September 23 - Mickey Rooney

On this day, in 1920, Joseph Yule Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York. Known professionally as Mickey Rooney, he made his screen debut at the ripe old age of six in 1927's Orchids and Ermine. 80 years and more than 300 movies later, his final appearance would be in 2017's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In between, Mickey's career had more ups and downs than a courthouse elevator.

As the only child of vaudeville performers, Mickey's destiny was pretty well wrapped up from the moment he was born. Luckily for him, he had the talent to see it through. Laurence Olivier himself once declared that Mickey was "the best there has ever been." He was one of those rare actors who was able to make the transition from silent pictures to talkies. His 15 turns as the character Andy Hardy pushed him to the top of the box office. He was the top attraction, and one of the best paid actors, for three years running, 1939-41.

The onset of World War II would change that. Mickey was drafted into the Army where he spent his service entertaining the troops. His willingness to go into combat zones to raise his fellow soldiers spirits earned him a Bronze Star. But at the end of the war, Mickey returned to Hollywood with a two-fold problem. He was too old to play the teen roles he'd made his career on and he was too short to play leading men. Fortunately, he wasn't too versatile to become the steady and endearing character actor that most of the world came to know and love.

Like many actors of his time, Mickey struggled with alcohol and pill addictions. Whether or not those factored into his eight different marriages is hard to say. He also wasn't good at managing the millions of dollars he'd earned at the height of his career, partly because of he was also addicted to gambling; he filed for bankruptcy in 1962. But no matter what happened to him, Mickey had a resiliency and optimism that gave him comeback after comeback.

In addition to hundreds film roles, Mickey would make hundreds of television appearances. He did everything from The Red Skelton Show to made-for-TV Christmas movies. He also graced the stages of Broadway in shows ranging from A Midsummer Night's Dream to The Sunshine Boys to Showboat.  Along the way he received two Oscars, a Golden Globe and an Emmy and was nominated for a Tony.

Mickey's first role with the Walt Disney Company came in 1977 as Lampie, the Passamaquoddy lighthouse keeper, in Pete's Dragon. Four years later, he would give voice to Tod, the fox of The Fox and the Hound. Two decades later, in 2000, Mickey made a brief appearance in a Disney Channel Original Movie, Phantom of the Megaplex and the following year voiced Sparkey in Lady and the Tramp II. His final cameo for Disney came in 2011, as an Elderly Smalltown Resident near the beginning of The Muppets.

In the end, Mickey's life may have seemed far more down than up. He was reportedly abused by family members, taken advantage of financially and had to declare bankruptcy a second time. Through it all though, he kept exuding energy and boyish charm, at least according to his co-stars of one of his final films, Night at the Museum. On April 6, 2014, Mickey passed away from complications due to diabetes. After a lifetime of amazing work, his net worth was reportedly only $18,000. He was 93.