AP PHOTOS: Mickey Rooney, legend of Holloywood

Mickey Rooney, Hollywood's top box-office draw in the late 1930s to early 1940s, died at his North Hollywood home at age 93. Over a four-decade span, he was nominated for four Academy Awards and received two special Oscars for film achievements, won an Emmy and had a Tony nomination.

A small man physically, Rooney was prodigious in talent, scope, ambition and appetite. He sang and danced, played roles both serious and silly and wrote memoirs, a novel, movie scripts and plays.

Rooney also made hundreds of appearances on TV talk and game shows, dramas and variety programs.

"I always say, 'Don't retire — inspire,'" Rooney said in an interview with The Associated Press in March 2008. "There's a lot to be done."

Here are photos from just a few of his many roles:

___

Follow AP photographers and photo editors on Twitter: http://apne.ws/15Oo6jo