Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theatre director. He worked across a range of genres and had an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of their experience. He is one of 19 people to have won all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). His other honors included three BAFTA Awards, the Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001,[1] the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2010. His films received a total of 42 Academy Award nominations, and seven wins.
For other people named Mike Nichols, see Mike Nichols (disambiguation).
Mike Nichols
November 19, 2014 (aged 83)
- Director
- producer
- actor
- comedian
1955–2014
3
Rachel Nichols (daughter-in-law)
Nichols began his career in the 1950s with the comedy improvisational troupe The Compass Players, predecessor of The Second City, in Chicago. He then teamed up with his improv partner, Elaine May, to form the comedy duo Nichols and May. Their live improv act was a hit on Broadway, and each of their three albums was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album; their second album, An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, won the award in 1962. After they disbanded, he began directing plays, and quickly became known for his innovative theatre productions.
His Broadway directing debut was Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park in 1963, with Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. He continued to direct plays on Broadway, including Luv (1964), and The Odd Couple (1965) for each of which he received Tony Awards. He won his sixth Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play with a revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012) starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. His final directing credit was the revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal (2013). Nichols directed and/or produced more than 25 Broadway plays throughout his prolific career.
Warner Bros. invited Nichols to direct his first film, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), followed by The Graduate (1967) for which Nichols won the Academy Award for Best Director. Nichols also directed Catch-22 (1970), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Day of the Dolphin (1973), Silkwood (1983), Working Girl (1988), Postcards from the Edge (1990), The Birdcage (1996), Primary Colors (1998), Closer (2004), and Charlie Wilson's War (2007). Nichols also directed the HBO television film Wit (2001), and miniseries Angels in America (2003).
Personal life[edit]
Nichols was married four times; the first three ended in divorce, the last upon his death.[72]
Nichols's first marriage was to Patricia Scot; they were married from 1957 to 1960. His second was to Margot Callas, a former "muse" of the poet Robert Graves, from 1963 to 1974.[73][74] The couple had a daughter together, Daisy Nichols. His third marriage, in 1975, to Annabel Davis-Goff, produced two children, Max Nichols and Jenny Nichols; it ended in divorce in 1986.[75] His fourth was to former Good Morning America and ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer, whom he married on April 29, 1988.[76] None of his wives were Jewish and his children were not brought up according to a religion, but they identify as Jewish.[77] His son Max married former ESPN journalist Rachel Nichols.
Nichols had a lifelong interest in Arabian horses. From 1968 to 2004, he owned a farm in Connecticut and was a noted horse breeder. He also imported quality Arabian horses from Janów Podlaski Stud Farm in Poland, some of which sold for record-setting prices.[78] While in high school, Nichols had been an instructor at the Claremont Riding Academy in Manhattan's Upper West Side and also had "ridden in horse shows in Chicago."[79]
In 2009, Nichols signed a petition in support of releasing director Roman Polanski, who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges, which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects."[80][81]
Death and legacy[edit]
Nichols died of a heart attack on November 19, 2014, at his apartment in Manhattan.[82][83] During the 87th annual Academy Awards on 22 February 2015, Nichols was featured in the In Memoriam segment, in anchor position.[84][85][86][87] Nichols left John Frederick Herring Sr.'s painting "Horse with Groom" to his son Max.[88][89]
When Nichols died, many celebrities paid tribute to him, including Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey and Tom Stoppard.[90] On November 8, 2015, stars and artists gathered at New York's IAC Building to pay tribute to Nichols. Hosts for the private event included Elaine May and Lorne Michaels. Eric Idle and John Cleese performed. Guests included Streep, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Natalie Portman, Carly Simon, Nathan Lane and Christine Baranski.[91]
In 2017, during an Oscars Actress Roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter, Amy Adams, Natalie Portman, and Annette Bening spoke about the impact Nichols had on their lives.[92] In 2020 Woody Allen described Nichols as "maybe the best comedy director ever on the stage."[93]