Happy Birthday Mike

(CBS)  The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.

---

We don't ordinarily do birthdays here on 60 Minutes but
this is sort of special. Friday will be Mike Wallace's 90th birthday. That may seem pretty old to you but if you meet Mike on the street, don't bet you can beat him around the block because he's still in better shape than most men at 40.

One of the things you wouldn't know about this broadcast, 60 Minutes, is what good friends so many of us are who are lucky to work on it.

I don't want to get sentimental about this but Mike is not only a great broadcaster, he's a great friend. The only good thing about this is I suspect that Mike is going to continue to be around here quite a bit. Mike is just not the retiring type.

Television, after all, is still pretty young. When the history of television is written, a few names are going to stand out and there isn't a name that's going to be bigger than Mike Wallace's. There's never been anyone like him.

One of the things that this broadcast does best is illicit information from interesting people and in the brief history of television, no one has ever done that better than Mike Wallace.

I don't know if a list of interesting names is interesting or not but I was amazed to see a list of the people Mike has interviewed. Here are just a few of them: Richard Nixon, Johnny Carson, Henry Kissinger, Nancy Reagan, Larry King, Jimmy Carter, Bette Davis, Yasser Arafat, Eddie Arcaro, Frank Lloyd Wright, Carol Burnett, Bill Parcells, Salman Rushdie, Vladimir Putin, Al Sharpton, Vladimir Horowitz, Donald Trump, Jack Kevorkian, Malcolm X, Roger Clemens, Tennessee Williams, Tallulah Bankhead, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Oscar Hammerstein, Woody Allen, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martina Navratilova, Jesse Jackson, The Shah of Iran, Golda Meir.

If you ever get famous for something, chances are, Mike Wallace will be after you for an interview. Happy Birthday, Mike! And try to be nicer to the people you interview.
Written By Andy Rooney

[wongjunhao]

happy 90th birthday!
really enjoy ur program!
long live!

[hypnotoad72]

Happy 90th, Mike!

[rozbina]

No ones better than Mike after all these years.
Always worked like every story was the best. He gave his audience the best, always. Long may he continue!
As long as he wants. I''ll always watch & listen.
Roselind Blanch Naples, Fl.

[sjw1253]

SrvVlly10s

It is interesting as I clicked on this specifically to see what negative posts would be in this section...

It seems to me that almost every Andy Rooney segment gets negative from someone.

I was so impressed with this segment over any other and could not imagine anyone having anything negative to say about it.

The interesting thing that you "point out" is that clearly Andy said at the end "Mike try to be nicer to the people you interview"...

For the time provided Andy surely gave a very comprehensive story and yes - Mike is a celebrity to be on par with Babs or any other celebrity. Each news person has their own angle and in Mike''s case - he is able to put himself in the same league with anyone - which is the way it should be.

I think no matter how famous one is - we all are due the same respect and sense of validity as a human being...

[sports4mo]

I want to wish Mike Wallace a very happy birthday!! We should all be so lucky as to live this long and so well.!! Keep on smilin'' and lining large!!! A fan for a long time!

[extremophil]

Hey SrvVlly10s,

Gay for Babs, eh?

[j_flood]

He''s legend - period.

[grammawhamma]

Wow...I had no clue Mike Wallace was that old. Happy birthday.

I still think Peter Jennings was a much better reporter...of course I am typing this on CBS and not ABC so maybe my comment won''t print.

[irliberal]

Mike who?

[michellem99-2009]

I am 53 and will mark my 54th birthday. I have always looked up to our seniors and the true stories they tell. As for birthdays I hope they throw ye a party and honour ye that day Happy Birthday Mike..