View source for Mike Wallace

{{Short description|American journalist (1918–2012)}}
{{Other people}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Mike Wallace National Press Club.jpg
| caption = Wallace in 1997 
| birthname = Myron Leon Wallace
| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|5|9}}
| birth_place = [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|4|7|1918|5|9}}
| death_place = [[New Canaan, Connecticut]], U.S.
| education = [[University of Michigan]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation = {{hlist|Television personality|radio announcer|journalist|game show host|actor}}
| employer = [[CBS|CBS Broadcasting Inc.]]
| years_active = 1939–2008
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Norma Kaphan|1940|1948|end=div}}
* {{Marriage|[[Buff Cobb]]|1949|1955|end=div}}
* {{Marriage|Lorraine Périgord|1955|1986|end=div}}
* {{Marriage|Mary Yates|1986|<!--Information omitted intentionally per current instructions on Template:Marriage-->}}
}}
| children = 2, including [[Chris Wallace|Chris]]
| networth =
| credits = ''[[60 Minutes]]'' (1968–2008)
}}

'''Myron Leon Wallace''' (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American [[broadcast journalist]], and television personality. Known for his [[investigative journalism]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/04/09/opinion/houston-mike-wallace-career/index.html | title=Mike Wallace, the face of investigative reporting in America | website=[[CNN]] | date=9 April 2012 }}</ref> he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspondents featured on [[CBS]] news program ''[[60 Minutes]]'', which debuted in 1968. Wallace retired as a regular full-time correspondent in 2006, but still appeared occasionally on the series until 2008. He is the father of [[Chris Wallace]].

Wallace interviewed many politicians, celebrities, and academics throughout his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ooKsv_SX4Y |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/1ooKsv_SX4Y |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Ayn Rand First Interview 1959 (Full)|last=TruthTube1111|date=25 May 2011|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Someoddstuff|date=September 28, 2011|title=Aldous Huxley interviewed by Mike Wallace: 1958 (Full)|website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alasBxZsb40 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/alasBxZsb40 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=September 17, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=CBS News|title=Saying farewell to the extraordinary Mike Wallace|date=2012-04-15|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kvXmLAIGEM |access-date=2022-05-05}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Early life==
Wallace, whose family's surname was originally Wallik, was born on May 9, 1918, in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], to Russian Jewish immigrant parents.<ref name="NYT obit">{{cite news |title=Mike Wallace, CBS Pioneer of ''60 Minutes'', Dies at 93 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 8, 2012 |first=Tim |last=Weiner |author-link=Tim Weiner |access-date=2023-01-03 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/business/media/mike-wallace-cbs-pioneer-of-60-minutes-dead-at-93.html?pagewanted=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810145010/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/business/media/mike-wallace-cbs-pioneer-of-60-minutes-dead-at-93.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all |archive-date=2012-08-10 |url-status=live |url-access=limited }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>[http://www.timesofisrael.com/63072/ Times of Israel: "CBS reporter Mike Wallace dead at 93 – Son of Jewish Russian immigrants had a career that spanned 60 years" by Ilan Ben Zion] April 8, 2012</ref> He identified as [[Jew]]ish and claimed it was his ethnicity (instead of religion) throughout his life. His father was a grocer and insurance broker.<ref name="Company1978">{{cite book|author=H.W. Wilson Company|title=Current biography yearbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJIYAAAAIAAJ|access-date=8 April 2012|year=1978|publisher=H. W. Wilson Co.|page=418}}</ref> Wallace attended [[Brookline High School]], graduating in 1935.<ref>Brozan, Nadine. [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/16/style/chronicle-490393.html "Chronicle"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 16, 1993. Retrieved February 5, 2008. "Mike Wallace is lending a hand to his old school, Brookline High School, at a benefit – unusual for a Massachusetts public school – in New York tomorrow evening. Mr. Wallace, class of '35, will interview the school's acting headmaster, Dr.&nbsp;Robert J. Weintraub, at a cocktail party that is expected to draw 60 or so Brookline graduates to the University Club on West 54th Street."</ref> He graduated from the [[University of Michigan]] four years later with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree. While a college student, he was a reporter for the ''[[Michigan Daily]]'' and belonged to the Alpha Gamma chapter of the [[Zeta Beta Tau]] fraternity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zbt.org/index.php?id=83&page=Notable+Alumni|title=Home – Zeta Beta Tau|website=Zeta Beta Tau|access-date=2018-03-28|archive-date=2011-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301061748/http://www.zbt.org/index.php?id=83&page=Notable+Alumni|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Career==
===1930s–1940s: Radio===
Wallace appeared as a guest on the popular radio [[quiz show]] ''[[Information Please]]'' on February 7, 1939, when he was in his last year at the University of Michigan. He spent his first summer after graduation working on-air at [[Interlochen Center for the Arts]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/interlochencenterforthearts/photos/a.10150184048373146.370467.11230558145/10156180994978146/?type=3&theater |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/11230558145/10156180994978146 |archive-date=2022-02-26 |url-access=limited|title=Interlochen Center for the Arts|website=www.facebook.com|language=en|access-date=2017-05-09}}{{cbignore}}</ref> His first radio job was as a newscaster and [[continuity writer]] for WOOD radio in [[Grand Rapids, Michigan]]. This lasted until 1940, when he moved to [[WXYT (AM)|WXYZ]] radio in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]], as an announcer. He then became a freelance radio worker in [[Chicago]].

