# There's Just Something . . . Creepy About Mickey Rooney **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068 "2004-04-09T00:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/81 "2013-04-30T03:50:54Z")
I liked him as Johnny Czar. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/82 "2013-04-30T07:40:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What’s creepier than Zombie Mickey Rooney? Zombie Mickey Rooney is a [redundancy](http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/crime-and-safety/files/2011/03/GYI0063772079.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/83 "2013-04-30T07:42:05Z")
I saw Mickey Rooney perform live in person in Grants Pass, Oregon when I was in middle school or early high school. He was funny. I think he sang a bit too. I remember thinking how cool it was to see such an ancient relic still wandering aimlessly around the country to little BFE towns like mine entertaining people. Now I know he was really just out devouring souls. And wow, he’s still alive today. [singing] It’s a great big universe and we’re all really puny We’re just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney [/singing] ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/84 "2013-04-30T14:42:14Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Zombie Mickey Rooney is a [redundancy](http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/crime-and-safety/files/2011/03/GYI0063772079.jpg). Warning! Clicking on that link may disturb sensitive viewers. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/85 "2013-04-30T16:15:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What’s creepier than Zombie Mickey Rooney? > I agree that he’s seemed strange in everything I’ve seen him in (I was never a big Rooney/Garland film fan, so I’ve never seen those). His creepiness served him in good stead when he played Puck in _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ and on _The Twilight Zone_, but those were _supposed_ to be kinda xreepy. I agree that I don’t see the appeal elsewhere. And it seems whenever I hear something about him outside of stage or film he comes off as a Not Very Nice Person. Have you seen **The Black Stallion**? Because he is brilliant in that movie–no quirks, no hamming it up, just a soft, muted, deeply compassionate and marvelous performance. He was capable of toning down the exuberance and has enough films under his belt where he wasn’t always “On”. But I’ll admit that in his younger films, he’s more of an acquired taste. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/86 "2013-04-30T16:40:35Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > He was capable of toning down the exuberance and has enough films under his belt where he wasn’t always “On”. I remember him as being great as a middle aged retarded man in _Bill_. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/87 "2013-04-30T17:29:46Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Then there are Mick Jagger and Keith Richards who statistically should have been dead at least since the late '80s. You mean Keith Richards _hasn’t_ been dead since the late '80s? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/88 "2013-05-01T20:28:13Z")
> [@scout1222](#): > > Gah! I just watched BAT for the first time this weekend. Imagine my surprise when I saw the credits at the beginning “…And Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi.” 😕 > > Very disturbing. I can’t fathom it either. Even considering the era, I can’t believe that the idea of having Rooney mock the Japanese people by donning fake buck teeth and yammering in an almost incomprehensible “Oriental” (pardon the expression) accent passed muster at casting time. Though even that’s not as bad as when Holly says “Stop the cab!” and proceeds to open the door and kick Cat out into the driving rain. Earlier in the film, too, she throws the cat against the wall with such force it’s a wonder the animal survived. I can’t abide that sort of thing. That film gives me the heebie jeebies on many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/89 "2013-05-01T20:48:11Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > His first notable role was as Puck in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_; he was great in that because, IMO, he played it completely without the effeminacy that usually goes with sprite or fairy type roles. According to [this](http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:108826) that was considered one of the greatest juvenile performances in the history of film. Well, well. [Allmovie.com](http://Allmovie.com) has become [Allrovi.com](http://Allrovi.com), and now they don’t seem to like Rooney’s performance as Puck nearly as much as they used to. The link doesn’t take you to the specific review anymore; you have to search for it. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/90 "2013-05-03T05:01:21Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > You must really have a thing against him to go through the hassle of joining a message board and reviving a 9 year old thread just to dis a 9o+ year old actor. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/91 "2013-05-03T05:03:28Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Leon Askin, the character actor who played General Burkhalter on Hogan’s Heroes ([pic](http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsA/tve636-19660415-156.gif)), survived being arrested by the Nazis (he was a Jew and a political cabaret performer) and fleeing to the U.S. (which had to have been, to say the least, stressful), was beyond obese by the time he was middle aged (his roly poliness was a major part of his fame), and smoked on top of that (he has a cigarette or cigar in almost every older picture of him), and not only was he still alive in his 90s he was still _performing in theater_ in his native Austria. I was highly amused when a fellow Doper pointed out that he lived one year longer than Jack LaLanne. (sp?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068.md?page=4)