Thomas, Bob, 352
Thomas, Danny, 318
Thomas, Frankie, 133
Thomason, Barbara Ann (pseud. Carolyn Mitchell; MR’s wife)
acting career, 344
background, 343
funeral, 363
instability/suicide attempts, 344–46
marriage to MR, xiii–xiv, 340, 342, 342, 347, 358–59. See also Rooney, Mickey—MARRIAGES
murdered by Milosevic, 349, 349–50, 352–63, 518
Thomason, Don, 382
Thomason, Helen, 416–17
Thomson, Fred, 46
Thorpe, Jim, 61
Three Stooges, 16–17, 38, 70, 115, 125, 268–69
Todd, David, 112, 144
Tolkin, Mel, 387
Tong, Sammee, 385
Toomey, Regis, 317
Toonerville film series, 44
Toonerville Folks cartoon strip (Fox), 42–44, 46–49
top banana, 16, 22
Torre, Frank, 345
Townley, Jack, 71
Tracy, Spencer, 117–18
in Bad Day at Black Rock, 367
in Boys Town, 117, 160–61
in Captains Courageous, 123
in Edison, the Man, 129
and Hepburn, 149
in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 372, 374
on MR, 3
in Riffraff, 120–21
as a top moneymaker, 185
Treacher, Arthur, 99, 554n18
Treanor, Vincent, 85
Tronitz, Philip, 74
Tronto, Rudy, 438–39, 446, 448
Trumbo, Dalton, 128, 407
Trump, Donald, 319, 421–22, 445, 469, 473, 484–85, 508–9, 518
Tucker, Forrest, 31
Tucker, Sophie, 31
Turner, Lana, 10, 115, 140
affair with MR, 163, 167–68
and Bautzer, 282
in dinner theater, 409
and Gardner, 207
on MR, 160
pregnancies/abortions, 163, 167–69, 216
press coverage, 266
public image, 11
in school with MR, 113–14
and Stompanato, 116, 162–63
suicide attempt, 163
Turner Films, 161
Turpin, Ben, 377
Turtletaub, Saul, 454–55
Universal Studios, 70
U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, 6, 495
Valentino, Rudolph, 512
Valli, Frankie, 408
Van, Bobby, 363, 378, 381, 384, 405, 407, 415
Van Doren, Mamie, 329, 367–68
Van Dyke, Dick, 5, 377, 384–85
Van Dyke, W. S. (“Woody”), 84, 118, 121
Van Patten, Dick, 285
Van Riper, Kay, 132, 138, 141, 151
vaudeville, 30, 63–65, 88–89. See also burlesque
Venable, Evelyn, 90–91
Vickers, Martha (MR’s wife)
in The Big Sleep, 286
birth of Teddy, 303–4
drinking/depression, 300–301, 479
marriage to Andrew Lyles Jr., 286, 288–89
marriage to MR, 7, 203, 287–90. See also Rooney, Mickey—MARRIAGES
and James Stewart, 286
Vitaphone Studios, 39
Wait, Sarah E. (“Sallie”; MR’s grandmother), 18
Wallace, David, 86
Wallace, Jean, 291
Wallace, Mike, 317
Wallis, Minna, 395
Wanamaker, Sam, 453
war bonds, 198, 200, 202
Ward, Pat, 381
Warner, Harry, 94, 98, 103
Warner, Jack, 94–98, 101, 103, 250
Warner Bros., 39, 94–103
Waterman, Willard, 378
Waters, Muddy, 395
Wayne, Jane Ellen, 240
Wayne, John, 184
Webb, Ruth, 418–19, 422–27, 433, 469, 480
Weber, Harry, 63, 70
illness and retirement, 112, 144
MR signs with, 40
role in MR’s First National contract, 41
role in MR’s McGuire contracts, 49, 57
role in MR’s MGM contract, 80, 112
role in MR’s Universal contract, 65, 80–81
Weidler, Virginia, 113
Weingarten, Lawrence, 185–86
Weis, Don, 312
Weiss, Milt, 173–74
Weissberger, Felix, 88–90, 98
Wesson, Dick, 335–36, 387–89
Wesson, Eileen, 335–36, 387–89
Westmore, Perc, 39
Weston, Jack, 386
Whitaker, Alice, 45
White, Jules, 70
White, Pat, 16, 21–22, 26, 28–29, 32, 105
Whiteley, Chris, 110
Whiting, Margaret, 337–38
Whitmore, Annalee, 151
Whorf, Richard (“Dick”), 381, 384
Wickersham, Ella, 167
Wilder, Billy, 279