Wallace enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] in 1943 and during [[World War II]] served as a communications officer on the {{USS|Anthedon|AS-24|6}}, a [[submarine tender]]. He saw no combat but traveled to Hawaii, Australia, and [[Subic Bay]] in the Philippines, then patrolling the South China Sea, the Philippine Sea and south of Japan. After being discharged in 1946, Wallace returned to Chicago.

Wallace announced for the radio shows ''[[Curtain Time (radio program)|Curtain Time]]'',<ref name="Dunning">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Curtain+Time+romantic%22&pg=PA187 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=Curtain Time |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=187–188 |edition=Revised |access-date=2025-02-12}}</ref> ''Ned Jordan: Secret Agent'', ''[[Sky King]]'', ''[[The Green Hornet (radio series)|The Green Hornet]]'',<ref>Dunning, op. cit., [https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Green+Hornet+297%22&pg=PA297 "The Green Hornet" pp. 297-299]</ref> and ''[[Spike Jones#Radio|The Spike Jones Show]]''.<ref>Dunning, op. cit., [https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Spike+Jones+Show+musical+madness%22&pg=PA625 "The Spike Jones Show" pp. 625=627]</ref> It is sometimes reported Wallace announced for ''[[The Lone Ranger#Original radio series|The Lone Ranger]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Mike Wallace Got His Start In Radio: '60 Minutes' Veteran's career began as a news reader, voice on Lone Ranger |url=https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/mike-wallace-got-his-start-in-radio |website=RadioWorld |access-date=February 25, 2022 |date=April 9, 2012}}</ref> but Wallace said that he never had done so.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/16/lol.03.html "U.S. and Iraqi Forces Launch Operation Swarmer; Interview With Mike Wallace"]. CNN. March 16, 2006.</ref> From 1946 through 1948, he portrayed the title character on ''[[The Crime Files of Flamond]]'' on [[WGN (AM)|WGN]] and in syndication.

Wallace announced wrestling in Chicago in the late 1940s and early 1950s, sponsored by Tavern Pale beer.

In the late 1940s, Wallace was a staff announcer for the [[CBS]] radio network. He had displayed his comic skills when he appeared opposite [[Spike Jones]] in dialogue routines. He was also the voice of Elgin-American in the company's commercials on [[Groucho Marx]]'s ''[[You Bet Your Life]]''. As Myron Wallace, he portrayed New York City detective Lou Kagel on the short-lived radio drama series ''Crime on the Waterfront''.

===1940s–1960s: Television===
In 1949, Wallace began to move to the new medium of television. In that year, he starred under the name Myron Wallace in a short-lived police drama, ''[[Stand By for Crime]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–present|year=2003|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=0-345-45542-8|page=1116}}</ref>

