"CBS newsman Mike Wallace, the dogged, merciless reporter and interviewer who took on politicians, celebrities and other public figures in a 60-year career highlighted by the on-air confrontations that helped make 60 Minutes the most successful primetime television news program ever, has died," reports the AP. He was 93. "His late colleague Harry Reasoner once said, 'There is one thing that Mike can do better than anybody else: With an angelic smile, he can ask a question that would get anyone else smashed in the face.' … Wallace himself became a dramatic character in several projects, from the stage version of Frost/Nixon, when he was played by Stephen Rowe, to the 1999 film The Insider, based in part on a 1995 60 Minutes story about tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, who accused Brown & Williamson of intentionally adding nicotine to cigarettes. Christopher Plummer starred as Wallace and Russell Crowe as Wigand. Wallace was unhappy with the film, in which he was portrayed as caving to pressure to kill a story about Wigand."
In 1957, Wallace appeared as a TV newsman in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd. At the time, he was hosting the nationally televised prime-time program, The Mike Wallace Interview, and you can watch dozens of these interviews at the Harry Ransom Center's site. Subjects include Gloria Swanson, Kirk Douglas, Jean Seberg, Tony Perkins and Peter Ustinov. Of course, most interviewees aren't movie stars — but what an amazing time capsule.
For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @thedailyMUBI on Twitter and/or the RSS feed.