Quiet Branches of a Loud Hollywood Name: Kimmy Sue Rooney and the Rooney Family

kimmy sue rooney

Basic Information

Field Details
Full name (as publicly listed) Kimmy Sue Rooney
Known family Daughter of actor Mickey Rooney and Barbara Ann Thomason (stage name Carolyn Mitchell)
Parents’ marriage Mickey Rooney & Barbara Ann Thomason — married 1958–1966
Siblings (same mother) Kelly Ann Rooney; Kerry Rooney; Michael Joseph Rooney; Kimmy Sue Rooney
Notable half-sibling Tim Rooney (half-brother; b. 1947 – d. 2006)
Public presence Primarily appears in family/genealogy listings; no verified public career profile identified
Documented family events The murder–suicide that killed Barbara Ann Thomason occurred January 1966
Career / net worth No reliable public record of an entertainment career or personal net worth

Family Origins and the Weight of a Name

I first encountered Kimmy Sue Rooney as a name tucked inside a larger story — the kind of footnote that grows legs. To say the Rooney name is storied would be an understatement: it’s a marquee that has spanned vaudeville, film, and a century of headlines. Kimmy Sue appears not as a headline herself but as a branch on that vast family tree — and branches, as anyone who’s ever climbed one knows, tell you how deep the roots go.

In plain terms: public records and family listings identify Kimmy Sue as one of the children of Mickey Rooney and Barbara Ann Thomason (who used the stage name Carolyn Mitchell). That marriage lasted from 1958 until the tragic turn in January 1966 when Barbara Ann Thomason was killed — an event that reverberated through the family and through the press of the era. Numbers matter here: the marriage spanned eight years, and the tragedy occurred in 1966 — a date that anchors much of what appears about Kimmy in the public record.

A Sibling Cast: Introductions and Short Portraits

Name Relationship Quick introduction
Mickey Rooney Father A legendary actor whose career stretched through many decades — the patriarchal figure whose life and headline moments often frame mentions of his children.
Barbara Ann Thomason / Carolyn Mitchell Mother Model and aspiring actress who worked under a stage name; her death in January 1966 is one of the most documented events linked to the family.
Kelly Ann Rooney Sister Listed publicly as one of the siblings who grew up in the wake of the 1960s family drama.
Kerry Rooney Sister Appears in family lists and genealogical records tied to Mickey Rooney’s children.
Michael Joseph Rooney Brother Another member of the same maternal sibling group in public records.
Tim Rooney (Timothy Hayes Yule) Half-brother Born 1947, died 2006 — had a modest acting career and is frequently listed among Mickey Rooney’s older children.
Other half-siblings Half-sibling group Mickey Rooney fathered multiple children across several marriages — some sources enumerate as many as nine children in total.

When I assemble these names, I see more than a list. I see chapters: a father whose life reads like a Hollywood biopic, a mother whose death is a dark punctuation mark, siblings spread across decades — some visible in the press, others quietly offstage. It’s a family that functions like an ensemble cast: some players headline, others do the steady, important work of holding scenes together.

Childhood and a Single Date that Colors Everything

There’s one date you can’t slide past — January 1966. That month and year are the pivot in the publicly available narrative. Barbara Ann Thomason’s death — reported at the time as a murder–suicide — left young children in the orbit of a very public life, and those headlines are what most contemporary searches turn up when they land on Kimmy Sue’s name.

Beyond that moment, the public trail goes quiet. That silence is itself a kind of statement: it suggests privacy, a life kept out of the tabloid glare, or simply the fact that some family members never pursued careers that demanded press cycles and IMDb entries.

Career, Money, and the Peculiar Quiet of Absence

Here’s the blunt truth I found: there is no well-documented public career for Kimmy Sue Rooney. Unlike some siblings and half-siblings who followed the show-business breadcrumb trail into modest acting credits, Kimmy Sue’s public footprint is mostly genealogical — name listings, archival captions, and family trees.

Net worth? Also not documented. The Rooney clan has been the subject of estate stories, legal tussles, and reporting about the patriarch’s finances, but individual net-worth figures for Kimmy Sue do not appear in the public record. Numbers that do appear — 9 (children, in some public lists), 1958–1966 (the parental marriage), 1966 (the family tragedy), and 1947–2006 (Tim Rooney’s lifespan) — are entries in a ledger of family history rather than a biography of public achievements.

Public Mentions, Media Echoes, and the Internet Age

If you search the name expecting a glossy profile, you’ll mostly find echoes: genealogy pages, “children of” lists, image archives where a newborn photo might be captioned with her name. There are also the recurring modern tropes — listicles, short YouTube retrospectives, and family-portrait roundups that mention her in passing. Social-media verification? Not evident; Kimmy does not surface as a verified public figure with a large, active platform.

That quiet can be oddly cinematic. Imagine a supporting character in a sprawling family saga who steps out for a moment in a single, crucial scene and then exits — the story remembers the scene, not the offstage life.

A Timeline for Clarity

Year / Range Event
1958 Marriage of Mickey Rooney and Barbara Ann Thomason begins.
1966 (January) Death of Barbara Ann Thomason (Carolyn Mitchell) — reported as a murder–suicide.
1947–2006 Lifespan of Tim Rooney, half-brother (for context in the wider sibling web).
Mentions of Kimmy Sue in public records are primarily genealogical and family-focused.

FAQ

Who is Kimmy Sue Rooney?

Kimmy Sue Rooney is publicly listed as a daughter of Mickey Rooney and Barbara Ann Thomason (stage name Carolyn Mitchell), appearing mostly in family and genealogy records rather than as a public figure.

What is known about her career?

There is no reliable public documentation of an entertainment career for Kimmy Sue; most references are genealogical rather than professional.

Who are her closest family members?

Her parents are Mickey Rooney and Barbara Ann Thomason; siblings include Kelly Ann, Kerry, and Michael Joseph, and she has half-siblings such as Tim Rooney.

Was Kimmy Sue involved in the 1966 family tragedy?

She was a child within the family when Barbara Ann Thomason’s death occurred in January 1966, an event that figures prominently in public accounts of the family.

Is there a public net worth or social media account for her?

No authoritative net-worth figures or clearly verified social-media profiles for Kimmy Sue Rooney appear in public records.

Why is information about her so limited?

Public mentions of Kimmy Sue are largely contained within family histories and archival lists — indicating either a deliberate choice to live privately or simply a lack of public-facing career activity.

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