Mike Wallace was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Russian-Jewish parents and went on to graduate from the University of Michigan in 1940 with a bachelor's degree. During WW II, Wallace served as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy. He returned to Chicago after the war, and became a news reporter for radio station WMAQ.
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.
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. He has four grandchildren and recently became a great-grandfather.
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. He also did commercials for a variety of products, including Fluffo (brand) shortening.
During that period, Wallace also hosted two late-night interview programs, Night Beat 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 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.
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"
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.
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".
Mike Wallace interviewed Gen. William Westmoreland for the CBS special The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception. Westmoreland then sued Wallace and CBS for libel. In February 1985, while the case was still in court, CBS offered an apology to settle with Westmoreland after their internal investigation determined that the producers of the show had not used the proper standards of fairness. Westmoreland accepted the apology to settle the case.
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.
On August 13, 2006, Wallace interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 60 Minutes. According to viewer e-mails and comments left on the 60 Minutes message boards, the interview was widely criticized for being condescending, biased, and unprofessional. Others supported Wallace's efforts to keep the Iranian President on point and not allow him to use the interview as a political platform.
