Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney almost 'wore out the casting couch' with young actresses 'for roles that didn't exist', new book claims
Australian journalist Craig Bennett's new book is making waves thanks to shocking news it delivers in its pages. The book, published on April 15, is called "True Confessions of a Shameless Gossip" and it discusses the many celebrities he has encountered throughout his life and initial reports confirm that he hasn't held back. Bennett chose to highlight a dark side of the late actor Mickey Rooney and what he reveals is quite unlike the man we know.
According to Craig's book, the infamous and beloved late actor was not the "nice guy" he seemed to be. "A former Hollywood PR friend of mine labeled Mickey abrasive, nasty, curt and rude," writes Craig.
Known as the 'Original Hollywood trainwreck', the real showstopper in the book was that Craig apparently heard countless stories of Mickey lining up 'auditions' with aspiring young actresses 'for roles that didn't exist'. As Craig puts it, 'Mickey almost wore out the casting couch'.
The casting couch allegation doesn't come as a surprise, as there have been multiple reports of Mickey having an illicit affair with Elizabeth Taylor on the sets on National Velvet when she was only 14 and he was 24. His then wife is reportedly known to have walked in on them together.
But he 'was scathing about, as he put it, 'Elizabeth's grand sense of entitlement and lack of talent,' writes Craig.
Having a career that spanned across decades, Rooney had worked with Hollywood's finest. Despite being the "Golden Boy" and loved by all, he is recalled to have been 'rude and to have spoken unkindly of almost everyone,' the book states.
And Taylor was reportedly just one of the legendary film star's many conquests.
Speaking of her time working alongside the late Mickey Rooney in West End's 'Sugar Babies', Rhonda Burchmore told The Sunday Telegraph as reported by DailyMail : "I was a victim of abuse. At the Savoy Theatre in London, every night, this little man would come into my dressing room and tell me about his sexual life. He got off on telling me about different women he had seduced or how he'd done it, whether it be Ava Gardner or Elizabeth Taylor... all of his conquests.' Multiple reports from his family and acquaintances also throw light on a Rooney that was nothing like the "Andy Hardy" everyone had known and loved.
Rooney spent the final years of his life touring America with his one-man show, during which he would blast many of his former colleagues.
"Certainly it was clear he was doing the tell-all shows for the money," Craig writes.