Wilkerson, Billy, 249–50, 282
Wilkinson, June, 315, 409
William Morris Agency, 144–46, 290–91
Williams, Cara, 279, 386
Williams, Esther, 109, 115, 140, 302
Williams, Percy, 17
Williams, Spencer, 29
Will Morrissey Revue, 63–65
Wills, Chill, 386
Wilson, Carey, 138–39, 182, 210
Wilson, Julie, 286
Wilson, Leonard, 261–62, 264, 268, 270–71, 273–74, 285
Winchell, Walter, 198, 338
Winfrey, Oprah, 277
Winters, Jonathan, 363, 372–74
WMGM (formerly WHN; New York City), 284
Wood, Ed, 313
Woods, Donald, 99
Woolf, Edgar Allen, 94
Worley, Joanne, 489
Wright, Teresa, 463–64
Wyman, Jane, 260–61
Wynn, Ed, 77
Wynter, Dana, 282
Yang, Jeff, 368–69
Yates, Herbert, 322
Yeaman, Elizabeth, 93, 97, 100–101, 132–33, 135, 179
Yorty, Sam, 345
Young, Alan, 292
Young, Loretta, 77, 115
Young, Robert, 118, 316
Yule, Alice (MR’s grandmother), 15–16
Yule, Jimmy (MR’s uncle), 16–17, 23
Yule, Joseph, III. See Rooney, Mickey, Jr.
Yule, Joseph, Jr. (“Sonny”). See Rooney, Mickey
Yule, Joseph, Sr. (“Joe”; MR’s father)
courtship of Nell, 20–21
death, 301
divorce, 33, 40
drinking/womanizing, 23–24, 32–33, 221
marriage to Leota, 301
marriage to Nell, 21, 32–33
military service, 17
on MR’s talents, 26–27
as a performer, 15–17, 22–23, 25–26
on radio, 267, 279
relationship with MR, 28, 31–33, 100–101, 160
Yule, Nellie Willa (née Carter; MR’s mother), 9
birth, 18
on burlesque, 30
death, 353, 404
divorce from Joe, 33, 40
divorce from Wynn Brown, 78–79
drinking, 404
El Ranchita home, 146, 190–91, 293, 296
gambling, 220–21
and Gardner, 181–82, 220–21
income from MR’s acting, 56–57
Joe’s courtship of, 20–21
marriage to Fred Pankey, 135, 145, 181, 235, 255–56
marriage to Joe Yule, 21, 32–33
marriage to Wynn Brown, 41
McGuire, name changed to, 58
motherhood, 24
parties hosted, 253–54
as a performer, 17–19, 23, 35, 37, 64
pregnancy, 22–23
as a prostitute, 37
relationship with MR, 32, 113
restaurant of, 34
as stage mother, 34–38, 40, 46–50, 56–57, 62–65, 75
and Sam Stiefel, 255–56
/>
trust fund for, 146
Yule Brothers (Joe and Jimmy), 16
Zanuck, Darryl, 71
Ziegfeld Follies, 19
Zugsmith, Albert, 329, 338, 367–68
Zukor, Adolph, 45, 60, 94, 142, 250
Gallery Books
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Copyright © 2015 by Richard Lertzman and William J. Birnes
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First Gallery Books hardcover edition October 2015
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Interior design by Renato Stanisic
Jacket design by John Vaito Jr.
Jacket photograph © Silver Screen Collection / Moviepix / Getty Images
Author photograph by Richard A. Lertzman © Diana Lertzman
Author photograph by William J. Birnes is courtesy of author
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lertzman, Richard A.
The life and times of Mickey Rooney / William Birnes and Richard Lertzman.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-5011-0096-3 (hardback)—ISBN 978-1-5011-0098-7(ebook)—ISBN 978-1-5011-0097-0 (paperback)
1. Rooney, Mickey. 2. Actors—United States—Biography. I. Birnes, William J. II. Title.
PN2287.R75B57 2015
791.43028'092—dc23
[B]
2015022042
ISBN 978-1-5011-0096-3
ISBN 978-1-5011-0098-7 (ebook)
The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney Page 62