Mickey Rooney died yesterday at the age of 93, and I would strongly recommend that you read his obituary from today's New York Times (linked below) to get the full flavor of the man and the career that he had.
The child of vaudevillians, he first appeared on the stage before the age of two, and he continued to act pretty much until he died. It was a career that spanned over ninety years and included four Academy Awards nominations, an honorary Oscar, five Emmy Award nominations with one win, and he was a Broadway smash in 1983 in "Sugar Babies" at the age of 60. He was Hollywood's Number One box office attraction for several years in a row in the late 1930's.
He was also married eight times, made and lost several fortunes, survived bankruptcy, and had battles with gambling, alcohol and pill addictions. This paragraph from the Times obit sums it up perfectly:
Mr. Rooney’s personal life was as dynamic as his screen presence. He married eight times. He earned $12 million before he was 40 and spent more. Impulsive, recklessly extravagant, mercurial and addicted to playing the ponies and shooting craps, he attacked life as though it were a six-course dinner.
The obit also closes with a quote from Rooney that spells out a pretty good philosophy of life:
For all the ups and downs of Mr. Rooney’s life and career, there was one constant: his love of performing. “Growing up in vaudeville,” he once said, “made me cognizant of the need to have fun at what you’re doing. You can’t get it done well without it being fun. And I’ve never felt that what I do is ‘work.’ ”
Would that we all could say the same.
RIP Mickey Rooney.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/arts/mickey-rooney-master-of-putting-on-a-show-dies-at-93.html?_r=0
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