Wallace hosted a number of [[game show]]s in the 1950s, including ''[[The Big Surprise]]'', ''Who's the Boss?'' and ''Who Pays?''. Early in his career, Wallace was not known primarily as a news broadcaster. It was not uncommon during that period for newscasters to announce, to deliver commercials and to host game shows; [[Douglas Edwards]], [[John Charles Daly|John Daly]], [[John Cameron Swayze]] and [[Walter Cronkite]] hosted game shows as well. Wallace also hosted the [[pilot episode]] of ''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. He also made commercials for a variety of products, including [[Procter & Gamble]]'s Fluffo brand shortening.{{Citation needed |date=May 2023}} In the summer of 1959, he was the host on the NBC game show ''[[Who Pays?]]''.<ref name="brooks">{{cite book|last1=Brooks|first1=Tim|last2=Marsh|first2=Earle|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present|date=1999|publisher=The Ballentine Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=0-345-42923-0|page=1114|edition=7th}}</ref>
[[File:Mike Wallace Interviews 1957.JPG|thumb|Publicity photo for the television program ''Mike Wallace Interviews'', 1957]] 
Wallace also hosted two late-night interview programs, ''Night Beat'' (broadcast in New York City during 1955–1957, only on [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]]'s [[WNYW|WABD]])<ref>{{cite magazine |date=January 2, 1957 |page=18 |title=Mike Wallace Packs Lot of Trade Interest In Second-Best Ratings |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-01/page/n18/mode/1up?view=theater |accessdate=May 21, 2023 }}</ref> and ''[[The Mike Wallace Interview]]'' on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in 1957–1958. See also ''[[Profiles in Courage]]'', section: [[Profiles in Courage#Authorship|Authorship controversy]].

In 1959, [[Louis Lomax]] told Wallace about the [[Nation of Islam]]. Lomax and Wallace produced a five-part documentary about the organization, ''[[The Hate That Hate Produced]]'', which aired during the week of July 13, 1959. The program marked the first time that most [[white people]] heard about the Nation, its leader, [[Elijah Muhammad]], and its charismatic spokesman, [[Malcolm X]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Joseph|first1=Peniel E. | author-link=Peniel E. Joseph|title=Waiting 'til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America |url=https://archive.org/details/waitingtilmidnig00jose|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=0-8050-7539-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/waitingtilmidnig00jose/page/21 21]–23}}</ref>

By the early 1960s, Wallace's primary income came from commercials for [[Parliament (cigarettes)|Parliament]] cigarettes, touting their "man's mildness" (he had a contract with [[Philip Morris USA|Philip Morris]] to pitch their cigarettes as a result of the company's original sponsorship of ''The Mike Wallace Interview'').

Between June 1961 and June 1962, Wallace and [[Joyce Davidson]] hosted a New York-based nightly interview program for [[Westinghouse Broadcasting]]<ref name="barbra-archives.com">{{cite web|url=http://barbra-archives.com/tv/60s/pm_east_streisand.html|title=Barbra Streisand Archives – TV – P.M. East with Mike Wallace 1961–1962|website=barbra-archives.com|access-date=2012-05-05|archive-date=2011-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707212349/http://barbra-archives.com/tv/60s/pm_east_streisand.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> called ''[[PM East]]'' for one hour; it was paired with the half-hour ''[[PM West]]'', which was hosted by ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' television critic Terrence O'Flaherty. Westinghouse syndicated the series to television stations that it owned and to a few other cities. [[WFAA]] channel 8 in Dallas, Texas carried it, but viewers in other southwestern states, in the Deep South and in the metropolitan areas of [[Chicago]] and [[Philadelphia]] were unable to watch it.

A frequent guest on the ''PM East'' segment was [[Barbra Streisand]], though only the audio of some of her conversations with Wallace survives,<ref name="barbra-archives.com"/> as Westinghouse wiped the videotapes and kinescopes were never made or were thrown away.

Also in the early 1960s, Wallace was the host of the [[David Wolper]]–produced ''[[Biography (TV series)|Biography]]'' series.

After his elder son's death in 1962, Wallace decided to get back into news and hosted an early version of ''[[The Early Show|CBS Morning News]]'' from 1963 through 1966. In 1964 he interviewed [[Malcolm X]], who, half-jokingly, commented "I probably am a dead man already."<ref>Rebroadcast on [[CNN]], ''[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6871591288949111953 Larry King Live]'' during an interview with Mike Wallace.</ref> The black leader was [[Assassination of Malcolm X|assassinated]] a few months later in February 1965.

===1960s–2000s: ''60 Minutes''===
[[File:60 minutes 1968.JPG|thumb|left|Wallace and [[Harry Reasoner]] on the ''[[60 Minutes]]'' premiere, 1968]]
[[File:President Ronald Reagan during an interview with Mike Wallace.jpg|thumb|left|Wallace interviewing [[President of the United States|President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1989]]
Wallace's career as the lead reporter on ''60 Minutes'' led to some run-ins with the people interviewed and claims of misconduct by female colleagues. Wallace was critical of [[feminism]]. In the 1950s, Wallace was quoted as saying, "It helps if a wife walks one step behind her husband. European women have that by-your-leave-my-lord attitude that you just don’t find in American women. They’re infinitely more self-absorbed. European women let the men run things and quite right they are too!" When questioned in a 1977 interview with ''[[Good Housekeeping]]'', Wallace claimed to "stand by every word" of what he had said, but by 1979, he had softened that view somewhat. He also claimed feminism made women more unattractive, saying, "So many feminists in our business lose that soft, round, appealing quality—I don’t know how else to define it."<ref name=klein/>

