This may be a short thread because I can't imagine anyone had a longer career than Mickey Rooney. From the 1920's to the 2010's he has acting credits in each decade. A total of 10 different decades.

Can that be topped? or even matched?

Was going to say Mickey Rooney. Probably can't be topped yet, though Dean Stockwell has been going strong since the 40's to today.

Yeah. Rooney. Motherfucker would pop up in shit you didn't even know he was in. Watching The Muppets in theaters and bam. Motherfucker drops into the movie at the end. Just to be in the decade.

I fucking hated Rooney. Have no idea how he became so goddamn popular. He was such a tool for the studios. Seemed like a great fucking guy though. Still... he was nowhere near as good as history makes him out to be.

After Rooney it would probably be Milton Berle.

Rooney was in the beginning, part of "Life's a Happy Song." Was he at the end too? I need to rewatch.

Well, he was abused and robbed for the last years of his life, to the point where he pissed himself when he saw one of the people.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fea...l-years-833325

Not quite Mickey Rooney, but good old Norman Lloyd has movie credits running from Saboteur (1942) to Trainwreck last year. And he shows a TV Movie (?) acting credit from 1939.
He's certainly the champ for non-child actors.

Rooney was in The Muppets while Berle was in The Muppet Movie.

Gloria Stuart had a good run from 1932 to 2004. But she missed the 1950s and 1960s.

From the title of the thread, my immediate thought was Mickey Rooney. Beyond that, I have nothing.

George Burns had a movie career from 1929 to 1994. I only bring it up because on radio there was a running gag about George being near death. And that was in the 40s. He started relatively late and still lasted 65 years.

And to put Mickey Rooney's 88 years in perspective, Betty White would have to live another 17 years and then appear in a movie just to catch up.

If you count credits for "Archive Footage," Boris Karloff (d. 1971) and Jackie Coogan (d. 1984) both go back the teens - 11 decades.

Edited to add: also Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy.

Yeah, Rooney was that rare combination of actors who not only started working at a very young age, but who lived to a ripe old age and continued to work while doing it.

Two names that spring to my mind when I saw this thread that I checked for comparison were Alec Guinness and Peter O'Toole, who both worked to ripe old ages. Not only did Rooney live longer, he also got his first film acting credit at 6 while Alec's was at 20 and O'Toole's was at 24.

Unfortunately Rooney's acting ability is subpar compared to Guinness and O'Toole. The latter two have better careers of value.