Andy Rooney

Correspondent, 60 Minutes

(CBS)  Andy Rooney is known to millions for "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney," his wry, humorous and sometimes controversial essays - now numbering over 1,000 - that have been the signature end-piece of 60 Minutes for decades. The 2008-09 season marks Rooney’s 31st doing these unique reports, which became a regular feature on 60 Minutes in September 1978. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003.

Rooney has always considered himself a writer who appears on television; in addition to his 60 Minutes essays, he has written a national newspaper column for Tribune Media Services since 1979, has published articles in major magazines and is the author of 15 books, the most recent of which, Out of My Mind, was recently published by PublicAffairs.

Rooney’s rich body of work was recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists when he was presented with its Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2003. "Ernie Pyle’s life and work eloquently captured the hopes and aspirations of the common man…Andy Rooney’s work is in that fine tradition," said the society’s president. Rooney was a friend of Pyle, the famous World War II correspondent who was felled by a sniper late in the war.

"The most felicitous nonfiction writer in television" is how Time magazine once described Rooney, who has won the Writers Guild Award for Best Script of the Year six times, more than any other writer in the history of the medium.

Rooney wrote his first television essay, a longer 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, with Rooney writing and producing and Reasoner narrating, on such notable CBS News specials as "An Essay on Bridges" (1965), "An Essay on Hotels" (1966), "An Essay on Women" (1967), "An Essay on Chairs" (1968) 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 was a 60 Minutes producer for Harry Reasoner during the broadcast’s first few seasons. He also wrote, produced and narrated a series of broadcasts for CBS News on various aspects of America and American life, including "Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington," for which he won a Peabody Award, "Andy Rooney Takes Off," "Mr. Rooney Goes to Work" and "Mr. Rooney Goes to Dinner."

Rooney joined CBS in 1949 as a writer for "Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts," a Top 10 hit that was Number One in 1952. He also wrote for "The Garry Moore Show" (1959-65), helping it to achieve hit status as a Top 20 program. At the same time, he wrote for CBS News public-affairs broadcasts such as "The Twentieth Century," "News of America," "Adventure," "Calendar" and "The Morning Show with Will Rogers, Jr."

Rooney’s other books are: Air Gunner; The Story of The Stars and Stripes; Conquerors’ Peace; The Fortunes of War; A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney; And More by Andy Rooney; Pieces of My Mind; Word for Word; Not That You Asked...; Sweet and Sour; My War; Sincerely, Andy Rooney; and Common Nonsense.

Rooney was born Jan. 14, 1919, in Albany, N.Y. He attended Colgate University until he was drafted into the Army in 1941. In February 1943, he was one of six correspondents who flew with the Eighth Air Force on the first American bombing raid over Germany.

Rooney lives in Rowayton, Conn. He has three daughters and a son.