Mickey Rooney (1920-2014): Putting On a Show

English: Studio publicity portrait of Mickey Rooney. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mickey Rooney's most memorable line was "Let's put on a show!".  That he did for eight decades through the stage, the movies, TV and his personal life, until the lights went out on him at age 93.

Rooney was only five foot three, but he was the biggest movie star in Hollywood prior to World War II.  By the time he was 25, Rooney had done the "Andy Hardy" series, musicals with Judy Garland, Shakespeare, and the dramas "Boys Town" with Spencer Tracy and "National Velvet" with Elizabeth Taylor.

After the war ended, Rooney paid the price for his early fame.  His roles had shrunk to supporting status.  MGM dropped him.  His TV sitcoms were short-lived.  He had been partying a bit too much, and had money problems.  He had also been married eight times.

But Rooney always came back.  He had four Oscar nominations, a Tony for the Broadway revue "Sugar Babies" that revived his career, and an Emmy for the lead role in the TV movie "Bill".  More recently, Rooney had appeared in the films "A Night at the Museum" and "The Muppets".  He had just finished his role in a new film, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

Mickey Rooney had seen more of 20th century entertainment than any of us will ever see, and his life had enough ups and downs to make a great biography (indeed, he wrote two autobiographies).  What we won't see is anyone like him again.  So dim the lights.  The show's over.