Mike Nichols (bornIgor Mikhail Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theatre director and comedian. 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 21 people to have won all four of the major American entertainment awards:Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). His other honors included threeBAFTA Awards, theLincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1999, theNational Medal of Arts in 2001,[1] theKennedy Center Honors in 2003 and theAFI Life Achievement Award in 2010. His films received a total of 42 Academy Award nominations, and seven wins.
Nichols was born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky[2] on November 6, 1931, in Berlin,Germany. He was a son of Brigitte Claudia (née Landauer) and Pavel Peschkowsky, a physician.[2] His father was born inVienna, Austria, to aRussian-Jewish immigrant family. Nichols's father's family had been wealthy and lived inSiberia, leaving after theRussian Revolution, and settling in Germany around 1920.[2] Nichols's mother's family wereGerman Jews.[2] His maternal grandparents wereGustav Landauer,[3][4] a leading theorist onanarchism, and authorHedwig Lachmann.
Around age four, Nichols had lost his hair following an allergic reaction to an inoculation forwhooping cough; consequently, when he reached adulthood he wore wigs and false eyebrows for the rest of his life.[3][5]
In April 1939, when the Nazis were arresting Jews in Berlin, seven-year-old Mikhail and his three-year-old brother Robert were sent alone to the United States to join their father, who had fled months earlier. His mother joined the family by escaping through Italy in 1940.[6] The family moved to New York City on April 28, 1939.[2][7] His father, whose original name was Pavel Nikolaevich Peschkowsky, changed his name to Paul Nichols, Nichols derived from his Russianpatronymic. Before Paul Nichols had received his U.S. medical license, he was employed by a union on 42nd Street, X-raying union members.[8][9] He later had a successful medical practice inManhattan, enabling the family to live nearCentral Park.[10][11]
Before he established his practice, he was a union doctor, and part of his job was X-raying union members. They didn't know about shielding X-ray machines, and he died of leukemia at 44. [in 1944[12]]
In 1944, Mike Nichols became a naturalized citizen of the United States and attended public elementary school in Manhattan (PS 87).[13] After graduating from theWalden School, a private progressive school on Central Park West, Nichols briefly attendedNew York University before dropping out. In 1950, he enrolled in the pre-med program at theUniversity of Chicago.[11] He later described this college period as "paradise", recalling how "I never had a friend from the time I came to this country until I got to the University of Chicago."[3]
While in Chicago in 1953, Nichols joined the staff of struggling classical music stationWFMT, 98.7 FM, as an announcer. Co-owner Rita Jacobs asked Nichols to create a folk music program on Saturday nights, which he namedThe Midnight Special. He hosted the program for two years before leaving for New York City. Nichols frequently invited musicians to perform live in the studio and eventually created a unique blend of "folk music and farce, showtunes and satire, odds and ends", along with his successor Norm Pellegrini. The program celebrated its 70th anniversary in the same time slot in 2023.[14][15]
Nichols first sawElaine May when she was sitting in the front row while he was playing the lead in a Chicago production ofMiss Julie, and they made eye contact.[16]: 39 Weeks later he ran into her in a train station where he started a conversation in an assumed accent, pretending to be a spy, and she played along, using another accent.[17]: 325 They hit it off immediately, which led to a brief romance. Later in his career, he said "Elaine was very important to me from the moment I saw her."[17]: 325
In 1953, Nichols left Chicago for New York City to studymethod acting underLee Strasberg, but was unable to find stage work there.[18] He was invited back to join Chicago'sCompass Players in 1955, the predecessor to Chicago'sSecond City, whose members included May,Shelley Berman,Del Close, and Nancy Ponder,[11][16] directed byPaul Sills. In Chicago, he started doing improvisational routines with May, which eventually led to the formation of thecomedy duoNichols and May in 1958, first performing in New York City.
