He was born Myron Wallace but changed his first name to Mike because he thought Myron sounded wimpy. He went to the same Brookline, Massachusetts, elementary school that John F. Kennedy attended.

Wallace was on the premiere of 60 Minutes in 1968 and stepped down as a full-time correspondent after 38 years in 2006. His final interview for the show was with Roger Clemens, the baseball pitcher linked to steroid use.

Wallace told The Boston Globe the interview subject he most admired was Martin Luther King Jr. because King came out against the Vietnam War at the risk of alienating President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had worked with him on civil rights.