This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2009)

Morley Safer (born November 8, 1931) is a Canadian reporter and correspondent for CBS News. He is best known for his long tenure on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, the cast of which he joined in December 1970, during the third season of the series.

Biography[link]

Safer was born to an Austrian Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna (née Cohn) and Max Safer, an upholsterer.^[1] He attended Harbord Collegiate Institute,^[2] and briefly attended University of Western Ontario.^[3]

Safer began his journalism career as a reporter for various newspapers in Canada (Woodstock Sentinel Review, London Free Press and Toronto Telegram) and England (Reuters and Oxford Mail). Later, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a correspondent and producer.

In 1964, Safer joined CBS News as a London-based correspondent. In 1965, he opened the CBS News bureau in Saigon. That year he followed a group of United States Marines to the village of Cam Ne, for what was described as a "search and destroy" mission. When the Marines arrived, they gave orders in English to the inhabitants—by all accounts harmless civilians—to evacuate the village. When the homes were cleared, the Marines burned their thatched roofs with flamethrowers and Zippo lighters. Safer's report on this event was broadcast on CBS News on August 5, 1965, and was among the first reports to paint a bleak picture of the Vietnam War. President Lyndon Baines Johnson reacted to this report angrily, calling CBS's president and accusing Safer and his colleagues of having "shat on the American flag." Certain that Safer was a communist, Johnson also ordered a security check; upon being told that Safer "wasn't a communist, just a Canadian," he responded "Well, I knew he wasn't an American."^[4]

In 1967, Safer was named the London bureau chief, a post he held for three years. In 1970, he left London to replace Harry Reasoner on 60 Minutes, after Reasoner left to anchor the ABC Evening News (although Reasoner would return to 60 Minutes in 1978, alongside Safer). Safer has been on the program since that time.

Safer is also the author of the bestselling book, Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam.

He and his wife, the former Jane Fearer, live in New York City. They have a daughter, Sarah Alice Anne Safer, who is a graduate of Brown University^[5] and freelance journalist. Due to personal preference, Safer is still a Canadian citizen and has not taken up status as a United States citizen.

Popular culture references[link]

• The 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "The Baby Menace" (season five, episode one) a reporter working for a sleazy tabloid is likened to "Morley freakin' Safer" by Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
• The Golden Girls episode "An Illegitimate Concern" (season five, episode eighteen); Upon learning her dead husband, George, fathered an illegitimate son, played by Mark Moses of Desperate Housewives fame, during the course of their marriage, Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan) decries this turn of events claiming she once passed up an affair with a noted journalist of 60 Minutes fame to uphold her vows. As she exits the room, Sophia says to Rose and Dorothy, "I'll bet it was Morley Safer." At the end of the episode, while talking to a picture of George, Blanche says, "You son of a... You put me through all of this and I could have had Andy Rooney." He is also referenced in "Long Day's Journey Into Marinara" and "The Actor".

Awards[link]

• 12-time Emmy Award winner
• 3-time Overseas Press Award winner
• 3-time George Foster Peabody Award winner
• 2-time Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award winner
• Winner of the Paul White Award from the Radio/Television News Directors Association (RTNDA)
• Recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
• Received the 2003 George Polk Memorial Career Achievement Award from Long Island University.
• Received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards’ first prize for domestic television for his insightful report about a controversial school, “School for the Homeless”
• Named a Chévalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1995
• Received Brown University's Welles Hangen Award for Superior Achievement in Journalism (1993)
• Recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence

References[link]

External links[link]

• Booknotes interview with Safer on Flashbacks on Returning to Vietnam, May 6, 1990.

