Heart surgery for Rooney

Mickey Rooney plans a quick return to work

Veteran actor Mickey Rooney has undergone multiple heart bypass surgery for a blocked artery at a California hospital.

Industry newspaper Variety reports that Rooney, 80, discovered the problem only on Monday when he was preparing to become a spokesman for Inside Track, an imaging technique which reveals such problems.

The actor had an angiogram on Wednesday and elected to have the surgery that day at the Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Ventura County, rather than wait and see if an operation was needed later.

Rooney is one of Hollywood's most-loved stars

He also had emergency surgery last year in Australia for a minor colon perforation, but returned to work as soon as he recovered.

This time he is also planning to return to work as soon as he can, starring with his eighth wife January Chamberlin in their travelling One Man - One Wife show.

He told the paper's columnist Army Archerd: "I'm booked solid."

Rooney is one of Hollywood's most enduring stars.

Born into an acting family in 1920, he made his stage debut aged just 15 months.

He went on to star in more than 50 silent comedies, playing a comic-strip character, before signing to MGM in 1934 and becoming one of the most popular stars in the US by the end of the decade.

However, his career went into decline from the late 1940s and in 1962 he filed for bankruptcy, but he made a comeback in 1979 when he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Black Stallion.