While interviewing [[Louis Farrakhan]], Wallace alleged that [[Corruption in Nigeria|Nigeria]] was the [[most corrupt country in the world]]. Farrakhan immediately shot back that Americans were in no moral position to judge, declaring "Has Nigeria dropped an atomic bomb that killed people in [[Little Boy|Hiroshima]] and [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Nagasaki]]? Have they killed off millions of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]?" "Can you think of a more corrupt country?" asked Wallace. "I'm living in one," said Farrakhan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdL6YDGfdAQ |title=Minister Farrakhan on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace|date=5 August 2015 |via=YouTube |access-date=5 May 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Wallace interviewed General [[William Westmoreland]] for the CBS special ''[[The Uncounted Enemy|The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception]]'' that aired on January 23, 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/U/htmlU/uncountedene/uncountedene.htm |title=The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021002045342/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/U/htmlU/uncountedene/uncountedene.htm |archive-date=2002-10-02 |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=[[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]}}</ref> Westmoreland then [[Westmoreland v. CBS|sued Wallace and CBS]] for [[libel]]. The trial ended in February 1985 when the case was settled out of court just before it would have gone to the jury. Each side agreed to pay its own costs and attorney fees, and CBS issued a clarification of its intent with respect to the original story.

In 1981, Wallace was forced to apologize for a racial slur he had made about Blacks and Hispanics. During a break while preparing a ''60 Minutes'' report on a bank that had been accused of duping low-income Californians, Wallace was caught on tape joking that "You bet your ass [the contracts are] hard to read if you're reading them over the watermelon or the tacos!"<ref>{{cite news |title=Michigan Newsman Apologizes for Racist Remarks |newspaper=[[Miami Herald]] |date=1987-05-04 |pages=13A}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Howard |author1-link=Howard Rosenberg |title=Is CBS News Guilty of Andy Rooney-Bashing? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-10-ca-281-story.html |access-date=February 26, 2022 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 10, 1990}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Cal |author-link=Cal Thomas |title=In Andy Rooney Case, CBS Loses Enthusiasm for Free Speech |newspaper=[[St. Paul Pioneer Press]] |date=1990-02-19 |pages=11A}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rader|first=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwOYQFjw-KgC&pg=PA209|title=Mike Wallace: A Life|date=2012|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4668-0225-4|language=en}}</ref>

Attention was again drawn to that incident several years later when protests were raised after Wallace was selected to deliver a university commencement address during a ceremony within which [[Nelson Mandela]] was awarded an honorary doctorate in absentia for his fight against racism. Wallace initially called the protesters' complaint "absolute foolishness".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Group Protests Mike Wallace as Commencement Speaker|journal=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|date=1987-04-16|pages=C/3}}</ref> However, he subsequently apologized for his earlier remark and added that when he had been a student decades earlier on the same university campus, "though it had never really caused me any serious difficulty here ... I was keenly aware of being Jewish, and quick to detect slights, real or imagined.... We Jews felt a kind of kinship [with blacks]", but "Lord knows, we weren't riding the same slave ship."<ref name=Morganfield>{{cite news|last=Morganfield|first=Robbie|title=Veteran Journalist Mike Wallace, Calling Remarks He Made Six Years Ago "Arguably Racist," Plans To Apologize Saturday When He Speaks at the University of Michigan's Spring Commencement|newspaper=USA Today|date=1987-05-01}}</ref>

