The Four Marriages of Mike Wallace

First Wife: Norma Kaphan (1940-1948)

Second Wife: Buff Cobb (1949-1955)

Third Wife: Lorraine Perigord (1955-1983)

Fourth Wife: Mary Yates (1986-2012)

Mike Wallace Relationship Timeline

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Information About Mike Wallace:

Born:

Myron Leon Wallace: May 9, 1918 in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Died:

Mike: On April 7, 2012, at the age of 93, Mike Wallace died in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Children:

Mike had two sons.

Peter Wallace: Born abt. 1943. His mother is Norma Kaphan. At the age of 19, Peter died in August 1962 in Greece in a mountain-climbing accident.

Chris Wallace: Born in 1947. His mother is Norma Kaphan. Chris is a journalist.

Chris Wallace: "My dad was everything you saw on television: fascinating and funny, challenging and exasperating. He was the best reporter I have ever known. And while work often came first for him, over the last 20 years, he worked hard to make connections with his family. He became my best friend. And at the end, he was surrounded by children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. I already miss him terribly."
Source: Lee Margulies. "Chris Wallace on his late father, Mike: 'He became my best friend.'" LATimes.com. 4/09/2012.

Peter Rader: "The pain of Peter's death was so intense that Mike could barely speak of it. Even now he gropes for words to describe his feelings, but they don't come easily."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 99.

Residence:

Mike's last residence was in New Canaan, Connecticut at a care facility.

Occupations:

Mike: Television journalist, radio news writer, reporter, announcer, actor, author. Mike served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1946 as a communications officer.

Quotes About Mike Wallace's Marriages:

Peter Rader: "To some, it became almost sport -- a woman in every port, so to speak, or motel. But not Mike -- he never had the makings of a serial philanderer. In fact, he was always a romantic at heart, almost old-fashioned in his courtships. Mike would become smitten and remain loyal to one woman at a time."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 188.
Mike: "I was not a very good husband ... I did what I felt that I wanted to do. Fairly selfishly. I didn't know my kids as well as I should have."
Source: Katie Couric. "Mike Wallace, man of the hour." MSNBC.msn.com. 3/14/2006.

Mike about the impact on marriage of being on the road: "I'm not talking about infidelity. That's not what robs this kind of marriage of its special intimacy. Instead, it happens because two separate lives are beiing lived under one name and ostensibly one roof, but without any consistent pattern that can be reliably determined in advance."
Source: Mike Wallace, Gary Paul Gates. Close Encounters. 1984. pg. 479.

Next: First Marriage>

Mike Wallace's First Wife -- Norma Kaphan (1940-1948)

Norma Kaphan and Mike Wallace married young, apparently had different goals, and divorced after nearly 8 years together.

Born:

Norma A. Kaphan:

How Mike and Norma Met:

Mike and Norma met during his sophomore year when they were both students at the University of Michigan.

Wedding Date:

Their engagement was announced in The New York Times on August 2, 1940. Married in 1940, Mike and Norma honeymooned on Cape Cod.

Divorce Date:

Mike and Norma divorced in 1948.

Peter Rader: "To Mike's credit, he worked sincerely to repair his marriage, trying to form a bond with little Peter, who hardly knew him. And he toiled even harder to relaunch his career. By 1947, Norma was pregnant again. But it wouldn't be long before Mike vanished for good."br> Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 28.

Children:

Dorothy and Mike have two sons, Peter Wallace (died in 1962) and journalist Chris Wallace.

Norma's Later Marriage:

Norma married William A. Leonard II, television news correspondent, producer, and executive. Bill had six children from his previous marriage. Leonard died in 1994.

Quotes About the Marriage of Norma Kaphan and Mike Wallace:

Peter Rader: "Mike's relationship with Norma lacked the fire and excitement that he was seeking at that point in his life. Besides, Norma was both moody and needy -- not unlike Mike's mother, a comparison that filled him with dread. She wanted him at home; he yearned for his place in the limelight."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 33.

Next: Second Marriage>

Mike Wallace's Second Wife -- Buff Cobb (1949-1955)

Working together didn't help strengthen Mike Wallace's marriage to Buff Cobb.

