Sideshow: Rooney saying adieu to '60'

By Tirdad Derakhshani, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: September 28, 2011

Andy Rooney, whose opinionated, gently cantankerous commentaries on 60 Minutes have delighted, touched, annoyed, and angered viewers since 1978, is retiring, say the Hollywood Reporter and mediabistro.com's Gail Shister.

Rooney, 92, was not featured on the CBS show's 44th-season premiere on Sunday, but he is expected to appear this Sunday in what will be his last show.

Before his final segment, Rooney will chat about his career with his 60 Minutes colleague Morley Safer.

"There's nobody like Andy and there never will be," CBS News chairman and 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager tells the Hollywood Reporter. "He'll hate hearing this, but he's an American original."

Rooney previously said he'd never retire, telling TVNewser last year he'd stay on 60 Minutes until he "dropped dead."

Fager says Rooney has had a tough time of it lately. "It's harder for him to do it every week," he says. "But he will always have the ability to speak his mind on 60 Minutes when the urge hits him."

Rooney, who joined CBS in 1949, has yet to comment.

'CSI: NY' star Sela Ward in Philly

The comely TV star Sela Ward, who joined Gary Sinise on CSI: New York last season, will make an appearance at the Franklin Institute in Philly at 1 p.m. on Sunday to help promote the museum's new exhibit "CSI: The Experience." The forensics-themed exhibition opens a day earlier, Saturday, and runs through Jan. 2. Info: 215-448-1200 or www.fi.edu/.

Of celebs in & out of love

Gossipers are atwitter over the continuing January Jones mystery: Who fathered her baby, Xander? The birth certificate leaves a blank space under dad! So who is it? Someone from JJ's pic X-Men: First Class? There's the director, Matthew Vaughn, who is married to Claudia Schiffer. There's costar Michael Fassbender, who is dating X-Men costar Zoë Kravitz. Maybe it's JJ's ex-beaus Jason Sudeikis or Jeremy Piven. We're betting on the virgin-birth theory.

Gerard Butler is dating Sarah Carroll, an actor best known for her groundbreaking Virgin Mobile ads, says Life & Style. Sarah is so very discreet. "Um. Gerard Butler just hugged me," she tweeted Thursday.

Tidbits 'n' pieces

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's memoir, released Thursday in Britain, sold 644 copies in its first three days. Ouch! Assange pocketed a $1.5 mil advance for the ghostwritten tome. . . . Sweetie-pie attorney Nancy Grace denies that verboten parts of her chest were visible during Monday's Dancing With the Stars. No way did unauthorized parts escape her costume, Grace tells People, saying she wears "industrial-strength bras, gaffer tape, you name it." Get those images out of our minds!

This article contains information from Inquirer wire services and websites. Contact "SideShow" at sidseshow@phillynews.com. Visit us on Facebook

at www.facebook.com/INQ/Sideshow.