The Mike Wallace Interview

Season 1

The Mike Wallace Interview is a series of 30-minute television interviews conducted by host Mike Wallace from 1957 to 1960. Before The Mike Wallace Interview was televised nationally on prime-time in 1957, Wallace had risen to prominence a year earlier with Night-Beat, a television interview program that aired in New York City. (1957)

Where to Watch The Mike Wallace Interview • Season 1

35 Episodes

Gloria Swanson
E1
Gloria SwansonGloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's most spectacular stars, talks to Wallace about why she is not making films, sex appeal, Hollywood in the 1920s, marriage, plastic surgery, and cancer cures.
Eldon Edwards
E2
Eldon EdwardsEldon Edwards, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, talks to Wallace about the South's attitude toward the KKK, the Klan's membership, segregation, the NAACP, communism, and J. Edgar Hoover. NOTE: This interview contains language that may be offensive to some people.
Philip Wylie
E3
Philip WylieThe novelist, satirist, and social critic Philip Wylie talks to Wallace about moms and "Momism," women and marriage, religion, intellectualism, and psychoanalysis.
Mickey Cohen
E4
Mickey Cohen
Senator Wayne Morse
E5
Senator Wayne MorseSenator Wayne Morse, Republican turned Democrat from Oregon, talks to Wallace about his criticisms of the Eisenhower Administration, Barry Goldwater, Raymond Moley, Richard Nixon, Arthur Miller, and Joseph McCarthy.
Earl Browder
E6
Earl BrowderEarl Browder, former head of the Communist Party in the United States, talks to Wallace about Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, the cold war, and American communism.
Ralph Lapp
E7
Ralph LappDr. Ralph Lapp, a nuclear physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb and who gave up research to write and lecture against further nuclear testing, talks to Wallace about the Atomic Energy Commission, cancer, the social responsibility of scientists, the Manhattan project, Hiroshima, and religion.
Mary Margaret McBride
E8
Mary Margaret McBrideMary Margaret McBride, the "First Lady of Radio," pioneered radio journalism with more than 30,000 interviews over more than 20 years. She talks to Wallace about career versus family, motherhood, religion, television, and bikini bathing suits.
David Hawkins
E9
David HawkinsDavid Hawkins of Oklahoma City was the youngest of 20 prisoners to defect during the Korean War. Hawkins talks about his defection and why he eventually returned to the United States.
Charles (Commando) Kelly
E10
Charles (Commando) KellyChuck "Commando" Kelly, recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II, talks to Wallace about his financial troubles, unemployment, the Korean War, and nuclear weapons.
Steve Allen
E11
Steve AllenSteve Allen, comedian, musician, and television personality, talks to Wallace about his rivalry with Ed Sullivan, his television show, and awards.
Diana Barrymore
E12
Diana BarrymoreDiana Barrymore, daughter of actor John Barrymore, talks to Wallace about her own acting career, her alcoholism, her failed marriages, and her recent autobiography, Too Much, Too Soon.
Glenn McCarthy
E13
Glenn McCarthyGlenn McCarthy, the legendary Texas oil millionaire, talks to Wallace about money, gambling, fighting, and the Hollywood film Giant, which some say is the story of his life.
Senator James Eastland
E14
Senator James EastlandSenator James Eastland of Mississippi, who has been called "The Voice of the White South," talks to Wallace about segregation, slavery, the Soviet Union, voting rights laws, and the Ku Klux Klan. NOTE: This interview contains language that may be offensive to some people.
Bob Feller
E15
Bob FellerBob Feller, one of the great baseball pitchers of all time, talks to Wallace about ballplayers' salaries, the reserve clause, rich ball clubs, Pay TV, beer companies as sponsors, bean balls, gambling, and Joe DiMaggio versus Ted Williams.
Dagmar
E16
DagmarDagmar, statuesque comedienne, one of the first major female stars on television, famous for her "dumb blonde" persona, talks to Wallace about her career, psychoanalysis, tranquilizers, and television.
Fred Otash
E17
Fred OtashFred Otash, a private investigator in Hollywood, California, talks to Wallace about his work for Confidential Magazine, morality, informers, and invasion of privacy.
Frank Lloyd Wright
E18
Frank Lloyd WrightThis interview was recorded in two parts. Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, talks to Wallace about religion, war, mercy killing, art, critics, his mile-high skyscraper, America's youth, sex, morality, politics, nature, and death.
Eddie Arcaro
E19
