise as the silent-film era character more than 50 times over the subsequent decade.
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