Mike Wallace (journalist),Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace

Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace (born May 9, 1918) is an American journalist, former game show host, actor, and media personality. During his 60+ year career, he has interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers. Wallace 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. Wallace appeared as a guest on the popular radio quiz show Information Please on February 7, 1939, while still a senior at the University of Michigan. His first job in radio was as newscaster and continuity writer for WOOD Radio in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This job lasted until 1940 when he joined WXYZ Radio in Detroit, Michigan as an announcer. He then went on to become a freelance radio worker in Chicago, Illinois. Wallace joined the U.S. Navy in 1943, serving as a communications officer during World War II aboard the USS Anthedon, a submarine tender. He saw no live fire in almost three years, traveling to Hawaii, Australia, and Subic Bay in the Philippines and patrolling the South China Sea, the Philippine Sea and in waters south of Japan. After the war, he returned to Chicago. Early in his career, Wallace announced for the radio action shows Ned Jordan, Secret Agent, Sky King and The Green Hornet. It is sometimes reported that Wallace announced for The Lone Ranger, but Wallace says he did not. Mike Wallace also announced wrestling in Chicago in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The advertiser was Tavern Pale beer. By the late 1940s Wallace was a staff announcer for the CBS radio network. He had a rare chance to display his comic skills when he appeared opposite Spike Jones in dialogue routines. He was also the voice representing Elgin-American in their commercials on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life during 1949. In 1949, under his birth name Myron Wallace, he starred in the short-lived police drama Stand By for Crime. During the 1950s, Wallace hosted a number of game shows, 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 1955-57, only on DuMont's WABD) and The Mike Wallace Interview on ABC in 1957-58. See also Profiles in Courage, section: Authorship controversy. 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). He hosted a New York based nightly interview program for Metropolitan Broadcasting stations (MetroMedia) called PM East one hour; it was paired with PM West, 30 minutes, hosted by San Francisco Chronicle television critic Terrence O'Flaherty. Also in the early 1960s, he was the host of the David Wolper produced Biography series. After his elder son's death, 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". His career as the lead reporter on 60 Minutes naturally 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 expressed regret in regard to the one big interview he was never able to secure: First Lady Pat Nixon. 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. In August 2006 Wallace interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Wallace's last CBS interview to date was with retired baseball star Roger Clemens in January 2008 on "60 Minutes." Wallace has suffered from health problems more recently and in June 2008 his son Chris said that his father would not be returning to television.