Mike Wallace

Mike Wallace

(1957)
Born Myron Leon Wallace
May 9, 1918
Brookline, Massachusetts
Died April 7, 2012 (aged 93)
New Canaan, Connecticut
Education Brookline High School
Alma mater University of Michigan (B.A.)
Occupation Journalist, game show host, actor
Years active 1939–2011
Notable credit(s) 60 Minutes (1968–2006; 2008)
Religion Judaism
Spouse(s) Norma Kaphan
(m. 1940–1948; divorced; 2 children)
Buff Cobb
(m. 1949–1955; divorced)
Lorraine Périgord
(m. 1955–1986; divorced)
Mary Yates
(m. 1986–2012; his death)
Children Peter Wallace (died 1962)
Chris Wallace
Parent(s) Frank Wallace
Zina Sharfman Wallace

Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his sixty-year career. He was one of the original correspondents for CBS' 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.

Early life

Wallace, whose family's surname was originally Wallik,[1] was born in Brookline, Massachusetts,[1] to Russian Jewish immigrant parents,[1][2] Frank and Zina Sharfman Wallace. His father was a grocer and insurance broker.[3] Wallace attended Brookline High School, graduating in 1935.[4] He graduated from the University of Michigan four years later with a Bachelor of Arts. 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.[5]

Career

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. His first radio job was as newscaster and continuity writer for WOOD Radio in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This lasted until 1940, when he moved to WXYZ Radio in Detroit, Michigan, as an announcer. He then became a freelance radio worker in Chicago, Illinois.

Wallace enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943 and served as a communications officer during World War II on the USS Anthedon, 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. Wallace returned to Chicago after being discharged in 1946.

Wallace announced for the radio shows Ned Jordan:Secret Agent, Sky King, The Green Hornet,[6] Curtain Time,[6] and The Spike Jones Show.[6] It is sometimes reported Wallace announced for The Lone Ranger, but Wallace said he never did.[7]

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 their 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".

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.[8]

Wallace hosted a number of game shows 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 (the term then used) to announce, do commercials and 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. He also did commercials for a variety of products, including Procter & Gamble's Fluffo brand shortening.

Wallace also hosted two late-night interview programs, Night Beat (broadcast in New York during 1955–1957, only on DuMont's WABD) and The Mike Wallace Interview on ABC in 1957–1958. See also Profiles in Courage, section: 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 was the first time most white people heard about the Nation, its leader, Elijah Muhammad, and its charismatic spokesman, Malcolm X.[9]

By the early 1960s, Wallace's primary income came from commercials for Parliament cigarettes, touting their "man's mildness" (he had a contract with Philip Morris to pitch their cigarettes as a result of their original sponsorship of The Mike Wallace Interview). Between June 1961 and June 1962 he hosted a New York-based nightly interview program for Westinghouse Broadcasting[10] called PM East for one hour; it was paired with PM West, 30 minutes, hosted by San Francisco Chronicle television critic Terrence O'Flaherty. Westinghouse syndicated the series to television stations it owned and to a few other cities. People in southern and southwestern states were unable to watch it. A frequent guest on the PM East segment was Barbra Streisand. Only the audio of some of her conversations with Wallace survives.[10] Westinghouse wiped the videotapes. Also in the early 1960s, Wallace was the host of the David Wolper-produced Biography series. After his elder son's death in 1962, however, Wallace decided to get back into news, and hosted an early version of The CBS Morning News, from 1963 through 1966. In 1964 he interviewed Malcolm X, who, half-jokingly, commented "I probably am a dead man already."[11]

In 1967, Wallace anchored the documentary CBS Reports: The Homosexuals. "The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous," Wallace said in the piece. "He is not interested or capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. His sex life, his love life, consists of a series of one-chance encounters at the clubs and bars he inhabits. And even on the streets of the city—the pick-up, the one night stand, these are characteristics of the homosexual relationship."[12] In later years, Wallace came to regret his participation in the episode. "I should have known better," he said in 1992.[13] Speaking in 1996, Wallace stated, "That is — God help us — what our understanding was of the homosexual lifestyle a mere twenty-five years ago because nobody was out of the closet and because that's what we heard from doctors — that's what [psychiatrist Charles] Socarides told us, it was a matter of shame."[13]

60 Minutes

Wallace and Harry Reasoner on the 60 Minutes premiere, 1968.

His career as the lead reporter on 60 Minutes led to some run-ins with the people interviewed. While interviewing Louis Farrakhan, Wallace alleged that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world. Farrakhan immediately shot back, declaring "Nigeria didn't bomb Hiroshima or slaughter millions of Indians!" "Can you think of a more corrupt country?" asked Wallace. "I am living in one," said Farrakhan.

Wallace interviewed Gen. William Westmoreland for the CBS special The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception, aired January 23, 1982.[14] Westmoreland then 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's 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 watermelon or tacos.[15][16] Attention was re-drawn to that incident several years later when protests were raised against Wallace's being selected to give a university commencement address at the same ceremony during which Nelson Mandela was being awarded an honorary doctorate in absentia for his fight against racism. Wallace initially called the protestors' complaint "absolute foolishness."[17] However, he subsequently again 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."[18]

Wallace expressed regret in regard to the one big interview he was never able to secure: First Lady Pat Nixon.[19]

Correspondent emeritus

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.[20] In August 2006, Wallace interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[21] Wallace's last CBS interview was with retired baseball star Roger Clemens in January 2008 on "60 Minutes."[22] 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 said that his father would not be returning to television.[23]

Personal life

Wallace in 2007

Wallace had two children with his first wife, Norma Kaphan.[24] Wallace's younger son, Chris, is also a journalist. His elder son, Peter, died at age 19 in a mountain-climbing accident in Greece in 1962.[25]

For many years, Mike Wallace unknowingly suffered from depression. In an article 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." It worsened in 1984, after General William Westmoreland filed a $120 million libel lawsuit against Wallace and CBS over statements they made in the documentary The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception (1982). Westmoreland claimed the documentary made him appear as if he manipulated 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 his late-night talk show.[26] In a later interview with colleague Morley Safer, he admitted having attempted suicide circa 1986.[27]

Wallace received a pacemaker more than 20 years before his death, and underwent triple bypass surgery in January 2008.[1] He lived in a "care facility" the last several years of his life.[1] In 2011, CNN host Larry King visited him and reported that he was in good spirits, but his physical condition was noticeably declining.