[[File:Mike Wallace (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Wallace in 2007]]
Wallace's reputation has been retrospectively affected by his admission that he had harassed female colleagues at ''60 Minutes'' over many years. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was known for putting his hand on the backs of his female CBS News co-workers and unsnapping the clasps on their bras, as well as inquiring about their sex lives. Wallace admitted this in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 1991: 'It wasn't a secret. I have done that'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-cbs-news-sexual-harassment-fallout-20180731-story.html|title=CBS allegations just the latest in long history of sexual harassment claims in network news|last=Battaglio|first=Stephen|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=31 July 2018 |access-date=2019-06-30}}</ref> In 2018, claims of sexual misconduct at ''60 Minutes'' led to the resignation of executive producer [[Jeff Fager]], who had assumed the role of Executive Producer following the retirement of the show's creator, [[Don Hewitt]]. He resigned several months after a July 27 story by [[Ronan Farrow]] in ''[[The New Yorker]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/08/06/les-moonves-and-cbs-face-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct|title=Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct|last=Farrow|first=Ronan|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2018-07-27|access-date=2019-06-30|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> Not only did Farrow's story accuse Fager of ignoring and enabling misconduct by several high-ranking male producers at ''60 Minutes'', but Farrow also cited former employees who accused Fager himself of misconduct.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/60-minutes-chief-jeff-fager-steps-down-1132722|title='60 Minutes' Chief Jeff Fager Steps Down|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=12 September 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-06-30}}</ref>

Former ''60 Minutes'' producer Ira Rosen wrote that, in addition to the aforementioned sexual harassment, Wallace would also verbally abuse his colleagues. Rosen painted the ''60 Minutes'' working environment during his tenure as a toxic workplace with frequent incidents of sexual and verbal harassment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/books/review/ticking-clock-60-minutes-ira-rosen.html|title=Was '60 Minutes' TV's Most Toxic Workplace?|last=Windolf|first=Jim|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2021-02-16|accessdate=2025-09-24}}</ref>

On March 14, 2006, Wallace announced his retirement from ''60 Minutes'' after 37 years with the program. He continued working for CBS News as a "Correspondent Emeritus", albeit at a reduced pace.<ref>[http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6315881.html?display=Breaking+News Mike Wallace Retiring From 60 Minutes], ''Broadcasting & Cable'', March 14, 2006.</ref> In August 2006, Wallace interviewed Iranian President [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/60minutes/main1879867.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060815110439/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/60minutes/main1879867.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 15, 2006 |title=Iranian Leader Opens Up – 60 Minutes |publisher=CBS News |date=2006-08-13 |access-date=2010-08-31}}</ref> Wallace's last CBS interview was with retired baseball star [[Roger Clemens]] in January 2008 on ''60 Minutes''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-clemenswallace010608 |title=Clemens drowns in hopelessness – MLB – Yahoo! Sports |date=7 January 2008 |publisher=Sports.yahoo.com |access-date=2010-08-31}}</ref> Wallace's previously vigorous health ([[Morley Safer]] described him in 2006 as "having the energy of a man half his age") began to fail, and in June 2008 his son [[Chris Wallace|Chris]] said that his father would not be returning to television.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2008/6/6/mike-wallace-on-the-comeback.html|title=Mike Wallace, on the Comeback|work=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |date=2008-06-06|access-date=2010-08-31}}</ref>

Wallace expressed regret for not having secured an interview with First Lady [[Pat Nixon]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-03-22-wallace-press-club_x.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821060521/http://www.usatoday.com:80/life/people/2006-03-22-wallace-press-club_x.htm |archive-date=August 21, 2011 |title=The one big interview Mike Wallace never landed |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |access-date=2023-12-11 |date=March 22, 2006 |newspaper=[[USA Today]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Mike Wallace Buff Cobb 1951.JPG|thumb|Wallace with his second wife, [[Buff Cobb]], in 1951.]]
[[File:Mike and Mary Wallace.jpg|thumb|Mike and his soon-to-be fourth wife, Mary, on [[Martha's Vineyard]] in 1985.]]
Wallace had two children with his first wife, Norma Kaphan.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QH7MftSWNUcC&q=Norma+Kaphan&pg=PA284 Stars of David: ''Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish'' By Abigail Pogrebin] retrieved March 30, 2013</ref> Their younger son, [[Chris Wallace|Chris]], is also a journalist. Their elder son, Peter, died at age 19 in a mountain-climbing accident in [[Greece]] in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yale64.org/remembrances/wallace_p.htm|title=In Memoriam: Peter Jon Wallace|website=Website of the Yale Class of 1964|access-date=2019-06-22}}</ref>

From 1949 to 1954, Wallace was married to his second wife, [[Buff Cobb|Patrizia "Buff" Cobb]], an actress and stepdaughter of [[Gladys Swarthout]]. The couple hosted the ''Mike and Buff Show'' on CBS television in the early 1950s. They also hosted ''All Around Town'' in 1951 and 1952.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nelson |first1=Valerie J. |title=Buff Cobb dies; actress, theatrical producer was once married to Mike Wallace |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-buff-cobb-20100722-story.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922022719/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jul-22-la-me-buff-cobb-20100722-story.html |archive-date=September 22, 2020|access-date=December 11, 2023 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url-status=live |date=July 22, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> She died in 2010.<ref name="NYT obit"/>

