Hollywood was a factory in the 1940s. It didn't just make movies; it manufactured people. Among the most successful "products" to ever roll off the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer assembly line were two kids with almost nothing in common except a terrifying amount of talent: Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney.
If you look back at 1944, the world was on fire, but in the darkened theaters of America, everyone was crying over a horse. National Velvet is the movie that turned Elizabeth Taylor into a household name, but it was Mickey Rooney who was actually the veteran on set. He was the biggest star in the world at the time. Seriously. He topped the box office for years, beating out Clark Gable and Shirley Temple. Taylor? She was just a "pretty face" with a weird English accent that MGM wasn't sure what to do with.
The chemistry between them wasn't romantic. It was something weirder and more enduring. It was a mentorship that morphed into a lifelong mutual respect that most people actually miss when they talk about the Golden Age.
Why National Velvet almost didn't happen for Taylor
You’ve probably heard the story that Elizabeth Taylor was "born" for the role of Velvet Brown. It's a nice sentiment, but it's mostly PR fluff. In reality, Pandro S. Berman, the producer, didn't want her. He thought she was too frail, too small, and lacked the "look" of a girl who could handle a steeplechase.
She was 12. Rooney was 24, playing a 19-year-old.
Taylor reportedly obsessed over the role. She grew four inches in a few months—or so the studio legend goes—just to prove she could handle the horse. When she finally got the part, she found herself working alongside Rooney, who was basically the king of the lot. Rooney played Mi Taylor, a drifter with a chip on his shoulder who helps a young girl train a horse for the Grand National.
It's one of those rare films where the off-screen power dynamic mirrored the on-screen relationship. Rooney was the seasoned pro, the man who knew every camera angle and every trick in the book. Taylor was the raw, emotional center.
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The weird reality of being a child star at MGM
Life at MGM under Louis B. Mayer wasn't a fairy tale. It was a grind. Mickey Rooney often spoke about the "pep pills" and "sleeping pills" the studio doctors would hand out to keep the kids working 16-hour days. Judy Garland famously suffered under this regime, and Rooney was right there with her.
By the time he worked with Elizabeth Taylor, Rooney was already feeling the weight of the studio system. He was a veteran of the Andy Hardy series, a franchise that essentially trapped him in a state of permanent adolescence.
Taylor, however, was entering the machine just as it was becoming more sophisticated. She saw Rooney as a whirlwind of energy. He couldn't sit still. He played piano, he told jokes, he flirted with everyone on set, and then he would flip a switch and deliver a heartbreaking dramatic performance.
Honestly, it’s kind of a miracle they both stayed as sane as they did.
The gap in their legacies
It's fascinating to see how history treated them differently. Elizabeth Taylor became the ultimate icon of glamour, jewelry, and many, many husbands. Mickey Rooney became a character actor, a man who would take almost any job to keep working, eventually appearing in everything from The Twilight Zone to Night at the Museum.
But they shared a specific scar: they were both "property."
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When Taylor was filming National Velvet, she suffered a back injury after falling from a horse. That injury plagued her for the rest of her life. It led to surgeries and, eventually, a struggle with pain medication. Rooney had his own demons, mostly involving his chaotic personal life and a series of eight marriages—a record Taylor would eventually match.
They were two sides of the same coin. Rooney was the vaudevillian who could do it all, while Taylor was the cinematic presence who didn't even have to move to command a scene.
What most people get wrong about their friendship
People assume that because they were the two biggest stars at MGM, they must have been best friends who hung out at Ciro’s every weekend. Not really.
Their lives diverged sharply after the 1940s. Taylor moved into "adult" roles with movies like A Place in the Sun, while Rooney struggled to transition out of his "tough kid" persona. The industry is cruel to boys who stop being cute. It’s even crueler to women who age, but Taylor fought that by becoming a powerhouse.
However, whenever they reunited later in life, the bond was immediate. They were members of a very exclusive, very traumatized club: the survivors of the child-star era.
The 1993 Academy Awards and the final act
One of the most touching moments in their shared history happened late in their lives. At the 65th Academy Awards in 1993, Elizabeth Taylor was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Rooney was in the audience, cheering like a proud older brother.
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He always spoke of her with a kind of reverence. He didn't see the "scandalous" Elizabeth Taylor that the tabloids loved; he saw the little girl who was terrified of losing her part in National Velvet.
There’s a specific kind of empathy that exists between people who have seen the "monster" from the inside. They both knew what it was like to be the most famous person in the room and the loneliest person in the world at the same moment.
How to explore the Taylor-Rooney era yourself
If you actually want to understand why these two mattered, you have to look past the gossip. The performances hold up because they were grounded in a very real, very raw work ethic.
- Watch the "Mi Taylor" scenes again: Go back to National Velvet. Don't watch the horse. Watch Rooney's face when he's looking at Taylor. He’s doing some of the most subtle acting of his career, holding back his usual manic energy to let her shine.
- Compare their 1950s transitions: Watch Taylor in Father of the Bride and then find Rooney in The Bold and the Brave. You’ll see two actors desperately trying to prove to the world that they grew up.
- Read the biographies: If you want the unvarnished truth, read Mickey Rooney: It's a Dog's Life and Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli. They provide the context of the studio system that forced these two together.
The real takeaway from the lives of Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney isn't about the fame or the money. It's about endurance. They started as kids in a system designed to use them up and throw them away, yet they both managed to carve out careers that lasted seven decades. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because, beneath the studio-mandated smiles, there was a core of absolute steel.
Next Steps for Classic Film Enthusiasts: Start by streaming the restored 4K version of National Velvet to see the vivid Technicolor that made Taylor’s eyes famous. Then, track down the 1940s radio plays where they often reprised their roles; it’s a masterclass in voice acting that shows a completely different side of their professional chemistry. Observe how Rooney handles the pacing—he was often the one setting the tempo for the entire production. Look for the nuance in their timing, especially in the quieter scenes away from the stables. It’s there that the real history of Hollywood’s golden pair is hidden.