They performed livesatirical comedy acts and eventually released three records of their routines, which became best-sellers. They also appeared in nightclubs and were on radio and television.Jack Rollins, who later becameWoody Allen's manager and producer, invited them to audition and was most impressed: "Their work was so startling, so new, as fresh as could be. I was stunned by how really good they were, actually as impressed by their acting technique as by their comedy ... I thought, My God, these are two people writing hilarious comedy on their feet!"[17]: 340
In 1960, Nichols and May opened theBroadway showAn Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May, directed byArthur Penn. The LP album of the show won the 1962Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. Personal idiosyncrasies and tensions, such as on the unsuccessfulA Matter of Position, a play written by May and starring Nichols, eventually drove the duo apart to pursue other projects in 1961. About their sudden breakup, directorArthur Penn said, "They set the standard and then they had to move on,"[17]: 351 while talk show hostDick Cavett said "they were one of the comic meteors in the sky."[17]: 348 Comedy historianGerald Nachman describes the effect of their break-up on American comedy:
Nichols and May are perhaps the most ardently missed of all the satirical comedians of their era. When Nichols and May split up, they left no imitators, no descendants, no blueprints or footprints to follow. No one could touch them.[17]: 319
After the professional split with May, Nichols went toVancouver, British Columbia, to work in the theater, directing a production ofOscar Wilde'sThe Importance of Being Earnest and acting in a revival ofGeorge Bernard Shaw'sSt. Joan.[11] In 1963, Nichols was chosen to directNeil Simon's playBarefoot in the Park. He realized at once that he was meant to be a director, saying in a 2003 interview: "On the first day of rehearsal, I thought, 'Well, look at this. Here is what I was meant to do.' I knew instantly that I was home".[18]Barefoot in the Park was a big hit, running for 1,530 performances and earning Nichols aTony Award for his direction.[11]
This began a series of highly successful plays on Broadway (often from works by Simon) that would establish his reputation. After directing an off-Broadway production ofAnn Jellicoe'sThe Knack, Nichols directedMurray Schisgal's playLuv in 1964. Again the show was a hit and Nichols won aTony Award (shared withThe Odd Couple). In 1965 he directed another play byNeil Simon,The Odd Couple. The original production starredArt Carney as Felix Ungar andWalter Matthau as Oscar Madison. The play ran for 966 performances and wonTony Awards for Nichols, Simon and Matthau.[11] Overall, Nichols won nineTony Awards,[21][22] including six for Best Director of either a play or a musical, one for Best Play, and one for Best Musical.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In 1966, Nichols was a star stage director andTime magazine called him "the most in-demand director in the American theatre."[11] Although he had no experience in filmmaking, after he befriended[23]Elizabeth Taylor andRichard Burton,Warner Bros. invited Nichols to direct a screen adaptation ofEdward Albee'sWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Taylor, Burton,George Segal, andSandy Dennis, for which he received a fee of $400,000.[24] The film was critically acclaimed, with critics calling Nichols "the new Orson Welles",[11] and a financial success,[25][26] the number 1 film of 1966.[27]
The film was considered groundbreaking for having a level of profanity and sexual innuendo unheard of at that time.[28][29][30] It won fiveAcademy Awards and garnered thirteen nominations (including Nichols's first nomination for Best Director), earning the distinctions of being one of only two films nominated in every eligible category at the Oscars (the other beingCimarron), and the first film to have its entire credited cast nominated for acting Oscars. It also won threeBAFTA Awards and was later ranked No. 67 inAFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition).
