Mickey Rooney (September 23th, 1920 – April 6th, 2014) was an American actor whose career spanned for nearly nine decades He appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era. He was also the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930's and 1940's that epitomized the mainstream United States self-image. At the peak of his career between ages 15 and 25, he made 43 films, and was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most consistently successful actors. A versatile performer, he became a celebrated character actor later in his career. Teaming up with Judy Garland, Rooney also appeared in a string of musicals, including Babes in Arms (1939), Strike up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), and Girl Crazy (1943). At only 19, Rooney became the second-youngest Best Actor in a Leading Role nominee and the first teenager to be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Mickey Moran in 1939 film adaptation of coming-of-age Broadway musical Babes in Arms. Later on, Rooney's career was renewed with well-received supporting roles in films such as The Bold and the Brave (1956), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Pete's Dragon (1977), and The Black Stallion (1979). Rooney would then receive Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1957 for The Bold and the Brave, and 1980 for The Black Stallion. In the early 1980's, he returned to Broadway in Sugar Babies, a role that earned him nominations for Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. In that same decade, he won a Golden Globe Award in 1982 and an Emmy Award in the same year for the title role in a television movie Bill and was awarded the Academy Honorary Award also in 1982. He made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows as well as his final movie appearances in two of the Night at the Museum films (2006, 2014) with Ben Stiller and The Muppets (2011) with Amy Adams and Jason Segel.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
The legendary Mickey Rooney with his wife Jan Rooney only appeared at the 1979 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the classic Thanksgiving Turkey float and together they sung, "Silver Bells".