Description
Book SynopsisA definitive biography of the iconic actor and Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) and his extravagant, sometimes tawdry life, drawing on never-before-seen excerpts from Rooney''s diary and exclusive interviews with Mickey, and with those who knew him best, including his heretofore unknown mistress of sixty years.
I lived like a rock star, said Mickey Rooney. I had all I ever wanted, from Lana Turner and Joan Crawford to every starlet in Hollywood, and then some. They were mine to have. Ava [Gardner] was the best. I screwed up my life. I pissed away millions. I was #1, the biggest star in the world.
Mickey Rooney began his career almost a century ago as a one-year-old performer in burlesque and stamped his mark in vaudeville, silent films, talking films, Broadway, and television. He acted in his final motion picture just weeks before he died at age ninety-three. He was an iconic presence in movies, the poster boy for American youth in the idyllic small-town 1930s
Trade Review"Covers everything...Lertzman and Birnes are deeply and appropriately sympathetic biographers." -- The New York Times
"A definitive biography of Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney...[T]his is a page-turner; many of the people portrayed are long gone, but there's enough tell-all entertainment to keep almost any reader pushing through." -- Publishers Weekly
"Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes have done their homework...If you’re looking for
the definitive book on Mickey Rooney, this is it." -- Bookreporter
"Lertzman and Birnes understand Rooney, presenting him as a colorful American guy who had it all, lost it all, regained it all, but no matter what, never gave up. It’s the story of a true professional, and a great read by anyone’s standards." -- Jeanine Basinger, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, Wesleyan University
