Mickey Rooney Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963), and "The Black Stallion" (1979). In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in "Sugar Babies" and again became a celebrated star. Rooney made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows, and won an Emmy in 1982 plus a Golden Globe for his role in "Bill" (1981). At his death, "Vanity Fair" called him "the original Hollywood train wreck". He struggled with alcohol and pill addiction. Ava Gardner was his first wife, and he would go on to marry an additional seven times. Despite earning millions during his career, he
Mickey Rooney "What's My Line" and mentioned that he had already started enrolling students in the MRSE (Mickey Rooney School of Entertainment). His school venture never came to fruition. This was a period of professional distress for Rooney; as a childhood friend, director Richard Quine put it: "Let's face it. It wasn't all that easy to find roles for a 5-foot-3 man who'd passed the age of Andy Hardy." In 1962, his debts had forced him into filing for bankruptcy. In 1966, Rooney was working on the film "Ambush Bay" in the Philippines when his wife Barbara Ann Thomason— a former model