He was married to his third wife, Lorraine Perigord, from 1955 until their divorce in 1986.<ref name="NYT obit"/>

The same year as his divorce from his third wife (1986), he married his fourth and final wife, Mary Yates, the widow of one of his best friends and television producer, Ted Yates, who died in 1967 while on assignment for NBC News during the [[Six-Day War]].<ref name="NYT obit"/>

In addition to his two sons, Wallace had a stepdaughter, Pauline Dora, and two stepsons, Eames and Angus Yates.<ref name="NYT obit"/>

For many years, Wallace unknowingly suffered from [[Major depressive disorder|depression]]. In an article that he wrote for ''[[Guideposts]]'', Wallace related, "I'd had days when I felt blue and it took more of an effort than usual to get through the things I had to do."<ref name="Guideposts">{{cite web |last1=Wallace |first1=Mike |title=Mike Wallace on Coping with Depression (Mike Wallace's Darkest Hour) |url=https://guideposts.org/positive-living/health-and-wellness/coping-with-illness/guideposts-classics-mike-wallace-on-coping-with-depression/ |website=[[Guideposts]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413155520/http://www.guideposts.org/inspirational-stories/mike-wallace-battles-depression?page=0,0 |archive-date=April 13, 2012 |date=January 2002 |url-status=live}}</ref> His condition worsened in 1984 after General William Westmoreland filed a [[United States dollar|$]]120 million libel lawsuit against Wallace and CBS over statements that were made in the documentary ''[[The Uncounted Enemy|The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception]]'' (1982). Westmoreland claimed that the documentary made him appear as if he had manipulated [[military intelligence|intelligence]]. The lawsuit, ''[[Westmoreland v. CBS]]'', was later dropped after CBS issued a statement explaining they never intended to portray the general as disloyal or unpatriotic. During the proceedings, Wallace was hospitalized with what was diagnosed as exhaustion. His wife Mary forced him to go to a doctor, who diagnosed Wallace with clinical depression. He was prescribed an [[antidepressant]] and underwent [[psychotherapy]]. Out of a belief that it would be perceived as weakness, Wallace kept his depression a secret until he revealed it in an interview with [[Bob Costas]] on Costas' late-night talk show, ''[[Later (talk show)|Later]]''.<ref name=Guideposts/> In a later interview with colleague [[Morley Safer]], he admitted having attempted suicide circa 1986.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywood.com/news/Wallace_Admits_Suicide_Attempt/3501570|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125094335/http://www.hollywood.com/news/Wallace_Admits_Suicide_Attempt/3501570|url-status=dead|title=Mike Wallace Admits Suicide Attempt |website= Hollywood.com|date=25 January 2013|archive-date=25 January 2013}}</ref>

Wallace received a [[pacemaker]] more than 20 years before his death, and underwent [[triple bypass surgery]] in January 2008.<ref name="NYT obit"/>  He lived in a care facility the last several years of his life.<ref name="NYT obit"/> In 2011, [[CNN]] host [[Larry King]] visited him and reported that he was in good spirits, but that his physical condition was noticeably declining.

===Politics===
Wallace considered himself a political moderate. He was a friend of [[Nancy Reagan]] and her family for over 75 years.<ref name="Reagan">{{cite news|publisher=Fox News |title=Reactions to the death of correspondent Mike Wallace |date=April 8, 2012 |url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/08/reactions-to-death-correspondent-mike-wallace |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20120512011914/https://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/08/reactions-to-death-correspondent-mike-wallace |archive-date=May 12, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Fox News said, "He didn't fit the stereotype of the Eastern liberal journalist." Interviewed by his son on ''Fox News Sunday'', he was asked if he understood why people feel disaffection toward mainstream news media. "They think they're wide-eyed commies; liberals," Mike replied, a notion he dismissed as "damned foolishness".<ref name="Fox obit">{{cite news|publisher=Fox News|title=Famed CBS journalist Mike Wallace dies at 93|date=April 8, 2012|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/famed-cbs-journalist-mike-wallace-dies-at-93}}</ref>

