Mickey Rooney: A Long Career

Few Hollywood legends have begun their careers as children and been able to maintain a life-long career. Mickey Rooney, however, first began acting at the age of 6, and remained in the business until he passed away at the age of 93, an 87-year-career! His birth date was on September 23rd, and in recognition, I thought it would be fun to acknowledge his fascinating Disney connections, which go beyond just film and television appearances.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was a cartoon character originated by Walt Disney, though Disney lost the rights to the character because of a copyright infraction with Universal Studios. Universal began producing “Oswald” shorts in 1928 and they added sound to their cartoons also and even decided Oswald should have a voice. (This, however, was just after Disney had invented “sound within cartoons,” in Steamboat Willie (1928)). Mickey Rooney was fortunate enough to be cast as the voice of goodhearted, but clumsy rabbit, voicing him for two shorts, The Hare Mail and The Fisherman, both were released in 1931. Prior to Rooney’s voice, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was also voiced by Pinto Colvig, Disney’s future voice of Goofy, in 1930.

Mickey Rooney made his official Mouse House debut in the original film version of Pete’s Dragon (1977), starring opposite Sean Marshall, Helen Reddy, and Jim Dale. Rooney also appeared in the Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color television movies “Donovan’s Kid,” and “Little Spies,” which aired on television in 1979 and 1986, respectively. In between those television films, Rooney was cast as the voice of the Adult Tod in The Fox and the Hound (1981) opposite Kurt Russell as the Adult Copper and he even made one guest appearance in the third season of The Golden Girls (1985-1992). Three years before he past away, he also made a cameo in the “Life’s a Happy Song,” sequence in The Muppets (2011).

There also was a rumor that Walt Disney named Mickey Mouse after Rooney (later proven false). It was said that Disney ran into Rooney when he was working on Mickey Mouse’s early drawings and the two introduced one another and Disney also asked for his opinion on the drawings. According to IMDB this was proven false, however, because the name Mickey came from the mind of Walt’s wife, Lilian Bounds Disney, who thought Mickey was a better name for a mouse, as opposed to Walt’s original idea, Mortimer. Mickey Rooney’s eldest son, Mickey Rooney Jr., however, later went on to become one of the original Mouseketeers in The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1958).

Throughout his career, Rooney garnered four Oscar Nominations, winning an Honorary Oscar in 1983, as well as Two Golden Globe wins. He was also known for acting alongside many other legends in the movie It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and for voicing Santa Claus in Rankin/Bass’s The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), a role that he reprised twice. He starred alongside Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, and Robin Williams in Night at the Museum (2006) as Gus the Security Guard, a role that he reprised in the film’s second sequel Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), which was released posthumously after Rooney’s and Williams’s, on December 19th, 2014.

Mickey Rooney had an incredibly long career in show business—including some great Disney connections. It’s inspiring that he was able to continue doing what he loved over the course of many decades entertaining multiple generations in the process!

 

Review: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3"

On April 19th, 2002, IFC Films released My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). The film was a sleeper hit, having been produced on a budget of only $5 million but grossing a total of $368.7 million worldwide. The film spawned a television series, My Big Fat Greek Life (2003), which lasted seven episodes, as well as a sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, released on March 25, 2016. The series latest installment, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, premiered in theaters on September 8, 2023. Here’s my review:

Toula Portokalos’s father, Kostas “Gus” Porokalos, has passed away and the tragedy of his passing hasn’t allowed much "together time” for the family since. That being the case, Toula decides to reunite the family together in Greece and hilarity ensues as they all travel together. In doing so, they also wound up discovering some shocking family secrets.

This film is an emotional tribute to Michael Constantine, who portrayed Gus Portokalos in the first two “Greek Wedding,” films. Constantine passed away on August 31, 2021 due to natural causes. It was originally planned for him to star in the third movie, and when he became ill and unable to do it, Vardalos offered to scrap the whole idea of a third film, but Constantine encouraged her to make it anyway. Vardalos’s real father, Constantine Vardalos and Bruce Gray, who portrayed father-in-law, Rodney Miller in the first two “Greek Wedding,” movies sadly also passed away before the release of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” and there are dedications to all three men at the end credits.

Beyond its emotional story, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” will appeal to all MBFGW fans because unlike the first two films, the third film actually takes place in Greece. The script is choppy in spots, and perhaps a little predictable, but it does a really nice job of portraying family complications, and the various ways individuals deal with the difficulties and tragedies of life. It’s all wrapped in a series of fun adventures that highlight the natural beauty of Greece—all in a fun romp.

This film reunites the all-star cast of Nia Vardalos as Toula Portokalos, John Corbett as her husband Ian Miller, Louis Mandylor as brother Nico Portokalos, Tony-Award-Winner Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula, Joey Fatone and Gia Carides respectively as Cousins Angelo and Nikki, and Lainie Kazan as Toula’s mother Maria Portokalos. The film also brings back Elena Kampouris as Toula and Ian’s daughter, Paris Miller, and Alexis Georgoulis, who co-starred with Vardalos in My Life in Ruins (2009) also appears. The film is once again produced by Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Gary Goetzman, and is written and directed by Vardalos, who also wrote the first two films.

All in all, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, is an entertaining movie! It’s probably not quite as exceptional as its predecessors, but it’s a touching way to close the trilogy.