It was normal practice with Broadcast TV cameras to have a "Camera Control Unit "
This was used by a "CCU Operator" to control video black level , lens aperture ( which in turn controls white level), etc, a process commonly referred to as "riding the levels", leaving the Camera Operator to look after
Focus, zoom, & actually pointing the camera.
Some CCUs had an "auto" function, but it was pretty useless, especially in Outside Broadcast use.
This wasn't only the case with studio style cameras----Telecine chains also had CCUs, although quite a bit less complex.
Early Non Broadcast stuff still followed the same basic setup, but normally using an automatic CCU.
That said, small, cheapish standalone vidicon CCTV cameras were available in the early 1960s.
They were a bit cruddy, though!
PS---not sure about thermal cameras.
I remember seeing them in articles in Electronics magazines, but can't remember any details.
My guess is that they would have the same set up as the Industrial CCTV of the era, with just the vidicon optimised for thermal response.