He was assigned to the 17th Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 13th Field Artillery Brigade. He attended the Albany Academy prep school and was a student at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., when he was drafted into the Army in 1941. The son of a traveling salesman father, Rooney was born Jan. “This is a moment I’ve dreaded,” he told viewers. Rooney’s farewell essay was his 1,097th piece for the program. 2, the 92-year-old Rooney made his last regular appearance on the show in which he was interviewed by correspondent Morley Safer, who called him “America’s favorite grouch-in-chief.” In the end, CBS, faced with an overwhelmingly negative public response to his suspension, reinstated Rooney after only three weeks.īut retire from “60 Minutes” he finally did. Anyone who knows me knows that is not true.” I am just infuriated by the notion that I am being called a racist. “But on the other charge, I am absolutely innocent. “I am guilty of what I said about gays, and I deeply regret having offended them,” he said. But he did confirm that he wrote the letter to the magazine commenting on gays in response to criticisms of his views on homosexuality. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times after his suspension, Rooney categorically denied making the statement attributed to him about blacks during his phone interview with the Advocate. 27, 1990, edition of the Advocate quoted Rooney as saying, “Blacks have watered down their genes because the less intelligent ones are the ones that have the most children.” It also contained a letter Rooney wrote that called the homosexual sex act “repugnant” and homosexuality “not normal.” In 1990, CBS News suspended him without pay for three months in the wake of his remarks about blacks and gays attributed to him in the Advocate, a magazine that covers the gay community. He wore a suit and tie on camera, but you had the feeling that as soon as the camera lights were turned off he shed the coat, loosened the tie and rolled up his shirt sleeves. ![]() Rooney was the personification of the crusty newsroom veteran. At one point, whenever asked for an autograph, he would take the proffered piece of paper and write, “No.” I tend to be rude to people like that.”Īs for autograph seekers, Rooney refused to scrawl his name when a fan stopped him. Pretty soon he wants to be my best friend. If somebody comes up to me on the street and says, ‘Hey, I like your stuff,’ well, I can’t hate that. ![]() “I’m not too keen about my recent well-known-ness I don’t handle it very well. ![]() “A writer should be sitting over in the corner watching the dance and not be out there dancing,” he told the Saturday Evening Post in 1984. When the 1979-80 TV season started, Alexander and Kilpatrick were gone and “A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney” was well on its way to becoming a “60 Minutes” institution.įor his part, Rooney preferred being known simply as a “writer.” And he was not enamored with the celebrity that came with appearing on television each week. That fall, Rooney began alternating weeks with the two verbally sparring journalists, winning an Emmy for his essay titled “Who Owns What in America,” in which he visited Mrs. The “rumpled pragmatist with a dry wit and a salty acerbic style” - as former Los Angeles Times television critic Cecil Smith described Rooney - first appeared on “60 Minutes” in 1978 as the summer replacement for “Point Counterpoint,” the brief, end-of-the-show segment featuring liberal Shana Alexander and conservative James J. “If I want home cooking,” he said, “I’ll stay home.”) (If a restaurant menu has a tassel on it, Rooney told viewers, “add $2 to the bill.” And forget restaurants advertising home cooking. Rooney Goes to Dinner,” in which he explored the $11-billion restaurant business by visiting restaurants across America, was one. And, thank God, we’ve had the opportunity to let millions of Americans see him every Sunday night for the last couple of decades,” said Wallace.Īn award-winning writer and producer of CBS News TV specials narrated by Harry Reasoner in the 1960s - “A Birdseye View of America” and “An Essay on Bridges,” among them - Rooney began appearing on camera himself as the writer-producer of a series of specials in the ‘70s. He’s got the guts to say what is on his mind.
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