After 33 years delivering commentaries on 60 Minutes, and more than half-a-century at CBS, Andy Rooney will call it a career this Sunday at the age of 92.
“There’s nobody like Andy, there never will be,” Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and executive producer of 60 Minutes said. Rooney will not be replaced.
The news of Rooney’s departure broke late last night. Rooney had famously vowed that he would keep working for 60 Minutes until he “dropped dead.”
He came close. Rooney's appearance Sunday will be his 1,097th.
Andy Rooney began his televised Sunday essays in July 1978, alternating with the “Point Counterpoint” confrontations between conservative and liberal pundits.
Before that, the journalist was a war correspondent in World War II who also flew on the first 8th Air Force bombing mission over occupied Europe.
He joined CBS in 1949, writing for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.