In a 1979 interview with ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' magazine, Wallace lamented the idea that he was regarded by peers as the "in-house conservative" at CBS News, saying he had "liberal inclinations" and had come from a family of "[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] Democrats." However, covering [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Spiro Agnew]] on the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968]] presidential campaign trail made him more sympathetic to their points of view, and Wallace developed positive relationships with both men, and was also close with [[Henry Kissinger]] and [[William F. Buckley]]. Nixon wanted Wallace to be his press secretary.<ref name=klein>{{cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1979/04/mike-wallace-60-minutes-interview/|title=Mike Wallace: The Mother Jones Interview|newspaper=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]|date=October 1979|last=Klein|first=Jeffrey|accessdate=2025-09-24}}</ref>

Wallace rejected the notion that the United States was a structurally flawed society, citing his humble upbringing and later success (as well as the success of ''60 Minutes'') as proof the [[American Dream]] worked. He was critical of socialism and government intervention in the economy, calling the [[United Kingdom]] a "sad country to visit" due to its stagnating economy, which he blamed on Britain at the time being a "[[planned economy]]", and warned the United States would soon follow down the same path.<ref name=klein/>

==Death==
Wallace died at his residence in [[New Canaan, Connecticut]], from natural causes on April 7, 2012.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref>{{cite news|last=Safer|first=Morely|title=Remembering Mike Wallace|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57410999/remembering-mike-wallace-1918-2012/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408204754/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57410999/remembering-mike-wallace-1918-2012/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 8, 2012 |access-date=April 8, 2012|work=CBS News}}</ref> The night after Wallace's death, [[Morley Safer]] announced his death on ''60 Minutes''. On April 15, 2012, a full episode of ''60 Minutes'' aired that was dedicated to remembering Wallace's life.<ref>{{cite web|last=Tanglao|first=Leezel|title=Mike Wallace Dies|website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/mike-wallace-dies-60-minutes-correspondent-93/story?id=16096195 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hayes|first= Ashley |title=Veteran newsman Mike Wallace dead at 93|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/08/us/obit-mike-wallace/index.html|work=CNN|date=April 9, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Silver|first=Stephen|title=60 Minutes Says Goodbye to Mike Wallace|url=http://www.technologytell.com/entertainment/256/60-minutes-says-goodbye-to-mike-wallace/|work=EntertainmentTell|publisher=www.technologytell.com|access-date=2012-04-17|archive-date=2012-04-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418183001/http://www.technologytell.com/entertainment/256/60-minutes-says-goodbye-to-mike-wallace/|url-status=dead}}</ref> He is buried at West Chop Cemetery in [[Tisbury, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mvtimes.com/2012/07/18/family-friends-attend-mike-wallaces-burial-west-chop-11624/|title=Family and friends attend Mike Wallace's burial in West Chop|first=Nelson|last=Sigelman|newspaper=Martha Vineyard Times|date=2012-07-18|access-date=April 27, 2023}}</ref>

==Awards==
In 1989, Wallace was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web|title=1989 U. of Pennsylvania graduation program|url=http://www.archives.upenn.edu/primdocs/upg/upg7/upg7_1989.pdf|access-date=22 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185210/http://www.archives.upenn.edu/primdocs/upg/upg7/upg7_1989.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Wallace's professional honors included 21 [[Emmy Award]]s,<ref name="NYT obit"/> among them a report just weeks before the [[September 11 attacks]] for an investigation on the former [[Soviet Union]]'s [[smallpox]] program and concerns about [[terrorism]]. He also won three [[Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award]]s, three [[George Foster Peabody Award]]s, a Robert E. Sherwood Award, a Distinguished Achievement Award from the [[University of Southern California|University of Southern California School of Journalism]], the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]],<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref> and a [[Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award]] in the international broadcast category. In September 2003, Wallace received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy, his 20th.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} Most recently, on October 13, 2007, Wallace was awarded the University of Illinois Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism.
* 1991: [[Paul White (journalist)|Paul White]] Award, [[Radio Television Digital News Association]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |title=Paul White Award |publisher=[[Radio Television Digital News Association]] |access-date=2014-05-27 |archive-date=2013-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225052416/http://rtdna.org/content/paul_white_award#.U4FBHS8-Ngc |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* 1999: [[Gerald Loeb Award]] for Network and Large-Market Television for an investigative piece on the international pharmaceutical industry<ref name=NYT-19990526>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/26/business/the-media-business-reporting-prizes-are-announced.html |title=The media business: reporting prizes are announced |date=May 26, 1999 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 6, 2019}}</ref>

==Fictional portrayals==
Wallace was played by actor [[Christopher Plummer]] in the 1999 feature film ''[[The Insider (film)|The Insider]]''. The screenplay was based on the ''[[Vanity Fair magazine|Vanity Fair]]'' article "[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (article)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]" by [[Marie Brenner]], which was about Wallace caving in to corporate pressure to kill a story about [[Jeffrey Wigand]], a [[whistle-blower]] trying to expose [[Brown & Williamson]]'s dangerous business practices in the manufacture of cigarettes. Wallace disliked his on-screen portrayal and maintained that he was in fact very eager to have Wigand's story aired in full.

