NEW YORK — With 1,096 essays for “60 Minutes” under his belt, Andy Rooney will deliver his 1,097th on Sunday’s broadcast. And it will be his last as a regular contributor.

The 92-year-old Rooney will announce his departure at the end of the program, where he has been featured since 1978, CBS News announced on Tuesday. It will be preceded by a segment in which Rooney looks back on his career with “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer.

Additional Photos

Andy Rooney of CBS’s “60 Minutes” is seen in his office in 1998. Sunday’s broadcast will be his last as a regular contributor. Photos by The Associated Press

Jennifer Hudson

“There’s nobody like Andy and there never will be,” said Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and “60 Minutes” executive producer.

He called Rooney’s contributions to the program “immeasurable.”

Rooney began speaking his mind on “60 Minutes” in July 1978 with an essay about misleading reporting of automobile fatalities on the Independence Day weekend.

“Car for car,” argued Rooney, “it’s one of the safest weekends of the year to be going someplace.” In fact, fewer people die of all causes on that weekend than at most other times, his research told him. And since “fewer people are watching television over the Fourth,” he added, “I suppose fewer die of boredom.”

He was a tender 59 years old and, that fall, he became a regular contributor, delivering sometimes folksy, sometimes peppery observations on ordinary life under the title, “A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney.”

Rooney had been a contributor to “60 Minutes” since the show’s debut. During its first season in 1968 he appeared a few times in silhouette with Palmer Williams, “60 Minutes” senior producer, in a short-lived segment called “Ipso and Facto.”

He also produced “60 Minutes” segments during the broadcast’s first few seasons.

Rooney joined CBS in 1949 as a writer for “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” a hit show of that day. He also wrote for “The Garry Moore Show” (1959-65), a variety show. At the same time, he was writing for CBS News public-affairs broadcasts.

He wrote his first TV essay in 1964, “An Essay on Doors.” Continuing the collaboration with CBS News correspondent Harry Reasoner as on-camera narrator, Rooney composed contemplations on such subjects as bridges, chairs and women.

With “An Essay on War,” which aired on PBS in 1971, Rooney made his first appearance delivering his words.

But his skills as a writer and producer, not as the talking head he also famously became late in life, were the roles he said he always valued most.

“I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn’t realize they thought,” he reflected in an interview with The Associated Press in 1998. “And they say, ‘Hey, yeah!’ And they like that.”

Jennifer Hudson’s name graces weight-loss center

CHICAGO — Jennifer Hudson’s name has graced an Oscar and Grammy, but the Chicago native said she never imagined her name would be on a weight-loss center that she could use to inspire others.

The singer and actress stopped in her home town Tuesday for the opening of “The Weight Watchers Jennifer Hudson Center.” Hudson, who lost about 80 pounds, is a spokeswoman for the company.

The new center, where walls are covered with posters of the svelte star, is in a strip mall on Chicago’s South Side.

“I never thought I would make it to have my own center,” said Hudson. “I’m so honored to be here and see this day.”

Roman Polanski back in Zurich

GENEVA — Roman Polanski returned to the Zurich Film Festival on Tuesday to accept the lifetime achievement award he was unable to pick up two years ago after being arrested for a decades-old sex-crime case.

The Polish-French director of “Rosemary’s Baby” was detained on arrival at Zurich airport in 2009 on charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He spent months in prison and later house arrest, but successfully avoided extradition to the United States after the Swiss government declined to deport him.

Now able to travel unhindered to Switzerland, Polanski, 78, arrived at the festival hall on Tuesday to a standing ovation. He stood basking in the applause before taking his seat at a tribute ceremony.

Polanski then strode to the stage amid nearly a minute’s sustained clapping.

“What I can say. Better late than never,” he said, as the audience brook into laughter. “It’s a very moving moment for me.”

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