Mike Wallace (journalist)
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Mike Wallace's final broadcast as a full-time Correspondent on 60 Minutes |
Mike Wallace (b.
May 9,
1918 as
Myron Leon Wallace) is an
American journalist. He is best known today as a
television correspondent for
CBS's
60 Minutes, having been with that program since it first began in
1968. During his career at
60 Minutes, he has interviewed a wide range of newsmakers, including
Johnny Carson,
Deng Xiaoping, the
Ayatollah Khomeini,
Kurt Waldheim,
Jeffrey Wigand,
Yasser Arafat,
Ayn Rand,
Menachem Begin,
Anwar Sadat,
Manuel Noriega, and most recently,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Wallace was born in
Brookline, Massachusetts to Russian-Jewish parents and went on to graduate from the
University of Michigan in 1939 with a bachelor's degree.
Early in his career, Wallace announced for the radio action shows
Ned Jordan,
Secret Agent and
The Green Hornet. It is sometimes reported that Wallace announced for the
The Lone Ranger, but Wallace has denied that he ever held that particular job [
1].
He has been married four times and has two sons and a daughter. His oldest son, Peter, died in a
mountain climbing accident in
1962. His other son,
Chris Wallace, works as a moderator of "Fox News Sunday", a syndicated television show which runs throughout Fox's network of affiliates.
During the 1950s, Wallace hosted a number of game shows, such as
The Big Surprise,
Who's the Boss? and
Who Pays?. It was not uncommon during that period for journalists to also host game shows;
Douglas Edwards,
John Daly,
John Cameron Swayze and
Walter Cronkite hosted game shows as well. Wallace also hosted the pilot episode for
Nothing But the Truth, which was helmed by
Bud Collyer when it aired under the title,
To tell the Truth. Wallace occasionally served as a panelist on "
To tell the Truth" in the 1950s.
During that period, Wallace also hosted two late-night interview programs,
Night Beat (broadcast in New York only on
WABD) and
The Mike Wallace Interview on ABC. His interviews were so hard-hitting (uncommon for television at the time) that his nickname became "Mike Malice".
By the early 1960s, Wallace's primary income stream came from commercials for
Parliament cigarettes. After his elder son's death, however, Wallace decided to get back into news, and was offered the opportunity to host an early version of
The CBS Morning News, which he handled from
1963 to
1966.
On
March 14,
2006, Wallace announced his retirement from
60 Minutes after 37 years with the program. He will continue working for CBS News as a "Correspondent Emeritus" [
2].
Wallace suffered from major
clinical depression triggered by accusations of
libel and a related
lawsuit. He has been treated by a psychiatrist and has taken different medications to treat this condition. On his battle with depression, Wallace said:
"At first I couldn't sleep, then I couldn't eat. I felt hopeless and I just couldn't cope… and then I just lost all perspective on things. You know, you become crazy. I had done a story for
60 Minutes on depression previously, but I had no idea that I was now experiencing it. Finally, I collapsed and just went to bed" (Source: CBS Cares interview below).
He revealed on a
May 21,
2006 episode of
60 Minutes that he once attempted
suicide with an
overdose of pills. In recent years, Wallace has gone public with his long-standing fight against depression, testifying for
Senate hearings on the topic. He has also been interviewed on the illness on
Larry King Live and for various documentaries. Speaking on the issue, he has urged those who suffer depression to seek treatment.
Mike Wallace interviewed Gen.
William Westmoreland for the CBS special
The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception [
3]. Westmoreland then sued Wallace and CBS for
libel. In February
1985, while the case was still in court, CBS settled with Westmoreland after their internal investigation determined that the producers of the show had not used the proper standards of fairness.
Wallace has also been criticized for his tactics, which include conducting interviews under deceptive or "ambush" circumstances in order to embarrass his quarry. Jailed former Panamanian leader
Manuel Noriega called Wallace "the epitome of sabotage journalism".
Wallace was played by actor
Christopher Plummer in the
1999 feature film,
The Insider. The screenplay was based on the
Vanity Fair article, "
The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Marie Brenner, which accused Wallace of capitulating to corporate pressure to kill a story about
Jeffrey Wigand, a
whistle-blower trying to expose the activity of "big tobacco". Wallace, for his part, disliked his on-screen portrayal and maintains he was in fact very eager to have Wigand's story aired in full.
In 2004, Mike Wallace, then 86, made headlines following a dispute with
New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission inspectors. Upon finding the two inspectors interviewing his driver, who they alleged was double-parked, Wallace allegedly lunged at one of them and was subsequently arrested. He was released after receiving a court summons to answer charges for disorderly conduct. A restaurant manager who witnessed the scene said the officers "manhandled" Wallace.
Wallace was interviewed by his son,
Chris Wallace, on the November 6, 2005 edition of FOX News Sunday.
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Profile at Notable Names Database *
Interview with Mike Wallace about his depression.
