Sad news. The great film and theater director, Mike Nichols has died suddenly from cardiac arrest at age 83.
Married to ABC news veteran, Diane Sawyer, Nichols most famous work is the 60’s film classic, The Graduate. That seminal film is just one item on a long list of accomplishments from an amazing career spanning 50 plus years. He was one of only a dozen people to have won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award.
James Goldston, the president of ABC News shared the news of the acclaimed director’s death with staff in a note this morning:
I am writing with the very sad news that Diane’s husband, the incomparable Mike Nichols, passed away suddenly on Wednesday evening. In a triumphant career that spanned over six decades, Mike created some of the most iconic works of American film, television and theater—an astonishing canon ranging from The Graduate, Working Girl and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf to Closer, Charlie Wilson’s War, Annie, Spamalot, The Birdcage and Angels in America. 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.
No one was more passionate about his craft than Mike. He had recently been immersed in a new project for HBO to adapt Master Class, Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-winning play about opera legend Maria Callas. The project reunited him with Meryl Streep, one of his most frequent collaborators. She once said of Mike, “no explanation of our world could be complete and no account or image of it so rich, if we didn’t have you,” in hailing him as one of the essential artists of our time.”Playwright Tom Stoppard, said, “He is a giver. He’s good at comfort and joy. He’s good at improving the shining hour and brightening the dark one, and, of course, he’s superlative fun…To me he is the best of America.”
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. A true and beautiful love story, Mike and Diane were married for 26 years. He leaves behind three children — Daisy, Max and Jenny — and four wonderful grandchildren.”
Nichols was born in Germany under the name Michael Igor Peschkowsky. He fled Nazi Germany with his parents at age 7. The director got his start as a member of a comedy troupe, The Compass Players. His work with fellow director/writer, Elaine May, in the early 60s, made a huge impact on the comedy world.
The prolific director even has a connection to the reality TV world. Nichols directed the Broadway musical, Spamalot, an adaption of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. American Idol alum, Clay Aiken, took over the role of Sir Robin for a time.
Classic Nichols and May
This skit, lampooning celebrity culture and political hypocrisy, still resonates today
Movie trailer for The Graduate
