Exclusive Portrait: Remembering ‘60 Minutes’ Pundit Andy Rooney

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CHICAGO – The television journalism world lost a titan on Nov. 4, 2011 when Andy Rooney – the irascible pundit on the long-running TV news magazine “60 Minutes” – died at the age of 92.

Andy Rooney was born in Albany, N.Y. and attended nearby Colgate University. He was drafted into the U.S. Army four months before the Pearl Harbor attack, and spent World War II getting his feet wet as a journalist, working for the army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper. After the war, he worked as a writer in radio and early television for entertainer Arthur Godfrey, which led to a gig with CBS News on their public affairs programming like “The Twentieth Century.”

In the 1960s, he began penning on-air essays for CBS News correspondent Harry Reasoner, a precursor to his future “60 Minutes” monologues. At the same time, he became an award winning producer of light hearted new specials like “Mr. Rooney goes to Washington.” He began with “60 Minutes” in 1978 (replacing the oft-parodied Point/Counterpoint segment), and delivered his one-of-a-kind essays in “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney.” He did his farewell on-air appearance on October 2nd, 2011, only five weeks before his death.

Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com publishes for the first time an Exclusive Portrait of Andy Rooney, captured during a Chicago appearance in 2006, promoting his book “Out of My Mind.”

Andy Rooney in 2006, promoting his book ‘Out of My Mind’ during a Chicago Appearance Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com