Born:

Buff Cobb aka Patrizia Cobb Chapman: October 19, 1926 in Florence, Italy.
Note: 1926 as the year when Buff was born was noted in Valerie J. Nelson's article, "Hosted Talk Show With Husband Mike Wallace" published on July 24, 2010 in The Washington Post.

Died:

Buff: At the age of 82, Buff died on July 12, 2010 in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

How Mike and Buff Met:

Buff and Mike met in 1947 during an interview for Famous Names.

Mike: "Buff Cobb was in Chicago when I got out of the Navy in '46. I think she was playing with Tallulah Bankhead in Private Lives at the time. She was an actress and a bit of a glamorous figure to me at that time. So I succumbed and taught her how to do interviewing, and we did a husband-and-wife broadcast for a while on NBC [radio] in Chicago. The interview show stopped first, and the marriage shortly thereafter. Maybe it was vice versa."
Source: "Mike Wallace Interview." Achievement.org. 6/08/2002.

Wedding Date:

March 11, 1949 in Cook County, Illinois.
Note: From Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960 on Ancestry.com.

Divorce Date:

Mike and Buff were divorced in Alabama in February 1955.
Note: From Alabama Divorce Index, 1950-1959, pg. 52 on Ancestry.com.

Children:

Buff and Mike did not have any children.

Occupations:

Buff: Radio personality, talk show hostess, producer, actress. Together, she and Mike hosted television shows Mike and Buff and All Around the Town.

Dennis Hevesi: "[on Mike and Buff]... the couple would engage in heated debate over a different topic each day, then try to settle their differences after interviewing experts. From 1951 to 1952 they were also hosts of All Around the Town, another CBS show, in which they took cameras to notable social events and sites in New York City and interviewed people there."
Source: Dennis Hevesi. "Buff Cobb, Actress and TV Host, Dies at 82." NYTimes.com. 7/21/2010.

Buff's Other Marriages:

Buff had two previous marriages.

Gregson Edward Bautzer: On February 22, 1944, when Buff was seventeen, she married Greg Bautzer, a Hollywood attorney. They divorced on April 24, 1945 when she was twenty-one. Bautzer died at the age of 76 on October 26, 1987.
William John Joseph Eythe: Her marriage to Will, an actor, on June 2, 1947 ended quickly in divorce on February 12, 1949. Elythe died at the age of 38 on January 27, 1957.
H. Spencer Martin: She later married Spencer Martin, a real estate developer, on February 14, 1967. Their marriage lasted until his death on May 17, 1987.

Quotes About the Marriage of Buff Cobb and Mike Wallace:

Peter Rader: "After Buff was done with Mike, his life would be in shambles."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 29.
Peter Rader: "What happened between Mike and Buff was precisely that: passionate, stormy and mired in love and hate ... In Buff, he had found a mate who would support his media aspirations."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 33.

Next: Third Marriage>

Mike Wallace's Third Wife -- Lorraine Perigord (1955-1983)

Although Mike described Lorraine as the love of his life, their 28 year marriage ended when they drifted apart.

Born:

Lorraine Perigord:

Died:

Lorraine died in 1994 at the age of 73. She "walked into a river in the South Seas and drowned herself."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 256.

How Mike and Lorraine Met:

Lorraine and Mike met in February 1955 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Paul Gates: "Mike already had been impressed by Lorraine's more obvious attributes -- her beauty, her talent, her gentle charm. And now, in addition, she had revealed an ingenuousness that he found endearing. By the time he left Puerto Rico, Mike was thoroughly smitten."
Source: Mike Wallace, Gary Paul Gates. Close Encounters. 1984. pg 81.

Wedding Date:

Although most sources list their wedding in 1955, the month is reported differently. Some mention July 21, 1955 and others say August 21, 1955.

Divorce Date:

Lorraine and Mike divorced in 1983.

Peter Rader: "In the decades to come, his endless weeks on the road would cause friction between them and ultimately doom their marriage."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 96.

Children:

Lorraine had two children from her previous marriages, Anthony Dora and Pauline Perigord Dora.

Occupations:

Lorraine: Artist, art gallery owner.

Lorraine's Previous Marriages:

Lorraine had two previous marriages.

First marriage was short-lived.
Miklos Dora:

Quotes About the Marriage of Lorraine Perigord and Mike Wallace:

Peter Rader: "Then came Lorraine, who Mike considered the love of his life. He was fiercely devoted to her, always intensely protective of Lorraine ..."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 188.
Mike: "But after many years of happiness together, we began to drift apart.

