Mickey Rooney

About Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr. on September 23, 1920), is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television and stage appearances span his lifetime. During his career, he has multiple awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award.

Rooney was born in Brooklyn, New York to a vaudeville family. His father, Joseph Yule, was from Scotland, and his mother, Nellie W. Carter, was from Kansas City, Missouri. Both parents were in vaudeville, and appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl when Joseph, Jr. was born. He began performing at the age of fifteen months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.

The Yules separated in 1924 during a slump in vaudeville, and in 1925, Nell Yule moved with her son to Hollywood, where she managed a tourist home. Fontaine Fox had placed a newspaper ad for a dark haired child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films, and, lacking the money to have her son's hair dyed, Mrs. Yule took her son to the audition after applying burnt cork to his scalp. Joe got the role and became "Mickey" for 78 of the comedies, running from 1927 to 1936, starting with Mickey's Circus, released September 4, 1927. These had been adapted from the Toonerville Trolley comic strip, which contained a character named Mickey McGuire. Joe Yule briefly legally became Mickey McGuire to trump an attempted copyright lawsuit (as it was his legal name, the movie producers did not owe the comic strip writers royalties).