Andy Rooney
Born	Andrew Aitken Rooney (1919-01-14)January 14, 1919 Albany, New York[1]
Died	November 4, 2011(2011-11-04) (aged 92) New York City, New York
Notable work(s)	The weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" on 60 Minutes
Notable award(s)	Emmy 2003 Lifetime Achievement 1980 "Tanks" 1980 "Grain" 1978 "Who Owns What in America" 1968 "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed"
Spouse(s)	Marguerite Rooney (m. 1942–2004) «start: (1942)–end+1: (2005)»"Marriage: Marguerite Rooney to Andy Rooney" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Andy_Rooney)(her death)
Children	Brian, Emily, Martha, Ellen
Influences Harry Reasoner, Mike Wallace, E. B. White

Andrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer. He was most notable for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney," a part of the CBS News program 60 Minutes from 1978 to 2011. His final regular appearance on 60 Minutes aired October 2, 2011. He died one month later, on November 4, 2011, at age 92.

Early life[link]

Andrew Rooney was born in Albany, the son of Walter Scott Rooney (1888–1959) and Ellinor (Reynolds) Rooney (1886–1980). He attended The Albany Academy,^[2] and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton in Central New York,^[3] where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity, before he was drafted into the United States Army in August 1941.

World War II[link]

Rooney began his career in newspapers while in the Army when, in 1942, he began writing for Stars and Stripes in London during World War II.^[4]

In February 1943, flying with the Eighth Air Force, he was one of six correspondents who flew on the second American bombing raid over Germany.^[5] Later, he was one of the first American journalists to visit the Nazi concentration camps near the end of World War II, and one of the first to write about them. During a segment on Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, Rooney stated that he had been opposed to World War II because he was a pacifist. He recounted that what he saw in those concentration camps made him ashamed that he had opposed the war and permanently changed his opinions about whether "just wars" exist.

For his service as a war correspondent in combat zones during the war Rooney was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal and Air Medal.^[6]

Rooney's 1995 memoir, My War, chronicles his war reporting. In addition to recounting firsthand several notable historical events and people (including the entry into Paris and the Nazi concentration camps), Rooney describes how it shaped his experience both as a writer and reporter.^[5]

Career[link]

Rooney joined CBS in 1949, as a writer for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts,^[5] when Godfrey was at his peak on CBS radio and TV. It opened the show up to a variety of viewers. The program was a hit, reaching number one in 1952, during Rooney's tenure with the program. It was the beginning of a close life-long friendship between Rooney and Godfrey. He wrote for Godfrey's daytime radio and TV show Arthur Godfrey Time. He later moved on to The Garry Moore Show,^[7] which became a hit program. During the same period, he wrote for CBS News public affairs programs such as The Twentieth Century.

According to CBS News's biography of him, "Rooney wrote his first television essay, a longer-length precursor of the type he does on 60 Minutes, in 1964, "An Essay on Doors."^[8] From 1962, to 1968, he collaborated with another close friend, the late CBS News correspondent Harry Reasoner — Rooney writing and producing, Reasoner narrating — on such notable CBS News specials as "An Essay on Bridges" (1965),^[8] "An Essay on Hotels" (1966),^[8] "An Essay on Women" (1967),^[8] and "The Strange Case of the English Language" (1968).^[8] In 1968, he wrote two CBS News specials in the series "Of Black America,"^[8] and his script for "Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed" won him his first Emmy."^[9]

When CBS declined to broadcast "An Essay on War" in 1970, Rooney quit CBS and read the opinion himself on PBS — his first appearance on television.^[10] That show in 1971 won Rooney his third Writers Guild Award.^[8] Rooney re-joined CBS in 1973, to write and produce special programs.^[10] Rooney also wrote the script for the 1975 documentary FDR: The Man Who Changed America.

After his return to the network, Rooney wrote and appeared in several prime-time specials for CBS, including In Praise of New York City (1974),^[7] the Peabody Award-winning Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington (1975),^[7] Mr. Rooney Goes to Dinner (1978),^[7] and Mr. Rooney Goes to Work (1977).^[7] Transcripts of these specials, as well as of some of the earlier collaborations with Reasoner, are contained in the book A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney. Another special, Andy Rooney Takes Off, followed in 1984.

