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Mike Nichols, Oscar-winning director of ‘The Graduate,’ dies at 83 Mike Nichols, Oscar-winning director of ‘The Graduate,’ dies at 83
(35 minutes later)
Acclaimed film, theater, and television director Mike Nichols died suddenly on Wednesday at 83, ABC News announced on Thursday. Acclaimed film, theater and television director Mike Nichols — one of American culture’s most celebrated creators — died suddenly on Wednesday at 83, ABC News announced on Thursday.
Nichols, who directed the Academy Award-winning film “The Graduate,” was married to longtime ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer Nichols, who directed the Academy Award-winning film “The Graduate,” was married to longtime ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.
“He was a true visionary, winning the highest honors in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic and was one of a tiny few to win the EGOT—an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony,” said ABC News President James Goldston in a statement. “He was a true visionary, winning the highest honors in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic and was one of a tiny few to win the EGOT — an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony,” said ABC News President James Goldston in a statement.
Nichols’ work spanned more than six decades and included films such as “Working Girl,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Annie,” and the HBO mini-series “Angels in America” about the AIDS crisis. Nichols’ work spanned more than six decades and included films such as “Working Girl,” “Carnal Knowledge,” “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” He directed “The Odd Couple” and “Annie” on Broadway and and the mini-series “Angels in America,” about the AIDS crisis, for HBO. In 2003, when he was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient, the Kennedy Center noted that “Nichols has had such a varied and profound effect on our culture that probably no American has been left untouched by his genius.”
The German-born director immigrated to the United States with his family during World War II. Born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Nichols immigrated to the United States with his family during World War II.
After attending the University of Chicago briefly, he dropped out to pursue a career in show business. As a comedian, Nichols returned to Chicago. He was one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, with actress and director Elaine May. After briefly attending the University of Chicago, he dropped out to pursue a career in show business. As a comedian, Nichols returned to Chicago and was one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, with actress and director Elaine May.
“Mike has chosen to do things that are really meaningful and that have real impact and real relevance. But he makes them so interesting and exciting that they’re as much fun as if they were trash,” May noted in a tribute to Nichols during the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. “They’re so much fun that you don’t realize that your vision of the world is being transformed incrementally as you watch, because Mike’s work is chronically and relentlessly true and intelligent, and like Mike, absolutely irresistible.” “Mike has chosen to do things that are really meaningful and that have real impact and real relevance,” May noted in a tribute to Nichols at the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. “But he makes them so interesting and exciting that they’re as much fun as if they were trash. They’re so much fun that you don’t realize that your vision of the world is being transformed incrementally as you watch, because Mike’s work is chronically and relentlessly true and intelligent, and like Mike, absolutely irresistible.”
Their partnership was idiosyncratic, charming and funny. Nichols once told the Hollywood Reporter that at the height of their fame in Chicago, they were offered the chance to do a television series, but he declined. Their partnership was idiosyncratic, charming and funny. Nichols once told the Hollywood Reporter that at the height of their fame in Chicago, he and May were offered the chance to do a television series, but he declined.
“The two of us on a TV series would have been a catastrophe. We were too weird. We weren’t made for that,” Nichols said.“The two of us on a TV series would have been a catastrophe. We were too weird. We weren’t made for that,” Nichols said.
Then later, he began directing plays. In the course of his career, Nichols won eight Tony Awards for eight plays. Later, he began directing plays; over the course of his career, Nichols won eight Tony Awards for eight different plays.
In 1966, he directed his first feature film, an adaptation of the play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” It won five Academy Awards, and is one of only two films to ever be nominated in every eligible category. Nichols was nominated for “Best Director,” though he did not win. Later in 1968, he was awarded an Oscar for “The Graduate.” In 1966, he directed his first feature film, an adaptation of the play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” It won five Academy Awards and is one of only two films to be nominated in every eligible category, including Best Director, which Nichols did not win.
In the film’s main character, Benjamin Braddock, a young, well-educated man from an affluent family struggling to make his own way despite his family’s expectations, Nichols saw a little of himself, noted the AP: But the awards were superfluous; the creative process was everything.
“There is no aspect of making a movie that I don’t love,” Nichols told The Post in 2003. “Right away, I loved the actors, the process, the rehearsals.”
The actors felt similarly about Nichols and were loyal to him, “because he loves them,” Emma Thompson once told The Post. “Mike’s very, very intelligent; there’s a lot of genuine sitting down and discussing. Directors who love actors are often very much loved in return.”
In 1968, Nichols was awarded the Best Director Oscar for “The Graduate.”
In the film’s main character, Benjamin Braddock — a young, well-educated man from an affluent family struggling to make his own way despite his family’s expectations — Nichols saw a little of himself, according to the Associated Press:
Mixing farce and Oedipal drama, Nichols managed to capture a generation’s discontent without ever mentioning Vietnam, civil rights or any other issues of the time. But young people laughed hard when a family friend advised Benjamin that the road to success was paved with “plastics” or at Benjamin’s lament that he felt like life was “some kind of game, but the rules don’t make any sense to me. They’re being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up.” At the time, Nichols was “just trying to make a nice little movie,” he recalled in 2005 at a retrospective screening of “The Graduate.” ”It wasn’t until when I saw it all put together that I realized this was something remarkable.”Mixing farce and Oedipal drama, Nichols managed to capture a generation’s discontent without ever mentioning Vietnam, civil rights or any other issues of the time. But young people laughed hard when a family friend advised Benjamin that the road to success was paved with “plastics” or at Benjamin’s lament that he felt like life was “some kind of game, but the rules don’t make any sense to me. They’re being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up.” At the time, Nichols was “just trying to make a nice little movie,” he recalled in 2005 at a retrospective screening of “The Graduate.” ”It wasn’t until when I saw it all put together that I realized this was something remarkable.”
