When Mike Wallace joined 60 Minutes at its inception in 1968, he was already 50 years old with a large backlog of experience in broadcasting. In the subsequent years, Wallace was responsible for some of the most dogged interviewing on television, refusing to back down from anyone, whether it was a world leader or pop star in the hot seat, and amassing a small army of Emmy Awards. To honor the man and his legacy, here are a few of Wallace’s many great interviews with people who have shaped the world over the last half-century.
A (relatively) young Wallace interviews television pioneer and The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling for The Mike Wallace Interview, a series that ran from 1957 to 1960 and included in-depth sit-downs with everyone from Kirk Douglas to Eleanor Roosevelt.