[edit] A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney

Rooney's "end-of-show" segment on 60 Minutes, "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" (originally "Three Minutes or So With Andy Rooney"^[5]), began in 1978, as a summer replacement for the debate segment "Point/Counterpoint"^[5] featuring Shana Alexander and James Kilpatrick. The segment proved popular enough with viewers that beginning in the fall of 1978, it was seen in alternate weeks with the debate segment. At the end of the 1978–1979 season, "Point/Counterpoint" was dropped altogether.^[5]

In the segment, Rooney typically offered satire on a trivial everyday issue, such as the cost of groceries, annoying relatives, or faulty Christmas presents. Rooney's appearances on "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" often included whimsical lists, e.g., types of milk,^[11] bottled water brands,^[12] car brands,^[13] sports mascots,^[14] etc. In later years, his segments became more political as well. Despite being best known for his television presence on 60 Minutes, Rooney always considered himself a writer who incidentally appeared on television behind his famous walnut table, which he made himself.

Controversies[link]

Rooney made a number of comments which elicited strong reactions from fans and producers alike.

Insensitivity towards minorities[link]

Rooney wrote a column in 1992 that posited that it was "silly" for Native Americans to complain about team names like the Redskins, in which he wrote in part, "The real problem is, we took the country away from the Indians, they want it back and we're not going to give it to them. We feel guilty and we'll do what we can for them within reason, but they can't have their country back. Next question."^[15]

In a 2007 column for Tribune media services, he wrote, "I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today's baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me." Rooney later commented, "Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said it, [but] it's a name that seems common in baseball now. I certainly didn't think of it in any derogatory sense."^[15]

In 1990, Rooney was suspended without pay for three months by then-CBS News President David Burke, because of the negative publicity around his saying that "too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes [are] all known to lead to premature death."^[16] He wrote an explanatory letter to a gay organization after being ordered not to do so. After only four weeks without Rooney, 60 Minutes lost 20 percent of its audience. CBS management then decided that it was in the best interest of the network to have Rooney return immediately.^[17]

After Rooney's reinstatement, he made his remorse public:

Rooney always denied that he was a racist. In the 1940s, he was arrested after sitting in the back of a segregated bus in protest.^[19] Also, in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, Rooney applauded the fact that "the citizens of this country, 80 percent of whom are white, freely chose to elect a black man as their leader simply because they thought he was the best choice." He said that makes him proud, and that it proves that the country has "come a long way — a good way."^[20]

Remarks on Kurt Cobain's suicide[link]

In a 1994 segment, Rooney attracted controversy with his remarks on Kurt Cobain's suicide. He expressed his dismay that the death of Richard Nixon was overshadowed by Cobain's suicide, stating that he had never heard of Cobain nor his band, Nirvana. He went on to say that Cobain's suicide made him angry. "A lot of people would like to have the years left that he threw away," Rooney said. "What's all this nonsense about how terrible life is?" he asked, adding rhetorically to a young woman who had wept at the suicide, "I'd love to relieve the pain you're going through by switching my age for yours." In addition, he asked "What would all these young people be doing if they had real problems like a Depression, World War II or Vietnam?" and commented that "If [Cobain] applied the same brain to his music that he applied to his drug-infested life, it's reasonable to think that his music may not have made much sense either."^[21]

On the following Sunday's show, he apologized on the air, saying he should have taken Cobain's depression into account. He also read only critical feedback from listeners without interjecting any commentary of his own.^[22][23]

Collections and retirement[link]

Rooney's shorter television essays have been archived in numerous books, such as Common Nonsense, which came out in 2002,^[24] and Years of Minutes, probably his best-known work, released in 2003.^[25] He penned a regular syndicated column for Tribune Media Services that ran in many newspapers in the United States, and which has been collected in book form. He won three Emmy Awards for his essays,^[26] which numbered over 1,000. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003.^[27] Rooney's renown made him a frequent target of parodies and impersonations by a diverse group of comedic figures, including Frank Caliendo, Rich Little and Beavis.

