Notable Mike Wallace TV Moments

TV journalist and longtime 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace died over the weekend at age 93. Over his career, which began in the 1940s, Wallace interviewed pretty much everyone: Ayn Rand, Roman Polanski, Ayatollah Khomeini, Jack Kevorkian, Leona Helmsley, Yasser Arafat, Ted Turner. He delighted us with his relentless questioning and ambush interviews. He made a great pitchman for Parliament cigarettes and may be responsible for Bill O’Reilly going into TV.

Bill O’Reilly says we can blame Mike Wallace for Bill O’Reilly’s media existence.

Louis Farrakhan tells Wallace he should just keep quiet.

Wallace asks Oprah Winfrey about finding a “fellah”—before Oprah was Oprah.

Wallace talks “B12 shots” with Roger Clemens and makes him “swear” that he never took steroids.

Wallace says Parliament cigarettes are “a clean, satisfying smoke.” And then interviews Salvador Dali.

In Wallace’s CBS segment on homosexuality in 1967, he noted that “Americans consider homosexuality more harmful to society than adultery, abortion, prostitution.” Applauded by some, derided by others, nevertheless, the episode is part of the Wallace canon. He was later said to regret the lack of balance and sympathy.

Wallace explains the difference between “self-involved” and “self-absorbed” to a teary Barbra Streisand.