Andy Rooney
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Andrew Aitken Rooney (born January 14, 1919, in Albany, New York) is an American journalist and commentator. He is seen on the weekly news program 60 Minutes. He began his career in newspapers, writing for Stars and Stripes in the European Theater during World War II. During that time he was one of the first American journalists to visit the Nazi death camps as World War II wound down, and one of the first to write about them.
Rooney also was a freelance writer and a television script writer before joining 60 Minutes. In the early 1950s he was a writer for Arthur Godfrey when Godfrey was at the peak of his powers on CBS radio and TV though Rooney later moved on to other projects.
Though originally a regular correspondent, Rooney now has his own "end-of-show" segment, "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney," in which he offers a light-hearted editorial on a trivial everyday issue, such as the cost of groceries, annoying relatives, or faulty Christmas presents. Rooney has always considered himself a writer who appears on television.
According to CBS News's [biography] of him,
- Rooney wrote his first television essay, a longer-length precursor of the type he does on 60 Minutes, in 1964, “An Essay on Doors.” From 1962 to 1968, he collaborated with the late CBS News Correspondent Harry Reasoner—Rooney writing and producing, Reasoner narrating—on such notable CBS News specials as “An Essay on Bridges” (1965), “An Essay on Hotels” (1966), “An Essay on Women” (1967), and “The Strange Case of the English Language” (1968). “An Essay on War” (1971) won Rooney his third Writers Guild Award. In 1968, he wrote two CBS News specials in the series “Of Black America.” His script for “Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed” won him his first Emmy.
Rooney is popularly thought to be an atheist based on a series of comments he made regarding Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. In public comments, he has described himself as an agnostic. He has admitted on Larry King Live to having a liberal bias.
Rooney attended The Albany Academy in Albany as a boy, and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, until he was drafted into the Army in 1941. He has four children, including a daughter, Emily Rooney, who is also a journalist and former ABC News producer; she currently hosts a nightly Boston-area public affairs program, Greater Boston, on WGBH. His son Brian Rooney has been a correspondent for ABC since the 1980's. His wife of 62 years, Marguerite, died in 2004.
In the fall of 2005, Andy Rooney's support for medical doctors that "do not advertise" (aired on national television) emphasized the foundation of ethics in doctor-patient relations.
Trivia
In 2003, an e-mail purporting to be a 60 Minutes transcript began circulating on the Internet. The e-mail assigns numerous political opinions to Rooney. Rooney claimed the remarks were not his and that he did not agree with many of them.
In an interview segment on the satirical program, Da Ali G Show, hosted by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Ali G, Rooney criticized the humorist for his use of the word "racialist". Rooney, among other criticisms of the comedian's speech, refused to accept Cohen's use of the term and eventually conceded out of annoyance. In the same interview, Rooney corrected Cohen's grammar in the sentence, "does you think the media has changed?" by telling him it's, "do you think the media has changed?" Rooney also disagreed with Ali G's assertion that the press could print election results before an election had taken place.
On an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mike and the 'Bots competed in an "Andy Rooney-off", in which the three impersonated Rooney and discussed the quirks of soup.
Books
(partial list)- Years of Minutes, 2003 (ISBN 1586482114)
- Common Nonsense, 2002, (ISBN 1586481444)
- Sincerely, Andy Rooney, 1999 (ISBN 1891620347)
- My War, 1997 (ISBN 0517179865)
- Sweet and Sour, 1992 (ISBN 0399137742)
- Most of Andy Rooney, 1990 (ISBN 0883657651)
- Not That You Asked..., 1989 (ISBN 0394578376)
- Word for Word, 1988 (ISBN 0399132007)
- The Most of Andy Rooney, 1986 (ISBN 0689118643)
- Pieces of My Mind, 1986 (ISBN 0689114923)
- And More by Andy Rooney, 1985 (ISBN 0517406225)
- The Complete Andy Rooney, 1983 (ISBN 0446112194)
- A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney, 1981 (ISBN 0689111940)
External links
- [Archive] of previous "A Few Minutes..." segments
- [Andy Rooney Podcast] among other CBS podcasts
- [Andy Rooney with Ali G]
- [Snopes.com on Rooney E-Mail] Snopes.com's article on false e-mail claims
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