![]() He also contributed articles to Esquire, Life, Look, Reader’s Digest, Harper’s, Playboy and Saturday Review, among other publications. Rooney also wrote a regular column for Tribune Media Services, which distributed it to hundreds of newspapers nationwide. Jack Kevorkian, who agreed to appear on “60 Minutes” only if Rooney interviewed him. Rooney rarely strayed from the format that made him famous, but he made an exception in May 1996 when he did a longer feature on assisted-suicide advocate Dr. His sour humor immediately hit a chord with audiences who appreciated his wry and honest look at every-day life. By the next season, the final few minutes of the popular broadcast were Rooney’s alone. ![]() Rooney Goes to Washington” and appeared on “60 Minutes” several times before being assigned to replace the program’s “Point/Counterpoint” seg for the summer of 1978. Rooney and Reasoner left CBS for a short tenure at ABC News but returned in 1973. He also spent the ’60s producing documentaries for CBS, including “Frank Sinatra: Living With the Legend,” narrated by Cronkite, and “Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed,” which earned him his first Emmy in 1968. The Reasoner-Rooney collaboration resulted in specials such as “An Essay on Bridges” (1965), “An Essay on Women” (1967) and “An Essay on Chairs” (1968). The group of journos, dubbed “the Writing 69th,” included United Press scribe Walter Cronkite, who would become Rooney’s longtime friend and colleague at CBS News.Īfter the war, Rooney wrote not only for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” which became a top-10 hit by 1952, but for “Arthur Godfrey and His Friends” and a host of other radio shows, including “The Morning News With Will Rogers, Jr.,” where he met Harry Reasoner.īy the mid-1960s, Rooney was an institution at the Eye’s news division and had begun developing essays for television broadcast that he produced and Reasoner narrated. In February 1943, Rooney was one of only eight correspondents who flew along with the Eighth Air Force on the first American bombing raid in Germany. He received the Bronze Star for reporting under fire at the battle of St. He served in an artillery unit in England and was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes for three years. (writing for the school newspaper) and was drafted into the U.S. Rooney was born in Albany, N.Y., in 1919. Time magazine once described him as “the most felicitous nonfiction writer in television.” Indeed, Rooney won the Writers Guild Award for script of the year six times, at one time more than any other writer in the history of television. 6, on “60 Minutes.”Ĭovering topics ranging from paper clips and umbrellas to presidential politics and racism, Rooney established television essays as a viable commercial form. As Rooney told viewers on that last appearance, he had led a lucky life.“Underneath that gruff exterior was a prickly interior,” said longtime colleague Morley Safer, “and deeper down was a sweet and gentle man, a patriot with a love of all things American, like good bourbon, and a delicious hatred for prejudice and hypocrisy.” Safer will lead a tribute to Rooney on Sunday, Nov. "I'm a writer - who reads what he's written."Įver the grouch, he asked viewers to leave him alone in retirement. I don't think of myself as a television personality," he said. "When I went on television, it was as a writer. ![]() In early October, the real Rooney offered his valedictory essay: "Where's the long curly cord? Maybe it comes in a separate package - maybe 40 years ago - when I was 75." "You're probably wondering the same thing I am," he said, doing an impression of Rooney figuring out the iPhone. "He just reminds me of what a great country we live in where a person can watch somebody slowly go insane on television," comedian Frank Caliendo said during a standup routine on his TBS show. ![]() But even his less controversial remarks inspired material for countless comedians. Image: Bebeto Matthews/APĪt times, he offended viewers, and he was briefly suspended for remarks about gays and blacks. 27, 2011, that commentator Andy Rooney would be making his last 60 Minutes appearance on the show's Oct.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |