February 11, 2009 4:53 PM

Looking Older Happens To Everyone

By
Daniel Schorn
(CBS)  The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.



Have you ever been on television? The money is good but I hate it. It's sort of weird, too. I think we all have some idea of what we look like but if we see ourselves on television, it turns out we don't look like that at all.

I know I don't look like what I think I look like. I usually watch myself Sunday night and I don't look the same every week either. I told you a couple of weeks ago I've done about a thousand pieces here on 60 Minutes. I looked at some of them recently.

I used to look a lot younger than I do now. I don't know why that is. Sometimes I don't look younger, I just look funnier. Maybe I looked worse in 1978 than I do now. I hope so.

Hair makes the most difference in what a person looks like.

It's a depressing thought but all of us probably look our best at 21. Looking older happens to everyone of course.

There are two women on television I know who get better looking all the time, Diane Sawyer and Lesley Stahl. Diane has changed some over the years but she's still not what you'd call a homely woman. I see Lesley almost every day and she's as attractive and well got up around the office as she is on camera. Lesley was good-looking 20 years ago. She's better-looking now.

Women on television won't let their hair alone of course. Lesley has had a wide range of hair styles over the years. She probably spends more on her hair than on her clothes.

I spend a lot on my clothes, but not very often. I haven't bought a new suit in eleven years or had a haircut in five weeks. Women have their hair "done." Men have theirs cut. "Done" costs more.
Written By Andy Rooney

Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
Add a Comment See all 15 Comments
by sandsave72 May 16, 2007 7:56 PM EDT
Hey Andy,

You look real. Face lifts can make your face look tighter than a snare drum.
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by marbleann-2009 May 15, 2007 6:42 PM EDT
Mr Rooney is right on spot about how Ms Stahl and Ms Sawyer look great. And how one even looks even better she did years ago. Well unlike men, women on tv have to perform magic acts and had have portrait up in the attic like Dorian Gray. Because if they were allowed to grow old like Mr Rooney and the rest of us he would never be able to comment how they look bcause they would of been fired years ago.
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by pleiku1 May 15, 2007 3:38 PM EDT
Hello Andy,
I'm a Big Fan of yours. I've always enjoyed your comments. In this age of PC commentators, pols, and ones on the other spectrum, your opinions and comments come to me like a draft of cool fresh sea breeze in a smoke filled pub. I suspect we share the same views. I hope to see you for a long long time.
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by dag725 May 15, 2007 1:37 AM EDT
Watch your show most of the time and enjoyed your show about aging...I would love to see you do a show with you getting your hair and eyebrows DONE, NOT CUT, IN A SALON LIKE YOUR GOOD LOOKING WOMEN NEWSLADIES DO just to see if it would help you look better or not...and it could be easier on your viewers eyes to look at you more..It might even get more women viewers to watch..
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by rod77pete May 14, 2007 10:44 PM EDT
As always, you have touched what many of us question every day, "Where has the time gone and why do I have to move with it so fast?" Thinking of this, I have to look at the options, what can be done? So to the celebrities we gaze. Do I want the appeal of Jerry Jones? Or Kenny Rogers or Wayne Newton? Even though their decisions have done them well, I believe I had earned every line that appears on me. Maybe I won't think that in a few more years but then again, I'll re-look at those options then. Thank you for mentioning those wonderful ladies, they are so beautiful and it makes me happy that age could be directed at me instead of them. And one last thought, at least I can still worry about needing to have my hair "cut" ocassionally!
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by bayareasaid May 14, 2007 7:36 PM EDT
Andy is quite right about "image conciousness" as we grow older. I can only imagine what you folks in the spotlight go through in the dressing room. Don't worry about a new suit from Bloomingdale's Andy, they are all overpriced; Bloomingdale's just opened up in San Francisco, Barney's to follow this fall.
I tend to agree with you and my mother that Leslie Stahl is quite a fashionable woman and a good looking member of the 60 minutes gang.
If Andy looked like a handsome Mitt Romney (whatever), I think that would detract from the classic Andy that we all know and admire.
You have a cult following here in the San Francisco Bay Area Andy, keep it up!
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by bayareasaid May 14, 2007 7:26 PM EDT
Andy Rooney is quite right about "image conciousness" as we grow older. We all look in the mirror everyday, I can only imagine what you folks in the spotlight go through in the dressing room.
My mother and I are also an admirer of Leslie Stahl's style. She's quite a looker Andy.
I personally think Andy looks more respectable and credible as an older man. Hence the eyebrows are convincing as well.
I'd hate to think if he looks like the handsome Mitt Romney (whatever), that his classic Andy Rooney demeanor would suffer. So look your age Andy, us Bay Area types in San Francisco would not have you any other way.
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by previn2 May 14, 2007 7:01 PM EDT
It's me again...Just so you know, I didn't use a cuss word in describing Mr. Rooney in my previous comment--Sorry, that word blocked-out was just another word used for "passing-gas" and nothing more.--(just so you know...)
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by redstripe11 May 14, 2007 2:28 PM EDT
To: previn2

Rest assured, your worries are justified.

it is all downhill from there! (21)
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by angelwhalo May 14, 2007 10:25 AM EDT
I have noticed that Some People who are in the entertainment world stay young looking for a long time and then all of the sudden they look old, really old! I guess that's what you call age sneaking up on you. Anyway I agree with matancero Andy should have his eyebrows done he would look younger!
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