Want to know the best Mickey Rooney movies? How about the worst Mickey Rooney movies? Curious about Mickey Rooney box office grosses or which Mickey Rooney movie picked up the most Oscar nominations? Need to know which Mickey Rooney movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
“The audience and I are friends. They allowed me to grow up with them. I’ve let them down several times. They’ve let me down several times. But we’re all family..” – Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) had an incredible acting career. Rooney started performing as a 15 month old in 1921. On April 16th, 2016 Rooney’s final movie will be released. That is almost 100 freaking years! His film career was one awesome (and very long) roller coaster ride….with lots of highs and lows. He was the biggest star in Hollywood from 1938 to 1942….including the Top Star in 1939, 1940 and 1941. By 1962 he was bankrupt. During his long career he picked up 4 acting Oscar® nominations and received 2 Honorary Oscars®.
His IMDb page shows 334 acting credits from 1926-2016. This page will rank 77 Mickey Rooney movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, cameos and movies not released in North America were not included in the rankings. Normally we try and find every movie in a person’s career….but we acknowledge that Rooney’s career is just too damn big to list every Rooney movie ever made. So we tried to include all of his major movies and all the Rooney movies in our database. By taking out his 76 television appearances, his 82 shorts, his 83 movies that never saw theaters that leaves 93 possible Rooney movies. We have 77 ranked….so I feel good that we have almost all of his quality movies. Please comment if I have made a horrible mistake and left off a quality Rooney movie.
Mickey Rooney Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and many Oscar® wins each Mickey Rooney movie received and
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive. For example type “Spencer” in the search box and up pop the 3 movies that Spencer Tracy/Rooney movies.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Mickey Rooney Table
- Thirty-six Mickey Rooney movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 46.75% of his movies listed. It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) was his biggest box office ht when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
- An average Mickey Rooney movie grosses $113.20 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 44 of Mickey Rooney’ movies are rated as good movies…or 57.14% of their movies. Boys Town (1938) is his highest rated movie while The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) was his lowest rated movie.
- Nineteen Mickey Rooney movie received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 24.67% of his movies.
- Ten Mickey Rooney movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 12.98% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 47 Mickey Rooney movies scored higher than that average….or 61.03% of his movies. Boys Town (1938) got the the highest UMR Score while The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Mickey Rooney
1. Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York.
2. After appearing in almost 100 shorts from 1926 to 1932….Rooney gained noticed for playing Clark Gable as a child in 1934’s Manhattan Melodrama. Manhattan Melodrama was the movie that John Dillenger watched right before leaving the theater and being gunned down by the FBI.
3. Mickey Rooney was a Top Ten Box Office Star 6 years. He was ranked 4th in 1938, 1st in 1939 (Tyrone Power was 2nd) , 1st in 1940 (Spencer Tracy was 2nd), 1st in 1941 (Clark Gable was 2nd), 4th in 1942 and 9th in 1943.
4. When looking at adjusted domestic box office grosses….Mickey Rooney has 24 movies that reached the $100 million mark. Of the close to 300 performers looked at here at UMR that is the 6th best total. Only Cary Grant (29 movies), John Wayne (29 movies), Dean Martin (26 movies), Spencer Tracy (25 movies) and Tom Cruise (25 movies) have a better total of $100 million movies.
5. Mickey Rooney was married 8 times in his life. His most famous bride was actress Ava Gardner. He had 9 children. My favorite Rooney quote on all of his marriages. “How can you be married eight times?” But I played the hand dealt me the way I was supposed to. I was friendly with most of my ex-wives. My God, there’s a Mickey Rooney’s Former Wives Marching Band!
6. Mickey Rooney served 22 months in the U.S. Army during World War II. Five of those months were with the Third Army of Gen. George S. Patton. Rooney attained the rank of Sergeant, and won a Bronze Star, among other decorations.
7. Mickey Rooney is in Guinness book of world records for longest movie career of 89 years (1925-2014).
8. Mickey Rooney was a compulsive gambler on horse racing. My favorite Rooney quote on his gambling issues. “I lost $2 at Santa Anita and I’ve spent $3 million trying to get it back”.