However, getting the film made was difficult for Nichols, who, while noted for being a successful Broadway director, was still an unknown in Hollywood. ProducerLawrence Turman, who wanted only Nichols to direct it, was continually turned down for financing. He then contacted Levine, who said he would finance the film because he had associated with Nichols onThe Knack,[24] and because he heard that Elizabeth Taylor specifically wanted Nichols to direct her and Richard Burton inVirginia Woolf.[32] With financing assured, Nichols suggestedBuck Henry for screenwriter, although Henry's experience had also been mostly in improvised comedy, and had no writing background. Nichols said to Henry, "I think you could do it; I think youshould do it."[32]
Nichols also took a chance on usingDustin Hoffman, who had no film experience, for the lead, when others had suggested using known starRobert Redford. Hoffman credits Nichols for having taken a great risk in giving him, a relative unknown, the starring role: "I don't know of another instance of a director at the height of his powers who would take a chance and cast someone like me in that part. It took tremendous courage."[32] The quality of thecinematography was also influenced by Nichols, who chose Oscar winnerRobert Surtees to do the photography. Surtees, who had photographed major films since the 1920s, includingBen-Hur, said later, "It took everything I had learned over 30 years to be able to do the job. I knew that Mike Nichols was a young director who went in for a lot of camera. We did more things in this picture than I ever did in one film."[32]
Nichols also chose the music bySimon and Garfunkel. When Paul Simon was taking too long to write new songs for the film, he used existing songs, originally planning to replace them with newly written ones. In the end only one new song was available, and Nichols used the existing previously released songs. At one point, when Nichols heardPaul Simon's song, "Mrs. Roosevelt", he suggested to Simon that he change it to "Mrs. Robinson". The song won a Grammy after the film was released and became America's number 1 pop song. Nichols selected all the numerous songs for the film and chose which scenes they would be used in. The placement and selection of songs would affect the way audiences understood the film. Even actorWilliam Daniels, who played Hoffman's father, remembers that after first hearing the songs, especially "The Sound of Silence", he thought, "Oh, wait a minute. That changed the whole idea of the picture for me," suddenly realizing the film would not be a typical comedy.[32]
Nichols had previously returned to Broadway to directThe Apple Tree, starringSecond City alumna,Barbara Harris. After doingThe Graduate, he again returned to the Broadway stage with a revival ofLillian Hellman'sThe Little Foxes in 1967, which ran for 100 performances.[33] He then directed Neil Simon'sPlaza Suite in 1968, earning him anotherTony Award for Best Director. He also directed the short filmTeach Me! (1968), which starred actressSandy Dennis. In 1969 his film production company, Friwaftt, was acquired byAvco Embassy, the distributor ofThe Graduate, who also appointed him to the board of directors.[34] Friwaftt stood for "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."[35]
Nichols returned to Broadway to directNeil Simon'sThe Prisoner of Second Avenue in 1971. The play won Nichols anotherTony Award for Best Director. In 1973, Nichols directed a revival ofAnton Chekhov'sUncle Vanya on Broadway starringGeorge C. Scott and with a new translation by himself and Albert Todd.[11] In 1973 Nichols directed the filmThe Day of the Dolphin starringGeorge C. Scott, based on the French novelUn animal doué de raison (lit.A Sentient Animal) byRobert Merle and adapted byBuck Henry. The film was not successful financially and received mixed reviews from critics.[11] Nichols next directedThe Fortune (1975), starringWarren Beatty,Jack Nicholson andStockard Channing. Again, the film was a financial failure and received mostly negative reviews. In 1975, Nichols began filmingBogart Slept Here, an original screenplay by Neil Simon. The film starredRobert De Niro and Simon's wife,Marsha Mason. After one week of filming, displeased with the results, Nichols and the studio fired De Niro and shut the production down. Simon would retool the script two years later asThe Goodbye Girl.[38] Nichols would not direct another narrative feature film for eight years.[11]
Nichols returned to the stage with two moderately successful productions in 1976;David Rabe'sStreamers opened in April and ran for 478 performances.[39]Trevor Griffiths'sComedians ran for 145 performances.[40] In 1976 Nichols also worked as Executive Producer to create the television dramaFamily forABC. The series ran until 1980. In 1977, Nichols produced the original Broadway production of the hugely successful musicalAnnie, which ran for 2,377 performances until 1983. Nichols won the Tony Award for Best Musical.[41] Later in 1977, Nichols directed D.L. Coburn'sThe Gin Game. The play ran for 517 performances and won a Tony Award for Best Actress forJessica Tandy.[42]
In 1980, Nichols directed the documentaryGilda Live, a filmed performance of comedianGilda Radner's one-woman showGilda Radner Live on Broadway. It was released at the same time as the album of the show, both of which were successful. Nichols was then involved with two unsuccessful shows: he producedBilly Bishop Goes to War, which opened in 1980 and closed after only twelve performances,[43] and directedNeil Simon'sFools, in 1981, which closed after forty performances.[44] Returning to Hollywood, Nichols's career rebounded in 1983 with the filmSilkwood, starringMeryl Streep,Cher andKurt Russell, based on the life of whistleblowerKaren Silkwood. The film was a financial and critical success, with film criticVincent Canby calling it "the most serious work Mike Nichols has yet done."[11] The film received fiveAcademy Award nominations, including a Best Director nomination for Nichols.
