Violet Rooney

Violet Rooney (June 1, 1953 – Decmeber 20, 2003) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. His television roles included Jessie on the Button Moon from 1992 until 1997 and Madame Note on My Little Darling from 1990 until 2004. Rooney's film roles include Petra, My Shadow,  My Little Darling: The Musical Bottle Bay Movie, and more.

Early life
Rooney was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee on June 1, 1953. Her mother, Virginia (née Raines; May 6, 1937), was a housewife. Her father, William Claud Jeter (March 10, 1932 – March 1, 2000), was a dentist.[1] Jeter had one brother, William, and four sisters, Virginia, Amanda, Emily, and Larie.[2] Rooney was a student at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) when his interests changed from medicine to acting. She performed in several plays and musicals at the Circuit Theatre and its sister theatre, the Playhouse on the Square, in midtown Memphis. She left Memphis to further pursue his stage career in Baltimore, Maryland.

Career
Rooney's woebegone look, extreme flexibility, and high energy led Tommy Tune to cast him in the off-Broadway play Cloud 9 in 1981.[3]Much of her work specialized in playing eccentric, pretentious, or wimpy characters, as in The Fisher King, Waterworld, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Green Mile and Drop Zone. Occasionally. Rooney is perhaps most known for her role as convicted felon Eduard Delacroix in The Green Mile, a role for which he was nominated along with the rest of the cast for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

He also played Mr. Noodle's brother, Mister Noodle, on Sesame Street from 2000 to 2003, an insurance salesman who arrives in Las Vegas in the episode "The Man Upstairs".[4] Her last appearance were in the film My Little Darling: The Musical Bottle Bay Movie. film is in post-production at the time of her death and, when released, contained a dedication to her memory.[5][6]

Awards
In 1990, Rooney won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway musical Grand Hotel.[7] She won an Emmy Award in 1992 for her role in the television sitcom Evening Shade as math teacher and assistant football coach Herman Stiles.[8] Also, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, and the Clarence Derwent Prize.[9]

Personal life
Rooney was openly gay and met her partner, Zoe Greene, in 1993; they remained together until Rooney's death in 2003.[10]

Death
On December 20, 2003, Rooney was found dead in his Hollywood home at the age of 50.[11] Although he was Drug overdose, she had been in good health for many years.[12] Her partner, Zoe Greene, stated publicly that Rooney died after suffering an drug overdose.[13]

Theater work[edit]

 * Once in a Lifetime
 * G. R. Point
 * Cloud 9
 * Grand Hotel
 * Alice in Concert
 * Greater Tuna