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Did You Hear About Andy Rooney? He's Retiring

Andy Rooney.
Bebeto Matthews
/
AP
Andy Rooney.

What is it about Andy Rooney that's kept him on the air with CBS for more than 60 years — the last 33 of them as a regular essayist on 60 Minutes?

Is it his sense of humor?

His distinctive voice?

Those bushy eyebrows?

The questions he's always asking?

Well, it's all coming to an end. According to CBS, Rooney's last regular appearance on 60 Minutes will come on this Sunday's show. The network adds that Rooney:

"Will make the announcement in his regular essay at the end of the program, his 1097th original essay for 60 Minutes. It will be preceded by a segment in which Rooney looks back on his career in an interview with Morley Safer."

NPR's David Folkenflik notes that as a Stars and Stripes correspondent, Rooney flew with bombers over Germany during World War II. But over the years, David adds, he became best known "for those sometimes whimsical, sometimes irritating humorous commentaries" on 60 Minutes.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.