That same year, Nichols andPeter Stone helped to fix up and rewrite the musicalMy One and Only just days before its Boston premiere.[45] The show eventually went to Broadway and ran for 767 performances, winningTony Awards for Best Actor, Best Choreography (both forTommy Tune) and Best Supporting Actor (Charles "Honi" Coles). In 1984, Nichols directed the Broadway premiere ofTom Stoppard'sThe Real Thing.The New York Times criticFrank Rich wrote that "The Broadway version ofThe Real Thing—a substantial revision of the original London production—is not only Mr. Stoppard's most moving play, but also the most bracing play that anyone has written about love and marriage in years."[46] The play was nominated for sevenTony Awards and won five, including a Best Director Tony for Nichols. Nichols followed the success with the Broadway premiere ofDavid Rabe'sHurlyburly, also in 1984. It was performed just two blocks away from the theater showingThe Real Thing. It was nominated for threeTony Awards and won Best Actress forJudith Ivey.[11]
Whoopi Goldberg credits Nichols with discovering her after seeing her perform her one woman show in 1983
In 1983, Nichols had seen comedianWhoopi Goldberg's one woman show,The Spook Show, at Dance Theater Workshop and wanted to help her expand it. Goldberg's self-titled Broadway show opened in October 1984 and ran for 156 performances.Rosie O'Donnell later said that Nichols had discovered Goldberg while she was struggling as a downtown artist: "He gave her the entire beginning of her career and recognized her brilliance before anyone else."[47] In 1986 Nichols directed the Broadway premiere ofAndrew Bergman'sSocial Security and in 1988 directedWaiting for Godot, starringRobin Williams andSteve Martin.[48] Williams cited Nichols and May as among his early influences for performing intelligent comedy.[49]
In 1986, Nichols directed the filmHeartburn, which received mixed reviews, and starred Meryl Streep andJack Nicholson. In 1988, Nichols completed two feature films. The first was an adaptation ofNeil Simon's autobiographical stage playBiloxi Blues starringMatthew Broderick, also receiving mixed critical reviews. Nichols directed one of his most successful films,Working Girl, which starredMelanie Griffith,Harrison Ford andSigourney Weaver. The film was a huge hit upon its release, and received mostly positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for sixAcademy Awards (including Best Director for Nichols) and won theAcademy Award for Best Song forCarly Simon's "Let the River Run". At one point in the 1980s, Nichols—prone to bouts of depression—reported that he had considered suicide, a feeling apparently brought on by a psychotic episode he experienced after taking the drugHalcion.[3]
So he's witty, he's brilliant, he's articulate, he's on time, he's prepared and he writes. But is he perfect? He knows you can't really be liked or loved if you're perfect. You have to have just enough flaws. And he does. Just the right, perfect flaws to be absolutely endearing.[50]
Among projects that remained uncompleted when he died, in April 2013 it was announced that Nichols was in talks to direct a film adaptation ofJonathan Tropper's novelOne Last Thing Before I Go. The film was to be produced byJ. J. Abrams, who previously wrote the Nichols-directed filmRegarding Henry (1991).[61] In July 2014, it was announced that Nichols and Streep would reunite for an HBO film ofTerrence McNally's 1985 playMaster Class, with Nichols directing Streep in the starring role of opera singerMaria Callas.[62]
After his early successes as a stage and film director, Nichols had developed a reputation as anauteur who likes to work intimately with his actors and writers, often using them repeatedly in different films. WriterPeter Applebome noted that "few directors have such a gift for getting performances out of actors."[68] During a half-year period in 1967 he had four hit plays running simultaneously on Broadway, during which time his first Hollywood feature,Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, had also become a popular and critical success. Combined with his second film,The Graduate, in 1967, the two films had already earned a total of 20 Oscar nominations, including two for Best Director, and winning it forThe Graduate.
