NEW YORK – Andy Rooney insisted he’s not retiring. He’s a writer, and a writer never stops being a writer.
Even so, he delivered his final weekly essay on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, his last in his 33 years with the newsmagazine. It was a moment he has dreaded, he said.
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“I wish I could do this forever. I can’t, though,” he said.
CBS News announced last week that Rooney, 92, would be stepping down from his well-entrenched “60 Minutes” berth after delivering his 1,097th commentary.
“I probably haven’t said anything here that you didn’t already know or have already thought,” he said. “That’s what a writer does. A writer’s job is to tell the truth.”
Rooney began his long career by writing the words for people to say who were on TV or radio. Then when he began his weekly “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney” in 1978, he began saying them on camera himself, though not as a TV personality, but as “a writer who reads what he’s written.”
Rooney said in his farewell piece that he’s lived a lucky life, luckier than most. But befitting his trademark crotchety nature, he voiced one parting complaint: He doesn’t like being famous, nor does he like being bothered by fans.
“I spent my first 50 years trying to become well known as a writer, and the next 30 trying to avoid being famous,” he said. “I walk down the street now or go to a football game and people shout, ‘Hey, Andy!’ And I hate that.”
So if you see him in a restaurant, Rooney said as he signed off, “please, just let me eat my dinner.”
Kiss rocker weds longtime girlfriend
LOS ANGELES – Kiss bassist Gene Simmons and his longtime girlfriend, actress Shannon Tweed, have tied the knot.
Simmons and Tweed have been a couple for years. Their engagement announcement last month surprised many fans.
People magazine reported that about 400 guests attended the Saturday evening ceremony outside a Beverly Hills hotel.
Simmons, 62, and Tweed, 54, have two children.
Singer to face music after arrest for unpaid support
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Police say a singer known for his 1990 chart-topping love song was hauled off a Massachusetts stage and arrested on charges of owing $420,000 in unpaid child support.
Steven Bernard Hill of Las Vegas was arrested Friday night at the MassMutual Center, where he was performing on tour.
Hill performs as Stevie B and is best known for the song “Because I Love You (The Postman Song).” It reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts in late 1990.
Hill is scheduled to be arraigned today. He couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday. Police didn’t know if he had an attorney.
New CEO at NPR
WASHINGTON – NPR on Sunday named Gary Knell, who has headed the organization that produces “Sesame Street,” as its new chief executive and president.
Knell, 57, replaces Vivian Schiller, who left in March after a succession of controversies that started with the firing of NPR commentator Juan Williams last fall and ended after conservative activists secretly taped two NPR fundraisers appearing to make disparaging remarks about conservatives.
Since then, NPR has been run by an interim CEO, Joyce Slocum.
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