Known for Directing
Mike Nichols (born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was a German-born American film and theatre director, producer, actor and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of their acting experience. Nichols began his career in the 1950s with the comedy improvisational troupe, The Compass Players, predecessor of The Second City, in Chicago. He then teamed up with his improv partner, Elaine May, to form the comedy duo Nichols and May. Their live improv acts were a hit on Broadway resulting in three albums, with their debut album winning a Grammy Award. After Nichols and May disbanded their act in 1961, Nichols began directing plays. He soon earned a reputation as a skilled Broadway director with a flair for creating innovative productions and the ability to elicit polished performances from actors. His debut Broadway play was Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park in 1963, with Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. He next directed Luv in 1964 and in 1965 directed another Neil Simon play, The Odd Couple. Nichols received a Tony Award for each of those plays. Nearly five decades later, he won his sixth Tony Award as best director with a revival of Death of a Salesman in 2012. During his career, he directed or produced over twenty-five Broadway plays. In 1966, Warner Brothers invited Nichols to direct his first film, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The groundbreaking and acclaimed film led critics to declare Nichols the "new Orson Welles". The film garnered 13 Academy Award nominations, winning five. It was also a box office hit and became the number 1 film of 1966. His next film was The Graduate in 1967, starring then unknown actor Dustin Hoffman, alongside Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross. The film was another critical and financial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1967 and receiving seven Academy Award nominations, winning Nichols the Academy Award for Best Directing. Among the other films he directed were Catch-22 (1970), Carnal Knowledge (1971), Silkwood (1983), Working Girl (1988), Wolf (1994), The Birdcage (1996), Closer (2004), and Charlie Wilson's War (2007). Along with an Academy Award, Nichols won a Grammy Award (the first for a comedian born outside the United States), four Emmy Awards and nine Tony Awards. He was also a three-time BAFTA Award winner. His other honors included the Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2010. His films garnered a total of 42 Academy Award nominations and seven wins. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mike Nichols, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
November 6, 1931
Died
November 19, 2014 (age 83)
Birthplace
Berlin, Germany
Filmography
62 films, 20 shows


Charlie Wilson's War
2007 · 1h 42m
country: Germany
A Texas congressman sets a series of events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviets.


Closer
2004 · 1h 44m
country: United Kingdom
The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.


Wit
2001 · 1h 39m
country: United States
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.


What Planet Are You From?
2000 · 1h 45m
country: United States
A human-looking alien from a highly advanced but emotionless all-male society is sent to Earth to impregnate a woman and bring the child back to their planet. The alien ends up falling in love while a suspicious FAA agent tails him.


Primary Colors
1998 · 2h 23m
country: France
In this adaptation of the best-selling roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, the young and gifted Henry Burton is tapped to oversee the presidential campaign of Governor Jack Stanton. Burton is pulled into the politician's colorful world and looks on as Stanton -- who has a wandering eye that could be his downfall -- contends with his ambitious wife, Susan, and an outspoken adviser, Richard Jemmons.


The Birdcage
1996 · 1h 59m
country: United States
A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen partner agree to put up a false heterosexual front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's conservative parents.


Wolf
1994 · 2h 5m
country: United States
An aging publisher becomes a demon wolf and, with this newfound youthful vigor, fights to keep his job.


Regarding Henry
1991 · 1h 48m
country: United States
After being shot, a lawyer loses his memory and must relearn speech and mobility, but he has a loving family to support him.


Postcards from the Edge
1990 · 1h 41m
country: United States
A substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side even as she's forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment.


Working Girl
1988 · 1h 54m
country: United States
When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she takes a risky chance to reclaim it by impersonating him and running the project from his position.


Biloxi Blues
1988 · 1h 46m
country: United States
A Jewish teenager sets three goals: lose his virginity, become a writer, and survive World War II.


Heartburn
1986 · 1h 48m
country: United States
She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship heartburn, nothing will.


Silkwood
1983 · 2h 11m
country: United States
Like most of the people in her town, Karen Silkwood works at the local nuclear plant producing highly radioactive plutonium. Exposed one day to a lethal dose of radiation, Karen faces the blank walls of corporate indifference and denial. As her illness increases, her protest grows louder and she becomes an obvious danger to the powers that be.


Gilda Live
1980 · 1h 36m
country: United States
Gilda Radner is recorded during a live comedy concert. Radner's classic characters are seen in sketches that are sometimes more risque than when they appeared on television. During her breaks, the character Father Guido Sarducci takes the stage.


The Fortune
1975 · 1h 28m
country: United States
A couple of bumbling 1920s hustlers attempt to obtain the fortune of an heiress. Nothing will stop them, not even murder.


The Day of the Dolphin
1973 · 1h 45m
country: United States
A marine biologist teaches his dolphins to communicate in English but shady characters plan to kidnap the trained mammals for a more sinister purpose.


Carnal Knowledge
1971 · 1h 38m
country: United States
Two lifelong friends navigate complex sexual encounters and emotional entanglements, wrestling with societal norms and personal desires.


Catch-22
1970 · 2h 1m
country: United States
A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.


The Graduate
1967 · 1h 47m
country: United States
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.


Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966 · 2h 11m
country: United States
A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.