September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014
I’ve been stealing scenes all my life.
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Mickey Rooney’s daughter, Kelly. This is what she had to say.
Mickey Rooney died in this house.
Thank you, Christine Davis!
Mickey’s Death Certificate, courtesy of Kevin Hassell.
This is Mickey Rooney in his casket.
The last photograph.
Thank you to my friend.
Mickey is buried in a prominent spot at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
This glorious arrangement is now in Dearly Departed Tours, preserved for all.
Wanna see his mailbox?
Dingy Bell in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”…hilarious
Loved his work but he was hard to take in later years. Seemed very gruff, rude, and full of himself in interviews.
may you rest in peace mickey rooney
Was he really an asshole like Alan Sues of Laugh-In implied? (He didn’t remember him from 20 years ago and told him to “move on”?) Or he almost got into a fistfight with Shelly Winters over Rudolph’s Christmas in July? Sounds like he had some anger management issues?
The video content isn’t there anymore? Anyone have another link or know what the daughter had to say?
Thanks for the heads up! I fixed the link
Aww – come on! Where’s the good, funny snarky stuff? The delicious details? The daughter has her say but DISH already!
I would rather Scott not do these interviews with the relatives if he’s going to compromise his content like this. Why even include Mickey Rooney at all.
Because his whole website is about the deaths of famous people. Is Mickey Rooney dead? Yes. So he has a page on here. He hates “Uncle Miltie” but he has a page on him too.
Here you go on stuff I remember reading:
Mickey was a tightwad &, apparently, it was standard procedure, as if it was the most normal “game” in the world, would stiff anyone he could. Recall more than one blurb of him “forgetting his wallet” when it came time to pay in his local Westlake Village neighborhood, multiple times visited, restaurants! He was notorious locally for this habit.
Ditto for anyone wanting an interview from him. Remember reading of one at a local five star hotel (Westlake Village is a fancy place on the LA/Ventura County border) where Rooney showed up late, red as a lobster, & informed the reporter that his “car had broken down”, he’d taken a taxi to the hotel and – you guessed it – “forgotten his wallet” & would the reporter pay for the taxi! Won’t go in to further detail (which the reporter did) but essentially it was Rooney stuffing as much into his face as fast as possible. Stuff like six iced teas in a row…
Rooney’s cheapness wasn’t based on necessity, read reports he had a SAG pension of six figures & remember when he did “Sugar Babies” on Broadway, cleaned up “big time” financially. Not positive on this, but think he was a “spendthrift” also. Vaguely remember a story during Sugar Babies with a friend relaying something like he got paid $100k in the morning & had five grand left that afternoon!
Why Rooney wasn’t “got rocks” rich was ’cause he was an insanely stupid businessman. Any “get rich quick” business venture brought to him, that he could slap his name on, was a “go”. Google “Mickey Rooney Businesses” & you’ll see what I mean.
I guess “what goes around, comes around”. He didn’t have an easy end:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/mickey-rooneys-final-years-833325/
Just looked it up, Rooney’s “Sugar Babies” income: $75,000 a week.. for FIVE YEARS!!! $19,500,000
Estimated lifetime income: ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. Cash at death: $18,000.