Andy Hardy


 * For those of a similar name, see Andrew Hardie (disambiguation). Not to be confused with The HardyAndy Hardy Boys or Andy Rooney.

Andrew "Andy" Hardy is a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer series of sixteen films from 1937 to 1946, and includes a final film released in 1958 in an unsuccessful attempt to continue the series. Hardy and others were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol. Early films in the series were about the Hardy family as a whole, but later entries focused on the character of Andy Hardy. Rooney was the only member of the ensemble to appear in all 16 films. The Hardy films, which were enormously popular in their heyday, were sentimental comedies, celebrating ordinary American life.

First film
The initial Hardy film, A Family Affair (1937), was based directly on Rouverol's play and was produced without a view to producing a series. It featured Lionel Barrymore as Judge Hardy and Spring Byington as Mrs. Hardy, Andy's parents, and Margaret Marquis as Andy's on-again-off-again sweetheart, Polly Benedict.