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 became a celebrated character actor later in his career. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney "the best there has ever been". Clarence Brown, who directed him in two of his earliest dramatic roles, "National Velvet" and "The Human Comedy", said he was "the closest thing to a genius I ever worked with". Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child and made his film debut at the age of six. At 14 he played Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Critic David Thomson hailed his performance as "one of the