Mike Nichols, Genius, Comic, Courageous Greathearted Man

Mike Nichols, Genius, Comic, Courageous Greathearted Man
Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2016-01-30 11:26
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Summary:
\ PBS' documentary on the life of Mike Nichols reveals more of this amazing man

I Mike Nichols 41 Years Of Movie Directing

2007 Charlie Wilson's War Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tom Hanks (the CIA used the cocaine habit of Charlie Wilson to force him into supporting the Mujahideen and Taliban with billions in weapons to use against Russia in Afghanistan.) Now those same weapons have shot down American soldiers and planes.
2004/I Closer
2003 Angels in America (TV Mini-Series) (2 episodes)
- Part 2 Perestroika (2003)
- Part 1 Millennium Approaches (2003)
2001 Wit (TV Movie)
2000 What Planet Are You From?
1998 Primary Colors (magnificent) John Travolta plays Bill Clinton
1996 The Birdcage
1994 Wolf
1991 Regarding Henry
1990 Postcards from the Edge
1988 Working Girl
1988 Biloxi Blues
1986 Heartburn based on Nora Ephron's book about her marriage to Carl Bernstein of
Woodward and Bernstein and Bernstein's affair while she was pregnant. Woodward formerly of Naval Intelligence and Bernstein, both of the Washington Post, were the duo who with the direction of the Post owners helped in the Kissinger plot to remove Nixon
from power. Mark Felt, number two man at the FBI, was the actual Deep Throat.)
1983 Silkwood the story of the energy company Kerr McGee's murder of nuclear power whistleblower and union activist Karen Silkwood, played by Meryl Streep
1980 Gilda Live (Documentary)
1975 The Fortune
1973 The Day of the Dolphin (based on Dr John C Lilly's research for the Navy which was training dolphins to be bomb and other explosives carriers Because of the navy's treatment of animals and after 2 dolphins killed themselves by smashing their heads against tanks, Lilly resigned.
1971 Carnal Knowledge with Jack Nicholson
1970 Catch-22 an antiwar film
1968 Teach Me! (Short)
1967 The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and Ann Bancroft
(Mike Nichols said this film was about breaking free of death by materialism)
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

II Director AND Producer OF Plays

Betrayal
Oct 27, 2013 - Jan 05, 2014
Death of a Salesman
Mar 15, 2012 - Jun 02, 2012
The Country Girl
Apr 27, 2008 - Jul 20, 2008
The Apple Tree
Dec 14, 2006 - Mar 11, 2007
Spamalot
Mar 17, 2005 - Jan 11, 2009
Whoopi
[Play, Solo, Original]
Produced by Mike Nichols
Nov 17, 2004 - Jan 30, 2005
The Play What I Wrote
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Produced by Mike Nichols
Mar 30, 2003 - Jun 15, 2003
Sunday in the Park with George
[Special, Concert, Revival]
Presented by Friends In Deed (Mike Nichols: Chairman; Cynthia O'Neal: President; Robert MacNamara: Managing Director)
May 15, 1994 - May 15, 1994
Death and the Maiden
[Play, Drama, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Mar 17, 1992 - Aug 02, 1992
Social Security
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Apr 17, 1986 - Mar 22, 1987
Whoopi Goldberg
[Play, Solo, Original]
Produced by Mike Nichols
Production Supervised by Mike Nichols
Oct 24, 1984 - Mar 10, 1985
Hurlyburly
[Play, Original]
Produced by Icarus Productions
Directed by Mike Nichols
Aug 07, 1984 - Jun 02, 1985
The Real Thing
[Play, Drama, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Produced by Icarus Productions
Jan 05, 1984 - May 12, 1985
Grown Ups
[Play, Original]
Produced by Mike Nichols
Dec 10, 1981 - Feb 20, 1982
Fools
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Apr 06, 1981 - May 09, 1981
Lunch Hour
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Nov 12, 1980 - Jun 28, 1981
Billy Bishop Goes to War
[Musical, Original]
Produced by Mike Nichols
May 29, 1980 - Jun 07, 1980
The Gin Game
[Play, Original]
Produced by Mike Nichols
Directed by Mike Nichols
Co - Produced by Icarus Productions
Oct 06, 1977 - Dec 31, 1978
Annie
[Musical, Comedy, Original]
Produced by Icarus Productions
Produced by Mike Nichols
Apr 21, 1977 - Jan 02, 1983
Comedians
[Play, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Nov 28, 1976 - Apr 03, 1977
Streamers
[Play, Drama, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Apr 21, 1976 - Jun 05, 1977
Uncle Vanya
[Play, Drama, Revival]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Translated by Mike Nichols
Jun 04, 1973 - Jul 28, 1973
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
[Play, Comedy, Drama, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Nov 11, 1971 - Sep 29, 1973
Plaza Suite
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Feb 14, 1968 - Oct 03, 1970
The Little Foxes
[Play, Drama, Revival]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Oct 26, 1967 - Jan 20, 1968
The Apple Tree
[Musical, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Oct 18, 1966 - Nov 25, 1967
The Odd Couple
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Mar 10, 1965 - Jul 02, 1967
Luv
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols
Nov 11, 1964 - Jan 07, 1967
Barefoot in the Park
[Play, Comedy, Original]
Directed by Mike Nichols, screenplay by Neil Simon, stars: Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley
Oct 23, 1963 - Jun 25, 1967
An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May
[Special, Comedy, Original]
Starring: Mike Nichols [Performer]
Written by Mike Nichols

III Comedy
Compass Players
Second City
Many performances of Nichols and May with Elaine May

IV Television AS Actor , Producer, Presenter, Interviewee ETC.

