Mike Wallace’s Son Peter: Wallace’s stepfather, Bill Leonard, had a far greater influence on his life than his Biological father, Mike. According to Wallace, this person was “the single most important person in my life.” Wallace developed a close relationship with his father after his older brother Peter died in 1962 while climbing a mountain in Greece. Wallace had been registered as a Democrat in the District of Columbia for more than two decades, according to The Washington Post.
Wallace has been married twice. Peter (father of William, Caroline, and James), Megan (mother of Sabine and Livia), Andrew (father of Jack), and Catherine is the couple’s four children (mother of Livia and Sabine). Lorraine Smothers (née Martin, born 1959), Dick Smothers’ previous wife, married him in 1997. Lorraine’s two children from a previous marriage are Sarah and Remick Smothers. “If you want to have a say in who the next mayor or counselor is, you’ve got to vote Democratic,” Wallace added, referring to the party’s dominance in local politics. He stated that he has previously voted for politicians from all major parties.
Chris Wallace is best known for being the unlikely host of Fox News Sunday and the son of legendary 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace. Wallace has spent over 16 years at the conservative news station, and he’s managed to find a way to bring impartiality back to news reporting (The New York Times). “I see my position as being the cop on the beat, wandering about with a nightstick and trying to keep people honest — both Republicans and Democrats,” Wallace told Town & Country Magazine, with colleagues on both sides of the aisle looking up to him and fearing him.
In a Parade interview in 2014
Wallace’s unshakeable impartiality and affinity for the more aggressive manner of inquiry and old-fashioned news interviewing that he favors have earned him not only professional success but also clout (via Mental Floss). In a Parade interview in 2014, he commented, “I think it’s in the Wallace DNA to come at things and persons straight on.” Chris and his father were able to repair their friendship after the tragic and unexpected loss of Chris Wallace’s younger brother in 1962, which ultimately served as Chris’s career inspiration (via CBS).
Chris Wallace and his father were able to mend their friendship through a shared Tragedy
Chris Wallace had a strained connection with his father, who admittedly put his career in the entertainment industry ahead of his family when he was younger. Chris Wallace and his older brother, Peter, were both fathered by Bill Leonard, Chris Wallace’s stepfather. On August 31, 1962, at the age of 19, Peter Wallace was sadly murdered in a car accident. On a camping vacation in the Greek mountains near Corinth, he died after a fall (via Yale64.org). Chris Wallace’s life was irrevocably changed when his younger brother died when he was 14 years old.
Following his son’s death, Mike Wallace made a vow to himself: he would contact the teenage Wallace. He gave up acting and advertising to become a CBS News correspondent in order to spend more time with his son. Wallace’s father didn’t start his broadcast journalistic career until 1968, when he was invited to join 60 Minutes, despite their reunion. That’s where he mastered the “ambush interview,” as CBS dubbed it, from which Chris Wallace eventually took inspiration. Before World War II, he worked in Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Chicago under the name “Mike.”
Wallace considers his father to be most influential Person
With more than 50 years in the business, including a tense encounter with Vladimir Putin in 2018 in which Wallace questioned why so many of Putin’s political opponents had been killed, it’s easy to see how his late father has influenced Wallace’s demeanor. “I don’t know,” he answered when Parade asked who had motivated him. “Not in the sense that I was attempting to imitate him, but he is clearly my father.” He was one of the finest interviewers of all time, and just being around him, seeing how he behaved himself and prepared for his stories, had a significant impression on me. This is the best teacher I’ve ever had.”
In many ways, Peter Wallace’s death was the impetus for bringing a father and son together and building two careers in American broadcasting that would become legendary. “My father was everything you’d expect from a fictional character: engaging and hilarious, draining and irritating all at the same time,” Chris Wallace said after his father’s death in 2012. I’ve never worked with a more gifted journalist. He has made a serious effort to reconcile with his family during the last 20 years.
Mike Wallace admitted that he was more engaged in his television job than being a father when Chris was a newborn. Mike Wallace was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, according to his obituary in the New York Times. Myron Leon Wallace was born in 1918 and attended Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1939, he sought a career as a performer.
According to the New York Times, Wallace married Norma Kaphan in 1940 and the couple had three children. Peter, his father and mother’s younger son, was born in 1942. Wallace enrolled in the Navy the next year and was assigned to the Pacific. Chris was the second of his two boys, born in 1947. Kaphan and Wallace divorced in 1948. Wallace’s radio career remained his major concern. According to NPR, Wallace appeared in advertising for Revlon cosmetics, Parliament cigarettes, and Ajax cleaning powder.
After the Death of Chris Wallace’s brother Peter
Wallace realized near the end of his life that he had ignored his family in favor of his professional objectives. The article about Wallace’s life included an interview with Wallace in which he stated, “I was more concerned with my work than my family.” In a longer interview with the piece, Chris Wallace added, “I certainly had the impression growing up that the family came second, not just to me.” If there had been one online one and one on line two, he would have answered the call from CBS News first.
Mike Wallace’s perspective on family and work evolved after the death of Chris Wallace’s brother Peter. “Mike Wallace has arrived!” exclaims the narrator. Those four words – “Mike Wallace is coming” – have long been a source of anxiety for dishonest entrepreneurs and corrupt politicians, and they are now the subject of a new documentary about the legendary CBS News journalist’s life and career.
Chris Wallace’s older brother, Peter Jon Wallace, died in August 1962, just a few months shy of turning 20. He fell while hiking in Greece, according to Yale64, a website dedicated to Yale University’s Class of 1964. Peter was laid to rest in Kamari Village, Greece. Mike and Chris were standing next to each other, huddled around Peter’s tombstone.
Peter’s death had a tremendous impact on Mike Wallace. He made the decision to abandon advertising and seek a full-time career as a television journalist. “I thought I owed it to Peter,” he told USA Today, referring to his son’s desire in pursuing a career in media.
