Mickey Shaughnessy

Mickey Shaugnessy, the Irish-American character actor best known for his portrayal of Elvis Presley's musical mentor in the rock n' roll classic "Jailhouse Rock" (1957), was born Joseph Michael Shaughnessy on August 5, 1920 in New York City. As a performer, the young Mickey made his bones on the Catskill Mountains tourist resort circuit. During a stint in the Army during World War II, Mickey appeared in a service revue. After being demobilized, he made his living making the rounds of the nightclub circuit with a comedy act. His breakthrough as an actor came with his debut in support of the legendary Judy Holliday and great meat n' potatoes character actor Aldo Ray in George Cukor's The Marrying Kind (1952). Shaughnessy signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which typecast him as dumb but likable lugs in such pictures as Vincente Minnelli's Designing Woman (1957). He was memorable as "the Duke" in 'Michael Curtiz''s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960) for MGM and even acted