The Wil Wheaton Project (2014)
Executive Producer
Wicked Tuna (2014)
Executive Producer
Wicked Tuna: North vs. South (2014)
Executive Producer
Inventing David Geffen (2013) Actor
34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors (2012) Presenter
TV Land Presents: The AFI Life Achievement Award Honoring Morgan Freeman (2011)
Actor
Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2010) Actor
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Mike Nichols (2010) Actor
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Warren Beatty (2008) Actor
My Dad is Better Than Your Dad (2008) Executive Producer
Julia Roberts: American Cinematheque Tribute (2008) Actor
Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize Celebrating Steve Martin (2006) Actor
Whoopi: Back To Broadway - The 20th Anniversary (2005)
Producer, Acknowledgment
62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (2005) Actor
Angels in America (2004) Director
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Meryl Streep (2004)
Actor
26th Annual Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (2004) Actor
Kennedy Center: Mark Twain Prize -- Celebrating Whoopi Goldberg (2002) Actor
Wit (2001)
Screenplay, Director, Executive Producer
American Film Institute Salute to Harrison Ford (2000) Actor
Intimate Portrait: Diane Von Furstenberg (2000) Actor
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Atas) 13th Annual Hall of Fame (1998) Actor
Catch-22 (1997) Actor
Inside the Actors Studio (1997)
: Interviewee
Nichols and May -- Take Two (1996) Actor
Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light (1996) Actor
American Film Institute Salute to Jack Nicholson (1994) Actor
8th Annual American Comedy Awards (1994) Actor
Paul Simon: Born at the Right Time (1993) Actor
Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1992) Actor
Working Girl (1990)
Story By Richard Burton: In From the Cold (1990) Actor
Neil Simon: Not Just For Laughs (1989) Actor
Thorns (1988) Executive Producer
Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes All-Star 50th Anniversary (1986)
Actor
39th Annual Tony Awards (1985) Actor
Family (1980) Executive Producer
Last Laugh at the 60's (1970) Actor
Jack Paar Special (1960) Actor
Jack Paar Presents (1960) Actor
Friends With Kids (2011) Executive Producer
wonderful documentary of his life is at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/mike-nichols-filmmaker-interview/

V Movie Actor

Numerous appearances including Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

VI Discography

Nichols and May – Improvisations to Music (1959) Mercury
Nichols and May – An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May (1960) Mercury
Nichols and May – Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors (1962) Mercury MG 20680/SR 60680
Nichols and May – In Retrospect (1982) Polygram, re-released as compact disc in 1996

VII Quotes: (a tiny fraction of tens of thousands)

1 Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.

2 I don't understand how the mystical transformations into a role is created by Meryl Streep (paraphrased)

3 A great actor can make the heavy words of Eugene O'Neill soar (paraphrased)

4 No one person can make a movie, but there must be one person who makes the final decisions, the director (paraphrased)

5. "According to Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s book Faces of America, Nichols only knew two sentences in English before arriving in America: "I don't speak English" and "Please, don't kiss me." "

6. The whole point about laughter is it's like mercury: you can't catch it, you can't catch what motivates it
- that's why it's funny.
7.The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures,
and only you know the film you see in your head.

VIII Personal Life

Mike Nichols was born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany, on November 6, 1931. His parents came to the US to escape the Nazis when he was 7.

Mike Nichols married ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer in April 1988. He was previously married to Patricia Scott (1957-60), Margo Calla
s (1963-74) and Annabel Davis-Goff (1975-86), He had 3 children. He died in November of 2014 of cardiac arrest" biography.com

IX Directing Style

Someone in a wonderful PBS documentary of Nichols which includes Nichols himself states that Nichols in his direction was right at least 90% of the time. He would explain his decisions to the company, most often with humor. He was a loved director.

X Awards

Only 12 people have been classified as egot... having won 1 or more emmy's, grammy's, oscars, and tony awards. Mike Nichols is one of this blessed dozen.

"Nichols won a record six Tony Awards for direction of a play. Those included "Barefoot in the Park" in 1964 and "The Odd Couple" in 1965, and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" " nydailynews.com

From his comic genius with Elaine May and his blazing talent as a Broadway director with 6 Tony awards to his searing political commentary in Charlie Wilson's War, Silkwood, Primary Colors, Catch 22, The Day Of The Dolphin, Heartburn etc., Nichols was a blazing star.

wonderful documentary of his life is at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/mike-nichols-filmmaker-interview/

http://imdb.com
http://biography.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Nichols
http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2010/11/05/1288971
http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/104435/Mike-Nichols/filmography
http://acertaincinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/nichols-taylor-burt
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mike_nichols.html#sE97cpkfzj
http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5276/59/16x9/960.jpg