Close Encounters: Mike Wallace's Own Story

by Mike Wallace, Gary Paul Gates

The senior correspondent of CBS's popular "60 Minutes," known for his no-holds-barred interviews, offers background information on his most famous interviews and explains how and why he adopted his controversial style

Genres: Biography, Journalism, Nonfiction, History, Autobiography, Biography Memoir

494 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 1984

About the author

Myron Leon Wallace was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspondents featured on CBS news program 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. He is the father of Chris Wallace.
Wallace interviewed many politicians, celebrities, and academics, such as Tina Turner, Joseph Bonanno, Vladimir Horowitz, Bobby Fischer, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Malcolm X, Richard Nixon, Pearl S. Buck, Deng Xiaoping, Ronald Reagan, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Jiang Zemin, Ruhollah Khomeini, Kurt Waldheim, Frank Lloyd Wright, Yasser Arafat, Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, Louis Farrakhan, Manuel Noriega, John Nash, Gordon B. Hinckley, Vladimir Putin, Barbra Streisand, Salvador Dalí, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, William Carlos Williams, Mickey Cohen, Roy Cohn, Dean Reed, Jimmy Fratianno, Morgan Freeman, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, and Ayn Rand.

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a little getting used to, going from his co-author writing in the third person to Wallace writing in the first person. I could have done without 75-percent of what the co-author wrote. It really doesn't take that long to set the stage for Mike Wallace. Other than the rather slow pacing, many of the stories were worthwhile.

[Jordan Maloney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly good read. It gives good insight into the creation of 60 Minutes.