Andy Rooney began his illustrious career in journalism in the military, writing for the Army’s Stars and Stripes paper starting in 1941. He gave a first-hand account of the terrifying bomber raids on the German town of Wilhelmshaven, one of the first of such sorties from London, writing that after all the shooting and destruction the trip was a considered “a quiet one,” in which case ”I don’t want to go on a noisy one.” His big break came in television, where took his long-form journalism to the screen in documentary shows for CBS and PBS. In his later years he became known for a much shorter segment.

On this day, May 8, in 1994, Andy Rooney recorded his 500th segment of A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney, which closed the CBS program 60 Minutes. Rooney was one of the most respected names in the business by then — when CBS asked Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the controversial euthanasia activist, for an interview, he agreed on the condition that Rooney would conduct it.

The origin of A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney (originally titled Three  Minutes with Andy Rooney) was a need to replace in a “point / counterpoint” debate segment on 60 Minutes summer of 1978. It proved so popular that “point / counterpoint” was dropped entirely. Amazingly, after his 500th commentary Rooney would go on for seven more years recording commentaries before finally deciding to retire.