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Actor Mickey Rooney Jr. passed away on July 16 at the age of 77. The news was revealed on social media by his friend and actor Paul Petersen, who wrote,
“Mickey Junior was tall and talented. He could sing, dance and act…and get in trouble. Mickey Junior was the personification of ‘damaged goods.’ He gave all he could.”
Rooney Jr.’s cause of death has not been revealed until now and further details on his funeral are still awaited.
Everything known about Mickey Rooney Jr.
Born on July 3, 1945, Mickey Rooney Jr. was the eldest son of actor Mickey Rooney. He played with Willie Nelson in bands and appeared with him in Honeysuckle Rose and Songwriter. Rooney played minor roles in Hot Rods to Hell in 1966 and Beyond the Bermuda Triangle in 1975.
Mickey and his brother Tim were cast in ABC’s The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955. He appeared in a few episodes before they were removed due to their misbehavior in the Disney paint department.
Mickey was an expert in guitar, keyboard, bass, drums, and harmonica. While speaking in an interview in 2001, he said,
“My grandmother, Nanny Rase, had a ukulele. When I was 11 years old, she asked if I would like her to show me some chords. I could play the chords she showed me. I put those chords to use on a classical guitar, and I was hooked.”
Rooney Jr. recorded songs during the 60s like The Wandering Wind, The Choice Is Yours and It Certainly Ain’t a Nice Thing. He was then seen on the ABC show, Shindig! and played with his brothers in a band.
Mickey also struggled with drug and alcohol addictions that affected him a lot and he later stopped smoking.
Paul Petersen has also launched a GoFundMe page in collaboration with his nonprofit organization, A Minor Consideration.
He wrote on the page,
“I was born on the same day as Mickey’s father and ‘The Mic’ gave me, unsolicited mind you, the most useful advice I ever got. It is one of my greatest sorrows that he didn’t do the same for his son. Mickey Rooney Junior. Rest In Peace at last.”
Rooney Jr. came from a family where almost every member was talented. While his father was an actor, his mother Betty Jane Baker was a singer, songwriter, and vocal contractor. At the same time, his brother Tim Rooney was also an actor and his half-brother Michael Joseph Rooney is a choreographer.
Netizens pay tribute on Twitter
Mickey Rooney Jr. gained recognition in all these years as a talented actor. Twitter was flooded with tributes when people heard about his demise:
People on Twitter shared pictures of Rooney and as they paid tributes to him and some people even shared their memories of him.
He first married model and actress Merci Montello and then Laura Hollander in 1986. Hollander passed away in 2006.
