wallace in a philip morris cigarette ad, circa 1957

The master of the “gotcha!’ interview had been a journeyman broadcaster since the days of old time radio. He’d been an announcer, a game show host (he hosted the unaired original pilot for To Tell the Truth), an actor in live TV dramas (and the film A Face in the Crowd), and a commercial pitchman for cigarettes and other assorted products.

Then in 1955, he started a New York local interview show called Nightbeat, renamed The Mike Wallace Interview when it moved to ABC. It established Wallace’s persona as a sensationalistic opportunist, more a tabloidy hothead than a newsman.

This rough edge was sanded down a bit when he became one of the original co-hosts (with Harry Reasoner) of 60 Minutes, putting a real news organization’s resources (including its lawyers) behind his shtick.

The rest is broadcast history.

Including his admission to long bouts of severe depression. The last on-air bit he did was a “CBS Cares” public-service spot about the illness.

Yet through it all he survived.

Now there are even fewer people left from TV’s early years, and fewer still (most notably Betty White) still working.