9. Mickey Rooney was nominated for 4 acting Oscars®. He received Best Actor Oscar® nominations for 1939’s Babes in Arms and 1943’s The Human Comedy. He received Best Supporting Actor nominations for 1956’s The Bold and the Brave and 1979’s The Black Stallion. He was given two Honorary Oscars®….the first was in 1939 and the second 44 years later in 1983.
10. Mickey Rooney was the only surviving screen actor to appear in silent films and still continue to act in movies into the 21st century. His film debut was in the movie Not to Be Trusted (1926), when he was 4 years old.
But wait! There is more! How about adjusted Worldwide grosses on 43 Mickey Rooney Movies?
- Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958) $27.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939) $227.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940) $225.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble (1944) $187.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy’s Double Life (1942) $203.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary (1941) $233.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Babes in Arms (1939) $401.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Babes on Broadway (1941) $374.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Baby Face Nelson (1957) $64.90 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Big Operator, The (1959) $27.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Boys Town (1938) $443.70 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Captains Courageous (1937) $405.90 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) $200.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Family Affair, A (1937) $57.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Girl Crazy (1943) $280.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Hardys Ride High, The (1939) $222.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Human Comedy, The (1943) $306.70 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Judge Hardy and Son (1939) $213.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Judge Hardy’s Children (1938) $94.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Killer McCoy (1947) $196.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941) $241.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) $280.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Love Laughs At Andy Hardy (1946) $152.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Manhattan Melodrama (1934) $129.00 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Midsummer Night’s Dream, A (1935) $123.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- National Velvet (1944) $496.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Night at the Museum (2006) $736.00 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) $371.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Off Limits (1952) $106.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Out West With The Hardys (1938) $238.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Platinum High School (1960) $11.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Reckless (1935) $135.00 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Riffraff (1936) $117.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Slight Case of Larceny, A (1953) $25.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Stablemates (1938) $198.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Strike Up The Band (1940) $299.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Strip, The (1951) $47.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Summer Holiday (1948) $96.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937) $95.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Words and Music (1948) $252.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- World Changes, The (1933) $71.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Yank At Eton, A (1942) $200.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Your’re Only Young Once (1937) $87.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
Check out Mickey Rooney’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Hi, Bruce.
I have always preferred Mickey Rooney musicals and the Andy Hardy films, although that is not all I have seen of his career. I have always connected Mickey with Judy and that I why I have watched him in a variety of movie genres.
RE: Silent Screen Era:
We recently lost one of the last silent screen era stars when child star Dickie Moore died shortly before his 90th birthday. He was a baby when he started.
Spelling Note: On both this page and Andy Hardy: you need to change the title to ‘You’re’ Only Young Once. You have “Your” instead.
Looking at Steve’s comment of titles he hasn’t seen, I have seen all three of these. Requiem for a Heavyweight is a great film, but extremely sad. I have only been able to watch it once. The Human Comedy I saw quite a while ago. I saw The Black Stallion for the first time sometime after Rooney died. I am most familiar with his films from the classic era as a child star.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a wonderful film that I own and watch often, but the Rooney’s performance is uncomfortable to watch and I often put Mute on his dialogue. The director said he made a big mistake in casting him as the Japanese character. So as a Mickey Rooney film in particular, I don’t enjoy the movie. He was miscast.
The Mickey Rooney movie I saw most recently for the first time was Pulp. I had recorded it on TCM earlier this year as a Lizabeth Scott movie to watch shortly after she died as I always enjoy watching movies of people shortly after they die. Scott is well known among film noir fans. That movie was quite over the top, but enjoyable.
I’m not sure which Mickey Rooney movie I saw first, but I think it was a Judy Garland picture. I think Girl Crazy is mu favourite of their pairings. I love watching all their films.
To go to my count of the ranking of the Mickey Rooney movies you have listed:
The highest ranking movie I have seen is Boys Town at Number 1.
The lowest ranking film I have seen is Riffraff at 55.
The highest ranking film I have not seen is Baby Face Nelson at 21.
The most recently made movie I have seen is Babe: Pig in the City from 1988.
Therefore I have seen all of his top 10 films.
I have seen all of his top 20 films.
I have seen 22 of his top 25 films.
I have seen 26 of his top 30 films.
I have seen 31 of his top 40 films.
I have seen 38 of his top 50 films.
