Some of the many memorable moments in Mike Wallace’s career at “60 Minutes”:
— Asking Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 his reaction to being called “a lunatic” by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
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— Challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2005: “This isn’t a real democracy, come on!”
— When late-night TV host Johnny Carson expressed sympathy for a newsmaker who was an alcoholic, Wallace asked: “It takes one to know one?”
— Airing a videotape in 1998 showing assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian injecting a terminally ill patient with lethal drugs.
— Becoming the subject of a movie, “The Insider,” after CBS cut an interview with tobacco company whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand from a 1995 story for fear of being sued. Months later, Wigand’s interview was aired.
— Being sued by Vietnam-era Gen. William Westmoreland for libel after a 1982 documentary that alleged the general misled the American people. The lawsuit was withdrawn, but plunged Wallace into depression.
— Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned the tables on Wallace in a 2006 interview. “I hear this is your last interview,” the president said. Replied Wallace: “What do you think? Is it a good idea to retire?”
— Questions Barbra Streisand’s many years of psychoanalysis: “What is she trying to find out that takes 20 years?”
— Almost anytime Wallace prefaced a query with, “Forgive me, but…,” that’s when you knew to expect a sharp shot to the gut.
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