An Australian household name for over five decades, Mike Willesee has passed away at the age of 76 following a long battle with throat cancer.
Diagnosed in 2016, the Perth-born journalist had been a TV favourite since 1967, when he appeared on the popular ABC show This Day Tonight and braved not only interviewing the then-Prime Minister Harold Holt but pressing him to justify his decision to appoint a new ABC Chairman.
Willesee fronted Four Corners for two years from 1969, before moving to Nine Network, at the helm of a promising new show, A Current Affair, back in 1971.
The legendary TV persona moved on to host his namesake current affair on Seven Network, Willesee at Seven.
He even had an interview technique named after him, “the Willesee stare”, as he’d never succumb to politicians and would keep digging deep to get a real answer to his questions.
A great example was “The Birthday Cake Interview”, a one-on-one with the then-leader of the Liberal Party John Hewson, 10 days prior to the 1993 Federal Election.
A simple question about the value of a birthday cake’s price following the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST), caused Hewson to stutter on Nine Network prime-time, resulting in an overwhelming loss against Paul Keating.
One of Willesee’s most recent and notable moments was being inducted into the TV Week Logies Hall of Fame in 2002.