I have seen 48 of the 61 films you have listed.
Of the movies I have not seen, I am looking forward to watching Operation Mad Ball, The Fireball, and The Magic of Lassie.
My favourite five movies of Mickey Rooney’s Non-Garland and non-Andy Hardy films are:
National Velvet
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Boy’s Town
The Bridges of Toko-Ri
The Black Stallion.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora.
1. I feel bad I have not seen any of the Andy Hardy movies or any of the Judy Garland/Rooney movies. I could watch one of the Rooney/Garland Andy Hardy movies and make both claims untrue.
2. I read that about Dickie Moore….I can not imagine there are too many silent performers still out there.
3. Thanks for catching my mistake….I have fixed it.
4. I agree with you about Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys….I can only imagine the turmoil that role will cause if the movie was released today.
5. Pulp is one of the few Michael Caine movies that I have not seen….it is on my list of movies to watch.
6. 48 Rooney movies watched! Wow that is impressive. Steve has seen 22 and I have seen 12….combined we are 14 movies behind you. Good job.
7. So were they are any Rooney movies you were looking for that did not make the cut? While researching Randolph Scott the other day I found Francis and The Haunted House….which I need to add to this Rooney page. That would get the movies listed up to 62.
8. You have seen the Top 20….impressive…..although the movie that ends that streak is one that got Rooney some of his best reviews….Baby Face Nelson……it is one of the movies that caught my attention while making this movie.
9. The Magic of Lassie is not a good movie….watching Stewart is somewhat sad.
10. Glad you enjoyed It’s A Mad Mad Mad World….as well as Black Stallion (one of mother’s favorites too).
As always thanks for stopping by and talking movies.
Rooney musicals and Andy Hardy films air quite often on TCM. They will be easy to find. Garland and Rooney were magical together.
Regarding Rooney movies not making the cut, I know he said he didn’t like the movie, but I saw the film noir Quicksand and quite enjoyed it.
Glad to hear you are going to be doing a Randolph Scott page. I have always enjoyed his movies.
As a Caine fan, you will enjoy Pulp for sure.
Thanks for the review on Lassie. I’ll skip it. I watch a lot of the Lassie movies.
Cheers,
Flora
Hey Flora…I will have to keep an out for those Garland/Rooney movies. I will check out Quicksand again to see if I can find box office numbers. As for Scott my notebook is filled with “in process” performers….so far the research for him has not been going very well. Pulp is very high on my list of movies to watch. You are not missing anything with skipping the Magic of Lassie. Thanks for the information…it is greatly appreciated.
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were so popular at their peak in the late 30’s and early 40’s, everybody in the world knew them. Another top movie page Bruce, lots of facts and stats here.
I’ve seen 22 of the films you’ve listed here. From the moviescore, critics and box office top 10s I haven’t seen Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Human Comedy or The Black Stallion.
I have the Mickey and Judy musicals on DVD, Strike up the Band probably my favorite.
He was chasing after Ava Gardner until she finally accepted his marriage proposal, they divorced a year later. 8 marriages? Wow. Voted Up.
Hey Steve….I have to admit I have not seen a single Rooney/Garland movie. I hang my head in shame having to say that. I have only seen 12 of these movies listed….so you easily have a better tally count than me. Requiem for a Heavyweight it good…but it is a very unpleasant movie experience…not much fun in that movie. I will have to check out Strike Up The Band and let you know what I think about it…..it is sitting on my local library’s shelf just waiting to be watched. As always thanks for the visit.
Nice page. Huge Rooney fan. Just got through reading the book The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney. He was a talented, fascinating flawed man. Recommend this website and that book if you are interested in Mick!
Hey Bert1953….thanks for the comment and thanks for stopping by. I will try and see if I can get my hands on a copy of The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney…thanks for the suggestion.
There is no comment box on your Andie Hardy page. You might want to fix.
Hey Junop34…thanks for the headsup…..that issue has been taken care off.
Wow! I had no idea he had that many years of making movies. He will always be the old guy in Petes Dragon to me. Job well done my friend.
Hey Junop34…I have the same memories of Rooney playing Grandpa in Pete’s Dragon….it is funny but it seems Mickey Rooney was always an old man…so to see him as a child actor seems somewhat strange. Thanks for the comment.