Wallace considered himself a political moderate. He was friends with Nancy Reagan and her family for over 75 years.[28] Nixon wanted him for his press secretary. 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 a disaffection from the mainstream media. "They think they're wide-eyed commies; liberals," Mike replied, a notion he dismissed as "damned foolishness."[29]

Death

Wallace died[1][30][31][32] at his New Canaan, Connecticut residence on April 7, 2012. He was 93. The night after his death, Morley Safer announced his death on 60 Minutes. On April 15, 2012, a full episode of 60 Minutes aired which was dedicated to remembering his life.[33][34][35]

Awards

Wallace's professional honors included 21 Emmy Awards,[1] among them a report just weeks before the 9/11 terrorist 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 Awards, three George Foster Peabody Awards, a Robert E. Sherwood Award, a Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Southern California School of Journalism and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international broadcast category. In September 2003, Wallace received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy, his 20th. Most recently, on October 13, 2007, Wallace was awarded the University of Illinois Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism.

Fictional portrayals

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 was about Wallace caving in to corporate pressure to kill a story about Dr.Jeffrey Wigand, a whistle-blower trying to expose Brown & Williamson's dangerous business practices. Wallace, for his part, disliked his on-screen portrayal and maintained 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, but he was omitted from the screenplay of the 2008 film adaptation and thus the movie itself. In the TV movie Hefner: Unauthorized from 1999, Wallace is portrayed by Mark Harelik. In the film A Face in the Crowd (1957), Wallace portrayed himself.

Biography

Autobiographies

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Tim Weiner (April 8, 2012). "Mike Wallace, CBS Pioneer of '60 Minutes,' Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-04-08.
  2. ↑ 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
  3. ↑ H.W. Wilson Company (1978). Current biography yearbook. H. W. Wilson Co. p. 418. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  4. ↑ Brozan, Nadine. "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. 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."
  5. ↑ Notable Alumni of ZBT Fraternity
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 John Dunning (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. p. 482. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.
  7. ↑ "U.S. and Iraqi Forces Launch Operation Swarmer; Interview With Mike Wallace". CNN. March 16, 2006.
  8. ↑ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 1116. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
  9. ↑ Joseph, Peniel E. (2006). Waiting 'til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America. New York: Henry Holt and Company. pp. 21–23. ISBN 0-8050-7539-9.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 This page about Streisand confirms the video of the show is gone.
  11. ↑ Rebroadcast on CNN, Larry King Live during an interview with Mike Wallace.
  12. ↑ ‘The Homosexuals’: Mike Wallace’s controversial 1967 CBS report gets second viewing online | The Cutline - Yahoo! News
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Alwood, Edward (1996). Straight News. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 0231084374.
  14. ↑ The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception
  15. ↑ "Michigan Newsman Apologizes for Racist Remarks". Miami Herald: 13A. 1987-05-04.
  16. ↑ Thomas, Cal (1990-02-19). "In Andy Rooney Case, CBS Loses Enthusiasm for Free Speech". St. Paul Pioneer Press: 11A.
  17. ↑ "Group Protests Mike Wallace as Commencement Speaker". Atlanta Journal-Constitution: C/3. 1987-04-16.
  18. ↑ Morganfield, Robbie (1987-05-01). "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". USA Today.
  19. ↑ "The one big interview Mike Wallace never landed". USA Today. Associated Press. March 22, 2006. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  20. ↑ Mike Wallace Retiring From 60 Minutes, Broadcasting & Cable, March 14, 2006.
  21. ↑ Font size Print E-mail Share 3479 Comments Page 1 of 6 (2006-08-13). "Iranian Leader Opens Up – 60 Minutes". CBS News. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  22. ↑ "Clemens drowns in hopelessness – MLB – Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  23. ↑ "Mike Wallace, on the Comeback". U.S. News & World Report. 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  24. ↑ Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish By Abigail Pogrebin retrieved March 30, 2013
  25. ↑ Katie Couric. "Mike Wallace, man of the hour". msnbc.com. March 14, 2006.
  26. ↑ Mike Wallace Battles Depression – Guideposts
  27. ↑ Mike Wallace Admits Suicide Attempt|Hollywood.com
  28. ↑ "Reactions to the death of correspondent Mike Wallace". Fox News. April 8, 2012.
  29. ↑ "Famed CBS journalist Mike Wallace dies at 93". Fox News. April 8, 2012.
  30. ↑ . CBS News Sunday Morning. April 8, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  31. ↑ Face the Nation (CBS). April 8, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help);
  32. ↑ Safer, Morely. "Remembering Mike Wallace". CBS News. Retrieved 4-8-2012. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  33. ↑ Tanglao, Leezel. "Mike Wallace Dies".
  34. ↑ Hayes, Ashley (April 9, 2012). "Veteran newsman Mike Wallace dead at 93". CNN.
  35. ↑ Silver, Stephen. "60 Minutes Says Goodbye to Mike Wallace". EntertainmentTell. www.technologytell.com. Retrieved 2012-04-17.
  36. ↑ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Retrieved 2014-05-27.

External links

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