Mixing farce and Oedipal drama, Nichols managed to capture a generation’s discontent without ever mentioning Vietnam, civil rights or any other issues of the time. But young people laughed hard when a family friend advised Benjamin that the road to success was paved with “plastics” or at Benjamin’s lament that he felt like life was “some kind of game, but the rules don’t make any sense to me. They’re being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up.”Mixing farce and Oedipal drama, Nichols managed to capture a generation’s discontent without ever mentioning Vietnam, civil rights or any other issues of the time. But young people laughed hard when a family friend advised Benjamin that the road to success was paved with “plastics” or at Benjamin’s lament that he felt like life was “some kind of game, but the rules don’t make any sense to me. They’re being made up by all the wrong people. I mean no one makes them up. They seem to make themselves up.”
At the time, Nichols was “just trying to make a nice little movie,” he recalled in 2005 at a retrospective screening of “The Graduate.” ”It wasn’t until when I saw it all put together that I realized this was something remarkable.”At the time, Nichols was “just trying to make a nice little movie,” he recalled in 2005 at a retrospective screening of “The Graduate.” ”It wasn’t until when I saw it all put together that I realized this was something remarkable.”
“Mike had a sparkling wit and a brilliant mind. Beloved by so many in film, television and Broadway, there was no greater joy in his life than his family, and of course our own Diane Sawyer,” Goldston said. “A true and beautiful love story, Mike and Diane were married for 26 years.” “Mike had a sparkling wit and a brilliant mind,” Goldston said. “Beloved by so many in film, television and Broadway, there was no greater joy in his life than his family, and of course our own Diane Sawyer. A true and beautiful love story, Mike and Diane were married for 26 years.”
He met Sawyer at 54 by chance in a Paris airport. At the time the 60 Minutes anchor asked him if he would ever submit to an interview and lunch. He met Sawyer by chance in a Paris airport. He was 54 at the time, and the “60 Minutes” anchor asked him if he would ever submit to an interview and lunch.
“I pretended that I was up for it, and we had about 14 lunches,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2012.“I pretended that I was up for it, and we had about 14 lunches,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in 2012.
“I thought we were the two greatest bullshitters. I thought we were brilliant but totally full of shit, so smart and such good talkers and so modest, so wise,” he noted to Vanity Fair in 1994. “It took me a long time to realize that, in the first place, she wasn’t bullshitting, she was real, and then—to my astonishment—that I was, too. And it was because of her.” “I thought we were brilliant but totally full of [it], so smart and such good talkers and so modest, so wise,” he noted to Vanity Fair in 1994. “It took me a long time to realize that, in the first place, she wasn’t [BSing], she was real, and then — to my astonishment — that I was, too. And it was because of her.”
“The way she saw me let me finally see that I was real, too,” he added.“The way she saw me let me finally see that I was real, too,” he added.
Their love story began at a time of personal turmoil for Nichols. Around that time he became dependent on a sleeping pill Halcion, which doctors prescribed after he was hospitalized for a minor heart issue in the late 1980′s. The addiction and depression made him “crazy” he said. Nichols and his third wife, Annabel Davis-Goff divorced in 1986. Their love story began at a time of personal turmoil for Nichols. Around that time, he became dependent on a sleeping pill Halcion, which doctors prescribed after he was hospitalized for a minor heart issue in the late 1980′s. The addiction and depression made him “crazy,” he said. Nichols and his third wife, Annabel Davis-Goff, divorced in 1986.
He and Sawyer lost touch. But after his recovery he reached out again to reconnect. They married in 1988.He and Sawyer lost touch. But after his recovery he reached out again to reconnect. They married in 1988.
“I had loved other women before,” he noted, “but not like this.”“I had loved other women before,” he noted, “but not like this.”
In 2003, he told The Post “There’s the joy of becoming invisible, which is the big, secret happiness in getting older in this country,” he says. “People don’t see you anymore.”
Nichols is survived by three children, Daisy, Max and Jenny, and four grandchildren. The family will hold a small private service this week and a memorial service will be held at a later date, Goldston said.Nichols is survived by three children, Daisy, Max and Jenny, and four grandchildren. The family will hold a small private service this week and a memorial service will be held at a later date, Goldston said.
Before his death, Nichols was “immersed” in a new HBO project to adapt “Master Class,” Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play about opera singer Maria Callas. He would have reunited with a frequent collaborator, Meryl Streep for that project. The two worked together on another HBO project, “Angels in America.” Production was set to begin in 2015.Before his death, Nichols was “immersed” in a new HBO project to adapt “Master Class,” Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play about opera singer Maria Callas. He would have reunited with a frequent collaborator, Meryl Streep for that project. The two worked together on another HBO project, “Angels in America.” Production was set to begin in 2015.
Nichols was “one of our era’s essential artists,” Streep has said.Nichols was “one of our era’s essential artists,” Streep has said.
“No explanation of our world could be complete and no account or image of it so rich if we didn’t have you,” she told him as he received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. “You have made yourself unmistakable, you have created a quality, an essence that is composed of wit, grace, outrage, delight, skepticism and true love.”“No explanation of our world could be complete and no account or image of it so rich if we didn’t have you,” she told him as he received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. “You have made yourself unmistakable, you have created a quality, an essence that is composed of wit, grace, outrage, delight, skepticism and true love.”