In the film 78 year old Mickey Rooney stars as a clown with a circus monkey act.

ABOUT MICKEY ROONEY
His Spiritual Side.

The honorary Oscar® is one of the industry’s highest awards, seldom given and, then only to legends. Past recipients include Charlie Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda and Sir Laurence Olivier. In 1983, it was given to Mickey Rooney (Fugly Floom).

September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, son of performers Joe Yule and Nell Carter, Mickey (he became Rooney when he was 12) made his film debut at two as a midget in Not To Be Trusted. A year later, he became Mickey McGuire for a series of 78 short film comedies.

In the late 1930s he signed with MGM and from 1938-1940, he was the world’s number one box office star. In 1939, he won an Oscar® for his work in Boy’s Town with Spencer Tracy and the Andy Hardy series. That same year he did his first musical with Judy Garland, Babes In Arms, which earned him an Oscar® nomination as Best Actor. He then starred with Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet before joining the Army.

After the war, Rooney set about rebuilding his career and he shone in such films as The Bridges at Toko-Ri and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, as well as on TV and in night clubs. His list of film credits contains more than 100 titles. The Bold and The Brave and The Black Stallion brought him two more Oscar® nominations.

On TV, he received an Emmy nomination for The Comedian and won the Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Awards for his performance as Bill Sechter in Bill.

In 1979, he starred on stage in Sugar Babies, which ran on Broadway for three years and on the road for an additional five, continuing on to London’s West End. In 1989, he toured with Donald O’Connor in Two For The Show and, the next year, in Sunshine Boys.

In 1991, his autobiography, Life Is Too Short was published. Since then, he’s divided his time fairly evenly between the stage: Will Rogers Follies, Lend Me A Tenor and The Wizard of Oz; TV: The Adventures of the Black Stallion series, and films: The Milky Life and My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.

1998 marks the 25th anniversary of his marriage to singer Jan Chamberlain.

What does he think of his amazing life in show business? "It's fun, absolute fun. I don't know many people who are fortunate enough to be in a business like that."  That business has also dished out a large serving of turmoil: an addiction to barbiturates; eight wives, one of whom was murdered; the death of Judy Garland, one of his closest friends; and numerous financial hard times. At his lowest point, Rooney had an experience that reads as imaginatively as a movie script but which, he avows, changed his life. At a Lake Tahoe casino coffee shop over breakfast, Rooney was greeted by a busboy with "blond curls, a white-rose complexion, and shining teeth." When the man called his name, Rooney started to stand, thinking he had a telephone call. But the busboy leaned toward him and whispered in his ear, "Mr. Rooney, Jesus Christ loves you very much." Then he left. Minutes later, Rooney looked for the busboy, but nobody knew of one who met Rooney's description and he was nowhere to be found.

    Rooney is an unabashed Christian. "I've given my life to God, and I try and do the right thing, but inevitably, and unfortunately, I do the wrong thing." Says the comedian, "I suffer from being human." The man of many marriages has now found two everlasting relationships: God and his eighth wife, singer and songwriter Jan Chamberlin.   She's smart and she sings-"the greatest in the world," boasts Rooney. "She has a lot of charities that she gives to for animals. One's called ARF (Animal's Rights Foundation). Arf, arf, arf," Rooney barks with glee, sending himself into laughter. He is also an animal lover, and the two currently share a home with six birds and three dogs, the latter named Theda Bara, Gloria Swanson, and Angel. A dog they used to have was called Judy Garland. "The fact is," Rooney chuckles, "our pets allow us to live in the house." Next to God, his wife, and animals, what Rooney loves most is an audience. "I'm very, very proud to have been given the opportunity to perform...and I hope I'll be allowed a few more years-many years-to  continue my work. It is tremendous fun. Not everybody's going to love Mickey Rooney," he laughs. "That's an impossibility. But I know this: I've done my best and I will continue to do so."