Mike Nichols: In Memoriam (1931 – 2014)

Great Performances mourns the death of Mike Nichols (1931 – 2014), who died on Wednesday, November 19. He is one of the rare multi-talented storytellers to count Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards among his honors. In 2001 he was honored with a National Medal of Arts Award. He was married to journalist Diane Sawyer.

He first won acclaim as a performer doing improv comedy with Elaine May in Chicago. Their Broadway show An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May opened in 1960 and its recording won Nichols and May a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

In the 1960s Nichols turned to stage directing. Among his Broadway productions are two Neil Simon plays, Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple, both of which earned him Tony Awards for Best Director (and there would be future Tonys).

Nichols’s film debut as a director was with none other than Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), an adaptation of the Edward Albee play. Nichols was nominated for an Academy Award for best director. He didn’t win, but the film won five Oscars after being nominated in 13 categories.

It was his second film, The Graduate (1967), starring Dustin Hoffman, that won Nichols an Academy Award for Best Director.

In the world of television, Nichols earned an Emmy for his writing collaboration with Emma Thompson for the television adaptation of Wit, which he also directed, and for directing Tony Kushner’s Angels in America.

The quality and quantity of his creative work and artistic collaborations is astounding and is detailed on the Wikipedia page for Mike Nichols. More about Nichols’ personal background can be found on the PBS site American Masters.