By the early 1980s, it had become painfully clear to both of us that we somehow had lost the magic that once had made us so close, so in 1984, Lorraine and I agreed, with deep regret, to get divorced."
Source: Mike Wallace, Paul Gates. Between You and Me: A Memoir. 2005. pg. 201.

Next: Fourth Marriage>

Mike's last marriage lasted 26 years until his death in 2012.

Born:

Mary Olberg aka Mary Yates: LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

How Mike and Mary Met:

Mary and Mike knew one another for many years as she was the widow of Ted Yates, a close friend of Mike. In 1984 their friendship turned into a romantic relationship.

Mike: "As I struggled that year to adjust to the challenge of living alone at the age of sixty-six, I reached out to close friends for support, and one of them was Mary. The more time we spent together, the more we came to realize that our long friendship was blossoming into something deeper, and by the fall of '84 we had become what the gossip columnists used to call 'an item.'"
Source: Mike Wallace, Paul Gates. Between You and Me: A Memoir. 2005. pg. 201.

Wedding Date:

Mike and Mary were married on June 28, 1986.

Children:

Mary has three sons from her marriage to Ted Yates.

Ted Yates Jr:
Eames Yates:
Angus Yates:

Occupations:

Mary: Producer, model.

Mary's Former Marriage:

Mary was married to producer Ted Yates. Ted died in June 1967.

Peter Rader: "When Ted and Mary set eyes on one another in the spring of 1954 their attraction was so immediate and intense that they were married within a week."
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 59.

Mike: "One of the saddest days of my life came in June 1967, when I heard that Ted had been shot and killed in East Jerusalem while covering the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors."
Source: Mike Wallace, Paul Gates. Between You and Me: A Memoir. 2005. pg. 200.

Quotes About the Marriage of Mike Wallace and Mary Yates:

Al Ramrus: "If you had to explain it to a Martian, 'What is the ideal, American, beautiful, blond girl?' It was Mary. Lovely and warm and friendly ... I never saw any sharp edges on her. She was like the perfect 1950s American wife.'"
Source: Peter Rader. Mike Wallace: A Life. 2012. pg. 59.
Mike: "... I was sliding down the slope into a clinical depression. As fall gave way to winter, I sank ever more deeply into that dark and devastating malaise, which was crushing my spirit and even sapping my will to live. Shortly before the New Year, I cam perilously close to committing suicide. I probably would have taken the plunge into that abyss had it not been for the love and caring support I received from the woman in my life, who was both an old friend and a new romance ... The woman I'm referring to was Mary Yates ..."
Source: Mike Wallace, Paul Gates. Between You and Me: A Memoir. 2005. pg. 200.

Mary: "I know the job is the most important thing to Mike, but that doesn't bother me," she says. "It gives me a certain independence, and I like that. I wouldn't want the 9 to 5 ... Mary knew from the beginning how to handle Mr. Tough Guy reporter. When she wanted to get married in 1986 and he balked, she snapped him awake with an ultimatum. When he refused to shop with her for furniture, and then whined about what she brought home, she made him sign a contract (and still does): "Because I refused to go shopping with Mary, I promise not to complain, no matter what she brings home." Neither of them likes to talk in the morning, so she had a kitchen built just for him where he has his coffee and listens to Don Imus on the radio. He can't watch TV without a neurotic trigger-finger on the remote control, so she got her own set. It's a wonderful arrangement, Mary says. They laugh, go to dinner, talk news, and neither has been this happy in years. "We feel very safe together," Mary says."
Source: Steve Lopez. "Mike Wallace."People Magazine. 12/01/1997.

Next: Mike Wallace Relationship Timeline>

1918: Mike Wallace born on May 9, 1918.

1940: Mike married Norma Kaphan.

1943: Son Peter born.

1947: Son Chris born.

1948: Mike divorced Norma.

1949: Mike married Buff Cobb.

1954: Mike divorced Buff.

1955: Mike married Lorraine Perigord.

1962: Son Peter Wallace died.

1983: Mike and Lorraine divorced.

1986: Mike married Mary Yates.

2012: Mike died.