Wallace was played by actor Stephen Rowe in the stage version of ''[[Frost/Nixon (play)|Frost/Nixon]]'', but he was omitted from the screenplay of the [[Frost/Nixon (film)|2008 film adaptation]] and thus the movie itself. In the 1999 American broadcast television movie ''[[Hugh Hefner: Unauthorized]]'', Wallace is portrayed by [[Mark Harelik]]. In the film ''[[A Face in the Crowd (film)|A Face in the Crowd]]'' (1957), Wallace portrayed himself. In 2020, Greg Dehm played Wallace in episode 6 of the second season of ''[[Manhunt (2017 TV series)|''Manhunt'']]'', re-creating Wallace's 1996 interview on ''60 Minutes'' with [[Richard Jewell]], the security guard who discovered a bomb at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park in July 1996. In the film [[The Apprentice (2024 film)|''The Apprentice'']] (2024), Wallace was portrayed by [[Stuart Hughes]].

==See also==
* ''[[20th Century with Mike Wallace|The 20th Century with Mike Wallace]]'' (A documentary television program)
* ''[[The Hate That Hate Produced]]'' (1959){{dash}} A television documentary produced by Mike Wallace and [[Louis Lomax]]
* ''[[The Mike Wallace Interview]]''
** ''[[Profiles in Courage#Authorship|Profiles in Courage]]'' authorship controversy on ''The Mike Wallace Interview''
* ''[[Mike Wallace Is Here]]'', a 2019 biographical documentary film directed by Avi Belkin
* ''[[Westmoreland v. CBS]]''{{dash}} In which case Mr. Wallace is among the defendants

== Further reading ==

===Autobiographies===
* {{cite book|title=Close Encounters: Mike Wallace's Own Story|location=New York|publisher=William Morrow & Company Inc.|year=1984|isbn=0-688-01116-0|first1=Mike|last1=Wallace|first2=Gary Paul|last2=Gates|url=https://archive.org/details/lccn_068801116/}}
* {{cite book|title=Between You and Me: A Memoir|location=New York|publisher=Hyperion|year=2005|isbn=1-4013-0029-4|first1=Mike|last1=Wallace|first2=Gary Paul|last2=Gates}}

===Biographies===
* {{cite book|last=Rader|first=Peter|title=Mike Wallace: A Life|location=New York|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|year=2012|isbn=978-0-312-54339-6}}.

===Magazine Articles===
* {{cite magazine |last=Cooper |first=Rand Richards |date=September 27, 2019 |title=From Muckraking to Clickbait: 'Mike Wallace Is Here' |magazine=Commonweal Magazine |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/muckraking-clickbait}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mike Wallace (journalist)|Mike Wallace}}
* {{IMDb name|908794|Mike Wallace}}
* {{NYTtopic|people/w/mike_wallace|Mike Wallace}}
* {{C-SPAN|1344}}
*{{The Interviews name|mike-wallace}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABSuJ92J7Ws&list=PLRqOW3sjwjhOPCcMcnSE6V4fit1ZLmleA Mike Wallace] in ''Television in America: An Autobiography'', a series by [[CUNY TV]]
* [https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll90 ''The Mike Wallace Interview''] — Archives of his New York interview show from the late 1950s in the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] (68 in total, some are audio-only)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090725023707/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wallacemike/wallacemike.htm Mike Wallace (archived 2009)] in The [[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]
* [https://www.npr.org/2005/11/08/4992445/mike-wallace-interviewer-you-and-me Mike Wallace, Interviewer: 'You and Me'] on ''[[Fresh Air]]'' on [[NPR]], November 8, 2005
* [http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/04/09/archives/then-and-now/from-our-archives-one-on-one-with-mike-wallace.html From Our Archives: One-on-One with Mike Wallace], ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'', April 9, 2012
* [http://vimeo.com/40252066 Mike Wallace interview / William Waterway (1986)] on [[Vimeo]]

{{GeraldLoebAward Television}}
{{1990 Television Hall of Fame}}
{{60 Minutes}}
{{Authority control}}

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