In 1993, CBS released a two-volume VHS tape set of the best of Rooney's commentaries and field reports, called "The Andy Rooney Television Collection — His Best Minutes." In 2006, CBS released three DVDs of his more recent commentaries, "Andy Rooney On Almost Everything," "Things That Bother Andy Rooney," and "Andy Rooney's Solutions."^{[citation needed]}

Rooney's final regular appearance on 60 Minutes was on October 2, 2011,^[28] after 33 years on the show.^[29] It was his 1,097th commentary.^[30]

Views[link]

He claimed on Larry King Live to have a liberal bias, stating, "There is just no question that I, among others, have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions."^[31] In a controversial 1999 book Rooney self-identified as agnostic,^[32] but by 2004 he was calling himself an atheist.^[33] He reaffirmed this in 2008.^[34] Over the years, many of his editorials poked fun at the concept of God and organized religion. Increased speculation on this was brought to a head by a series of comments he made regarding Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ (2004).^[35]

Though Rooney has been called Irish-American, he once said "I'm proud of my Irish heritage, but I'm not Irish. I'm not even Irish-American. I am American, period."

In 2005, when four people were fired at CBS News perhaps because of the Killian documents controversy, Rooney said, "The people on the front lines got fired while the people most instrumental in getting the broadcast on escaped." Others at CBS had "kept mum" about the controversy.^[36]

Personal life[link]

Rooney was married to Marguerite "Margie" Rooney (née Howard) for 62 years, until she died of heart failure in 2004. He later wrote, "her name does not appear as often as it originally did [in my essays] because it hurts too much to write it."^[37] They had four children; Brian, Emily, Martha and Ellen. His daughter Emily Rooney is a TV talk show host and former ABC News producer who went on to host a nightly Boston-area public affairs program, Greater Boston, on WGBH. Emily's identical twin, Martha, became Chief of the Public Services Division at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. The third daughter, Ellen, is a photographer based in London. His son, Brian Rooney, has been a correspondent for ABC since the 1980s.

Rooney also had a sister Nancy Reynolds Rooney (1915–2008).

Rooney lived in the Rowayton section of Norwalk, Connecticut,^[38] and in Rensselaerville, New York,^[39] and was a longtime season ticket holder for the New York Giants.^[40]

Death[link]

Rooney was hospitalized on October 25, 2011, after developing postoperative complications from an undisclosed surgery,^[41] and died on November 4, 2011, at the age of 92, less than five weeks after his last appearance on 60 Minutes.^[42][43]

Awards[link]

• 2001 — Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.^[44]

Books[link]

Books written by Rooney:

• Conquerors' Peace; report to the American stockholders, by Oram C. Hutton and Andrew A. Rooney. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1947.
• A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney, 1981 (ISBN 0-689-11194-0)
• And More by Andy Rooney, 1985 (ISBN 0-517-40622-5)
• Pieces of My Mind, 1986 (ISBN 0-689-11492-3)
• The Most of Andy Rooney, 1986 (ISBN 0-689-11864-3)
• Word for Word, 1988 (ISBN 0-399-13200-7)
• Not That You Asked ..., 1989 (ISBN 0-394-57837-6)
• Most of Andy Rooney, 1990 (ISBN 0-88365-765-1)
• Sweet and Sour, 1992 (ISBN 0-399-13774-2)
• My War, 1997 (ISBN 0-517-17986-5)
• Sincerely, Andy Rooney, 1999 (ISBN 1-891620-34-7)
• The Complete Andy Rooney, 2000 (ISBN 0-446-11219-4)
• Common Nonsense, 2002, (ISBN 1-586482-00-9)
• Years of Minutes, 2003 (ISBN 1-58648-211-4)
• Out of My Mind, 2006 (ISBN 1-58648-416-8)
• 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit, 2009 (ISBN 1-58648-773-6)

References[link]