Turner Classic Movies to Present 24-Hour Marathon of Classic Rooney Performances Sunday, April 13

TCM Classic Film Festival Adds April 13 Screening of National Velvet (1944), Followed by Conversation with Close Friend and Fellow Screen Legend Margaret O’Brien

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is remembering screen legend Mickey Rooney with a multi-tiered tribute to the screen legend who passed away Sunday at the age of 93. The memorial tribute includes a 24-hour marathon of Mickey Rooney’s most iconic performances, airing on TCM this Sunday, April 13, beginning at 6 a.m. (ET). Also on Sunday, the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival will feature a newly added screening of the Rooney classic National Velvet (1944), which will be followed by a conversation with one of Rooney’s closest friends, fellow screen legend Margaret O’Brien.

In addition to TCM’s on-air tributes, a short memorial video is available on the TCM website and YouTube channel:

TCM Media Room: http://on.tcm.com/4GarIs

"Mickey Rooney was easily one of the most talented people in American show business," said TCM host Robert Osborne. "Actor, singer, dancer, musician - he did it all. And what’s truly remarkable is that he did it so well for so long. Mickey was also a great friend to the TCM community. In addition to enjoying his great performances in countless Hollywood classics, we’ve had the chance to get to know Mickey through is interviews on TCM and his appearances at the TCM Classic Film Festival and the TCM Classic Cruise. He was a priceless talent, and we will all miss him deeply."

TCM’s tribute to Mickey Rooney features 13 of his most notable films, including Boys Town (1938) and its sequel Men of Boys Town (1941), two of MGM’s most popular films of the period; A Family Affair (1937) and You’re Only Young Once (1938), the first two films in the Andy Hardy series; and Babes On Broadway (1941), one of his many pairings with Judy Garland. Also featured are adaptations of such classics as Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous (1937), Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939), William Saroyan’s The Human Comedy (1943), Enid Bagnold’s National Velvet (1944) and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935).

Sunday, April 13
6 a.m. - Broadway to Hollywood (1933)
7:30 a.m. - The Devil is a Sissy (1936)
9:15 a.m. - A Family Affair (1937)
10:30 a.m. - You’re Only Young Once (1938)
Noon - Captains Courageous (1937)
2 p.m. - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
3:45 p.m. - The Human Comedy (1943)
6 p.m. - Killer McCoy (1947)
8 p.m. - Boys Town (1938)
10 p.m. - Men of Boys Town (1941)
Midnight - National Velvet (1944)
2:15 a.m. - Babes on Broadway (1941)
4:30 a.m. - A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)

The TCM Classic Film Festival will remember Mickey Rooney with a special screening of the classic National Velvet (1944), introduced by author, film historian and award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Arnold. It will be followed by a conversation with one of Rooney’s closest friends, fellow screen legend Margaret O’Brien, hosted by Film Foundation president and author Eddie Muller.

National Velvet (1944) - Sunday, April 13, at 9 a.m. - TCL Chinese Multiplex

Mickey Rooney turns in one of his most sensitive, understated performances in this beautifully made adaptation of Enid Bagnold’s story of a girl’s devotion to her horse. Even before Elizabeth Taylor became an international superstar, this film from director Clarence Brown was considered a classic for its thrilling race scene (often hailed as one of the best ever put on film) and the family dynamics portrayed by an expert cast, headed by Oscar® winner Anne Revere, Donald Crisp and Angela Lansbury in her second film. Producer Pandro S. Berman had tried to buy the rights for RKO in 1935 as a vehicle for Katharine Hepburn. He lost the bidding war to Paramount, which eventually sold them to MGM, but the outbreak of World War II stalled their plans to shoot on location in England. When Berman moved to MGM, he revived the project with director Clarence Brown, best known for his Garbo films. Initially, they thought Taylor too small for the role, but after three months of special exercise and diet she literally grew into the role that would make her a star.