Hollywood has lost another legend with the death of the perennial Mickey Rooney. Rooney, born Joseph Yule Jr., began his 93-year career almost literally from birth. He was born into vaudeville during the heyday of live entertainment to parents Joseph and Nellie Yule and made his first appearance on stage at 14 months, when he crawled out during a show wearing a harmonica around his neck, according to his autobiography. Three months later he was wearing a tailored tuxedo and was part of the show. He remained in show business up until his death.

Rooney was almost an eternal star in my opinion, rivaling George Burns in longevity if not overshadowing him. Very few stars spend all but one year of their life in front of the lights. Rooney's body of work is quite prolific and touches almost every generation alive today. He appeared on stage, in scores of movies and on television in his career. He has probably outlived most of his elder audiences who would remember his first films when he performed under the name Mickey McGuire.In 1937, he scored his first major character role by portraying Andy Hardy in "A Family Affair." The one-off film ended up being a 13-film series, and he appeared with Judy Garland in three of the films. He and Garland moved on to become a successful song and dance team. He has said she was a part of him his entire life.Rooney was also a World War II veteran, having enlisted to entertain the troops, and was awarded a Bronze Star for traveling into combat zones to entertain the troops. He served in the last two years of the war and traveled throughout America and Europe. When the war ended and he returned to civilian life, he found himself in a slump professionally. He worked throughout the next three decades but had a hard time rising to the heights of his child acting days. While he never really did find a television or radio series to propel him to the heights of his early career, Rooney managed to make a solid career out of character acting and guest starring in television shows like "The Fugitive," "Love Boat" and "Kung Fu."When I was a child, Mickey Rooney created some of my favorite childhood memories by his voice work. I never realized it until I was an adult, but Rooney was the voice of one of my favorite cartoon characters, Santa Claus. Rooney voiced the magical elf in the Rankin-Bass animated productions of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," "The Year Without a Santa Claus," "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July" and in the 2008 special, "The Miser Brothers' Christmas." By doing so, whole new generations of children now know Mickey Rooney in their own special way.His final decades were spent onstage in several theatrical productions and on television as well as some documentaries.Rooney died on Sunday at his home surrounded by his family including his present wife, Jan Chamberlain, and many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Most of us will remember him as a lovable, happy fellow who brought joy to our hearts and leaves behind one of the largest entertainment legacies in Hollywood.On a sidenote, Rooney was married a whopping eight times, which is many times too many for me. I heard on the radio the day after he passed away that he quipped somewhere later in his marital history that one should "Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day." I found in a Reuter's article these other gems as well. "I'm the only man in the world with a marriage license made out to whom it may concern."Rooney's longest marriage was to his last wife, which was about 35 years, although last year they had separated. His shortest marriage was to Ava Gardner, which appeared to last about one year. He managed to stay married to two women for eight years and one for six, but the others lasted less than five years. The most children he had to one wife were with Barbara Ann Thomason. He had four of his nine children with her.In the end, Rooney was one of the rare few in Hollywood that was a legend in his own right.He won four Academy Awards, five Emmy awards and two Golden Globes. There is no denying that he was one of the greats, and I am sure I am one of the many who wishes him well on that stage in the great beyond. Goodbye, Mickey, may you rest in peace as you fly to the heavens to rejoin your comrades.Till next time …