Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, producer and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, he appeared in more than 300 films and was one of the last surviving stars of the silent film era. At the height of a career that was marked by precipitous declines and raging comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 15 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized American family values. A versatile performer, he
Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. contracting tuberculosis, a disease that would claim the life of his sister, Florence Olivia, in 1914. After falling ill, Cotter Jr. returned to Louisville and began work as a journalist for the "Leader". Cotter Jr. avoided mimicking the style of his father and instead "experimented with free and, in "Rain Music", rhythmic styles. His father was instrumental in promoting his son's work after his death in 1920 from tuberculosis. He was said by many to have had the potential to be the greatest poet of his generation. Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr. (September 2, 1895- February 3,