Andy Rooney_ 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit - Andy Rooney [2]
1962 • The Fortunes of War: Four Great Battles of World War II is published
• begins work with CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Harry Reasoner on a series of TV specials that include pieces on bridges, hotels, and the English language
1964 • writes his first television essay, “An Essay on Doors”
1965 • writes television essay on Frank Sinatra narrated by Walter Cronkite and produced by Don Hewitt
1966 • receives Writers Guild of America Award for best TV documentary for The Great Love Affair
1968 • writes Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed, narrated by Bill Cosby, and is awarded a Writers Guild Award and an Emmy Award for his script
• appears for the first time on television on the 60 Minutes broadcast “Digressions” with Palmer Williams
1970 • quits CBS after their refusal to air his “An Essay on War”
1971 • “An Essay on War” is aired on PBS’s The Great American Dream Machine and receives a Writers Guild Award; for the first time, narrates his own piece on air
• joins ABC, following Harry Reasoner
xii Timeline
1972 • returns to CBS to continue write, produce, and narrate full-length pieces for 60 Minutes and to write for various CBS broadcasts
1974 • writes and appears in his celebration of New York, “In Praise of New York City”
1975 • writes and stars in the CBS prime-time feature “Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington”
• is awarded a Peabody for the piece, as well as a Writers Guild Award for best TV documentary
1976 • writes and stars in the CBS prime-time feature “Mr. Rooney Goes to Dinner,” for which he receives a Writers Guild Award
1977 • writes and stars in the CBS prime-time feature “Mr. Rooney Goes to Work”
1978 • Don Hewitt airs Rooney’s humorous on-air segment “Three Minutes with Andy Rooney” as a summer fill-in for the “Point/Counterpoint” face-off between Shana Alexander and James Kilpatrick
• “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” replaces “Point/Counterpoint”
• receives an Emmy Award for “Who Owns What in America”
1979 • receives a Writers Guild Award for “Happiness: The Elusive Pursuit”
1979–present • syndicated column is published and distributed through Tribune Media
1981 • A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney (the book) is published and quickly becomes a best seller
Timeline xiii
• is awarded a News and Documentary Emmy for “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney”
1982 • And More by Andy Rooney is published
• receives a second Emmy award for “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney”
1984 • Pieces of My Mind is published and becomes a best seller
• Word for Word is published
1989 • Not That You Asked . . . is published
1990 • suspended by CBS for three months for remarks that were perceived as racist and homophobic; re-hired four weeks later (60 Minutes’ ratings fell 20 percent without “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney”)
1992 • Sweet and Sour is published
1995 • My War is published
1999 • Sincerely, Andy Rooney is published
2000 • My War is reissued and becomes a best seller
2002 • Common Nonsense is published
2003 • Years of Minutes is published
• awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy and the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award
2004 • wife Marguerite (Marge) dies 2006 • Out of My Mind is published
Introduction
by Brian Rooney
It was not clear to me as a child what a writer does for a living. I thought my father just took the train to New York every morning before I was awake and came back in time for dinner. I was aware that he knew some famous people in radio and television, but he was not famous himself. I didn’t have a clue what he did.
I went through most of grade school in the 1950s and 1960s with a pair of high black Keds and one pair of blue jeans that I wore every day until they ripped out and my mother bought another pair. I didn’t know for many years that at the time it was about all my parents could afford.
My father made his living by the only thing he knew how to do, which was putting words on paper. He was blunt, outspoken, and opinionated. It