Eddie ArcaroEddie Arcaro, the most celebrated jockey in America, winner of 5 Kentucky Derbys and 22 million dollars in purses over a 25-year career, talks with Wallace about horse racing, gambling, drugging of horses, and the pressure to win.
George Jessel
E20
George JesselGeorge Jessel, veteran comedian, talks to Wallace about television, Jimmie Hoffa and the Teamsters Union, fame, Jewish performers, relationships, and his desire to be named ambassador to Israel.
Orval Faubus
E21
Orval FaubusOrval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, talks to Wallace from the Governor's mansion in Little Rock during his standoff with the Federal Government over the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Faubus had called in the National Guard to bar the African-American students from the school and had met the day before this interview with President Eisenhower in an effort to resolve the conflict.
Margaret Sanger
E22
Margaret SangerMargaret Sanger, the leader of the birth control movement in America, talks to Wallace about why she became an advocate for birth control, over-population, the Catholic Church, and morality.
Lili St. Cyr
E23
Lili St. CyrLili St. Cyr, America's leading strip teaser, talks to Wallace about her attitude towards the men who come see her perform, her attitude towards her profession, show business, and flying saucers.
General George Kenney
E24
General George KenneyRetired Air Force General George Kenney talks to Wallace about the Soviet Earth Satellite, Sputnik, which had recently launched, and why he believed it would bring the nation very close to a third world war.
Malcolm Muggeridge
E25
Malcolm MuggeridgeMalcolm Muggeridge, former editor of Punch Magazine and one of England's leading intellectuals, talks to Wallace about his article in The Saturday Evening Post in which he created an international furor by criticizing Queen Elizabeth.
Carmen Basilio
E26
Carmen BasilioCarmen Basilio, middle weight boxing champion of the world, had recently won his crown after a savage fight with Sugar Ray Robinson. Basilio talks to Wallace about Robinson, whether boxing should be outlawed due to its brutality, and organized crime's influence on boxing.
Kirk Douglas
E27
Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas, a film star who had recently completed two films, Paths of Glory and The Vikings, talks to Wallace about acting, fame, the charge that Hollywood films misrepresent America abroad, Nazis, Communists, and European versus American women.
Diana Dors
E28
Diana DorsDiana Dors, England's answer to Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe, talks to Wallace about England's attitude toward sex, publicity stunts, the entertainment business, and the price of fame.
Elsa Maxwell
E29
Elsa MaxwellElsa Maxwell, syndicated gossip columnist and professional party hostess, talks to Wallace about Elvis Presley, Nikita Kruschev, Jane Mansfield, alcohol, society, immorality, The Duchess of Windsor, Cleveland Amory, and Greta Garbo.
Eleanor Roosevelt
E30
Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt, former first lady, talks to Wallace about Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Republicans, Democrats, the Soviet Union, Westbrook Pegler, her son's relationship with Dominican leader Rafael Trujillo, race, and garlic pills.
Bennett Cerf
E31
Bennett CerfBennett Cerf, president of Random House publishers and long-time panelist on the game show What's My Line, talks to Wallace about what is wrong with television, reading, and censorship.
Drew Pearson
E32
Drew PearsonDrew Pearson, syndicated columnist, talks to Wallace about Sputnik, a third world war, Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, and about being called a vicious liar by prominent politicians.
Edward Bennett Williams
E33
Edward Bennett WilliamsEdward Bennett Williams, a high-profile defense lawyer whose clients have included gambling czar Frank Costello, union boss Jimmy Hoffa, and Senator Joseph McCarthy, talks to Wallace about the United States justice system, civil liberties, the FBI, and the United States Supreme Court.
Leonard Ross
E34
Leonard RossLeonard Ross, a 12-year-old California school boy who won a total of $164,000 on the game shows The Big Surprise and The Sixty-Four Thousand Dollar Challenge, talks to Wallace about the effects of quiz shows on children, school, politics, eggheads, spanking, mothers, and Santa Claus.
Alexander de Seversky
E35
Alexander de SeverskyAlexander de Seversky, Russian-born World War I flying ace who served as a consultant to the U.S. government and helped revolutionize aerial warfare in World War II, talks to Wallace about the United States military, the Soviet military, and the possibility of nuclear war.