Nichols was able to get the best out of actors regardless of their acting experience, whether an unknown such as Dustin Hoffman or a major star like Richard Burton. For his first film,Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, each of the four actors was nominated for anOscar, withElizabeth Taylor andSandy Dennis winning. Burton later said, "I didn't think I could learn anything about comedy—I'd done all of Shakespeare's. But from him I learned," adding, "He conspires with you to get your best."[50]
However, it was Taylor who chose Nichols to be their director, because, writes biographerDavid Bret, "she particularly admired him because he had done a number of ad-hoc jobs to pay for his education after arriving in America as a seven-year-old Jewish refugee."[69] ProducerErnest Lehman agreed with her choice: "He was the only one who could handle them," he said. "The Burtons were quite intimidating, and we needed a genius like Mike Nichols to combat them."[70] BiographerKitty Kelley says that neither Taylor nor Burton would ever again reach the heights of acting performance they did in that film.[70]
The same style of directing was used forThe Graduate, where, notes film historianPeter Biskind, Nichols took Dustin Hoffman, with no movie acting experience, along with Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross and others, and managed to get some of their finest acting on screen. This ability to work closely with actors would remain consistent throughout his career. Hoffman credits Nichols for permitting the realistic acting needed for the satirical roles in that film:
It's Nichols's style—he walks that edge of really going as far as he can without falling over the cliff, into disbelief. It's not caricature. That's the highest compliment for satire.[68]
In a similar way,Jeremy Irons, who acted in the playThe Real Thing, said that Nichols creates a very "protective environment: he makes you feel he's only there for you,"[18] whileAnn-Margret, for her role inCarnal Knowledge, felt the same: "What's wonderful about Mike is that he makes you feel like you're the one that's come up with the idea, when it's actually his."[71]
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 poetRobert Graves, from 1963 to 1974.[73] The couple had a daughter together, Daisy Nichols. His third marriage, in 1975, toAnnabel Davis-Goff, produced two children, Max Nichols and Jenny Nichols; it ended in divorce in 1986.[74] His fourth was to formerGood Morning America andABC World News anchorDiane Sawyer, whom he married on April 29, 1988.[75] None of his wives were Jewish and his children were not brought up according to a religion, but they identify as Jewish.[76] His son Max married formerESPN journalistRachel Nichols.
Nichols had a lifelong interest inArabian horses. From 1968 to 2004, he owned a farm in Connecticut and was a notedhorse breeder. He also imported quality Arabian horses fromJanów Podlaski Stud Farm in Poland, some of which sold for record-setting prices.[77] While in high school, Nichols had been an instructor at theClaremont Riding Academy in Manhattan's Upper West Side and also had "ridden in horse shows in Chicago."[78]
In 2009, Nichols signed a petition in support of releasing directorRoman Polanski, who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977sexual 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."[79][80]
Nichols died of a heart attack on November 19, 2014, at his apartment inManhattan.[81][82] During the 87th annual Academy Awards on 22 February 2015, Nichols was featured in theIn Memoriam segment, in anchor position.[83][84][85][86] Nichols leftJohn Frederick Herring Sr.'s painting "Horse with Groom" to his son Max.[87][88]
^abcdeCarter, Ash (2019).Life Isn't Everything: Mike Nichols, As Remembered by 150 of His Closest Friends. New York: Henry Holt and Co. pp. Chapter 2.ISBN978-1250112873.
^abColeman, Janet (1991).The Compass: The Improvisational Theatre That Revolutionized American Comedy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN978-0-226-11345-6.
^Bloom, Nate (February 2, 2010)."American Olympic Medal Hopefuls". InterfaithFamily.com. Archived fromthe original on July 15, 2018.Nichols and his third wife, Annabel Davis-Goff, who were married between 1975 and 1986, had two children: a daughter, Jenny, now around 32, and a son, Max, now 35. Davis-Goff is of Irish Protestant background and she has become a well known novelist in the last two decades.
^Tampa Jewish Federation: "Jews in the News: Mike Nichols, Yael Grobglas and Dominic Fumusa" retrieved March 18, 2017 |"Nichols told Pogrebin that his parents were not religious observant at all. He said he was connected to his Jewish heritage, but did not practice Judaism or any other religion. His three children, he told her, were not raised in any faith. Despite their secular upbringing, Nichols said, all three of his children ultimately came to see themselves as Jewish. Nichols told Pogrebin that his daughter, Jenny, once said to him, "In the end you pick Jewish because it is harder."
Carter, Ash; Kashner, Sam (2019).Life isn't everything: Mike Nichols, as remembered by 150 of his closest friends. New York: Henry Holt & Company. p. 368.ISBN9781250112873.
Harris, Mark (2021).Mike Nichols: A Life (First ed.). New York: Penguin Press. p. 688.ISBN9780399562242.
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