Director Mike Nichols, a legend of both film and stage and even TV, passed away late last night, from cardiac arrest, if I remember what I heard on the news this morning correctly. He was 83.
Nichols was a rarity in the industry: he was an EGOT, which means that in his lifetime he earned at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony for his work.
He was, of course, the man behind such distinct films as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate (which was only his second him and which won him a Best Director Academy Award in 1968), Silkwood, Working Girl, The Birdcage, Closer, and Charlie Wilson’s War, among others.
Nichols also left his mark on the small screen, most memorably when he delivered Tony Kushner’s Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning adaptation of his own Angels in America for HBO in 2003.
His theater work was even more impressive, if that’s possible. Nichols collected 10 Tonys during the course of his career, for his direction of plays as Barefoot In the Park, The Odd Couple, The Real Thing, Spamalot, and Death of a Salesman.
Nichols, for all intents and purposes, kept busy until the very end. He was on a Meryl Streep-led adaptation of Terrence McNally’s Master Class for HBO.
He was married to Diane Sawyer. He leaves behind three children and four grandkids.
Streep, for one, put a statement calling the director, “[a]n inspiration and a joy to know...and indelible irreplaceable man,” while Steven Spielberg said that Nichols was “one of America’s all[-]time greatest directors.”
Click here for more remembrances from the likes of Norman Lear, Mia Farrow, Hank Azaria, Steve Carell, Hugh Jackman, Ron Howard, Patrick Wilson, Katie Couric, Julianne Moore, Sandra Bernhard, James L. Brooks, and Kevin Spacey, among others.
Photo: Deadline.com.
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