AustLit

The son of a Whitlam Government Cabinet Minister, Senator Don Willesee, Michael Willesee was a consummate television reporter, interviewer, presenter and executive producer who dominated television current affairs during the 1970s and early 1980s. During this period he was best-known through programs such as This Day Tonight (1967-1969, as reporter), Four Corners (1969-1971, as host), A Current Affair (1971-1974; 1993, as host) and Willesee at Seven (1976-1981).

Since the early to mid-1980s Willesse has established himself as a prolific documentary maker, founding Trans Media Productions in 1985. Among the programs he has produced are: Quentin (1983), Sink or Swim (1985), Willesee's Australians (1987-1988), Streets of New York (n. yr); The Last Warriors (2000) and Who Killed Sallie-Anne? (2000). Willesee's return to the Catholic faith, a process accelerated by a plane crash he experienced in Kenya in 1998, has seen him produce a number of documentaries focusing on religious themes - notably: Signs from God, Science, Tests Faith (1999, watched by over 29 million people in the USA alone), A Plea to Humanity (1999), and The Eucharist: In Communion with Me, (2003, shown on the USA religious channel EWTN and in numerous countries worldwide).

In 1989 Willesee turned almost exclusively from journalist to business entrepreneur, taking up interests in a diverse number of fields, including thoroughbred breeding and racing, real estate, property development and an association with the Sydney Swans. He was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame in 2002.