Mike Nichols
Birth Name:
Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky
Birth Place:
Berlin, Germany
Profession
Director, Producer, Actor, Writer, Soundtrack, Production manager
Fast Facts
- Recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 2010
- Completed 'EGOT' status, winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, in 2001 after receiving his first award 40 years prior
- Married Diane Sawyer, who is 14 years his junior, in 1988
- After studying at The Actors Studio in New York City, he accepted a job with the Compass Players in Chicago, a predecessor to Second City, in 1955
- Worried about Nazi persecution due to their Jewish heritage, his mother sent him to the United States with his little brother in 1938 at the age of 7 to meet up with his father who had fled months before
- First met Elaine May, his stage partner in the 1960s and later friend, at a performance of the first play he directed, Yeats's "Purgatory," in 1953, and both later recalled that they hated each other at first sight
- Quote: "I've always been impressed by the fact that upon entering a room full of people, you find them saying one thing, doing another, and wishing they were doing a third․ The words are secondary and the secrets are primary․ That's what interests me most․"
- Quote: "A movie is like a person․ Either you trust it or you don't․"
- Following his split with Elaine May in 1961, he began pursuing various directing efforts, starting with stage productions in Canada before landing his first film, 1966's award-winning "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
- Best known as the director of "The Graduate" and "The Birdcage," and was one of the few directors to achieve popular and artistic success in both film and theater
Awards
- 1967Oscar - Best Director:Nominated
- 1967BAFTA Film Award - Best Film from any Source:Winner
- 1967DGA Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures:Nominated
- 1967Golden Globe - Best Director:Nominated
- 1967NYFCC Award - Best Director:Winner
- 1968Oscar - Best Director:Winner
- 1968DGA Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures:Winner
- 1968Golden Globe - Best Director:Winner
- 1969BAFTA Film Award - Best Film:Winner
- 1969BAFTA Film Award - Best Direction:Winner
- 1969Kinema Junpo Award - Best Foreign Language Film:Nominated
- 1972Golden Spike - Best Film:Nominated
- 1977Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Drama Series:Nominated
- 1984Oscar - Best Director:Nominated
- 1984Golden Globe - Best Director - Motion Picture:Nominated
- 1986Golden Spike - Best Film:Nominated
- 1989Oscar - Best Director:Nominated
- 1989DGA Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures:Nominated
- 1989Golden Globe - Best Director - Motion Picture:Nominated
- 1994Oscar - Best Picture:Nominated
- 1994BAFTA Film Award - Best Film:Nominated
- 1994PGA Award - Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:Nominated
- 1996Honorable Mentions (The Next Ten Best Picture Contenders) - Honorable Mentions:Nominated
- 1997OFTA Film Award - Best Comedy/Musical Picture:Nominated
- 1999OFTA Film Award - Best Comedy/Musical Picture:Nominated
- 2001Golden Berlin BearNominated
- 2001Special Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Competition:Winner
- 2001Humanitas Prize - 90 Minute or Longer Cable Category:Winner
- 2001OFTA Television Award - Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries:Nominated
- 2001Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Movie:Nominated
- 2001Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special:Winner
- 2001Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Made for Television Movie:Winner
- 2001Golden Spike - Best Film:Nominated
- 2002Christopher Award - Television & Cable:Winner
- 2003OFTA Television Award - Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries:Winner
- 2004DGA Award - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television:Winner
- 2004Visionary AwardWinner
- 2004Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Miniseries:Winner
- 2004Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special:Winner
- 2005Movies for Grownups Award - Best Director:Winner
- 2005Gold Derby Film Award - Motion Picture:Nominated
- 2005Gold Derby Film Award - Director:Nominated
- 2005Golden Globe - Best Director - Motion Picture:Nominated
- 2005OFTA Film Award - Best Casting:Nominated
- 2005PGA Award - Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:Winner
- 2007SLFCA Award - Best Director:Nominated
- 2008Movies for Grownups Award - Best Director:Nominated
- 2008Cinema for Peace Award - Cinema for Peace Award for The Most Valuable Film of the Year:Nominated