I don’t think there’s been a tribute to Mike Nichols over the past two days that hasn’t included the phrase “Hollywood legend.” I will not break code here. The man was a Hollywood legend.<\/p>\n
Born\u00a0Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin in 1931 (Jeebus what a terrible way to begin life, no offense), the young Nichols traveled to the United States as a seven year old with only his three-year-old brother, meeting their father who had fled Nazi persecution months earlier. His mother would join the family a year later, escaping through Italy.<\/p>\n
Despite this somewhat rough beginning, Nichols found his way in the United States, succeeding in the most American of ways: abandoning the family business to pursue a career in acting. (Nichols’s father was a physician and his son quickly abandoned his premed program at the University of Chicago.)<\/p>\n
The rest of the story is, as the man, Hollywood legend. First, work and eventually success as a stage actor and director, an acclaimed comedy career (teamed mostly with fellow legend Elaine May), then one of the most successful directorial careers in Hollywood history. His films? A total of 42 Oscar nominations and seven wins.<\/p>\n
Nichols’s most well-known film, 1967’s\u00a0The Graduate<\/em>, won him an Academy Award for Best Director at the age of 36. Not one to rest on his laurels, Nichols directed the envelope-pushing\u00a0Carnal Knowledge<\/em> four years later, and classics including\u00a0Regarding Henry<\/em>,\u00a0Wolf<\/em>, and\u00a0The Birdcage<\/em> in the 1990s. At the age of 74 Nichols directed a sleeper pick as one of my all-time favorites, 2007’s\u00a0Charlie Wilson’s War<\/em>. And two years ago, into his eighties? Broadway production of\u00a0Death of a Salesman<\/em>.<\/p>\n It was Nichols’s stage work that brought him early acclaim and perhaps the reason I respect him most. He’s a real director, not just a movie director. An actor too, and a comedian.<\/p>\n And a Hollywood legend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t think there’s been a tribute to Mike Nichols over the past two days that hasn’t included the phrase “Hollywood legend.” I will not break code here. The man was a Hollywood legend. Born\u00a0Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin in … Continue reading