Mike Nichols

Mike Nichols (born 6 November 1931) is an American television, stage and film director, writer, and producer. Nichols is one of the few people to have won all major entertainment awards: an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award.

Born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany, he and his German-Russian Jewish family moved to the United States to flee the Nazis in 1939. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1944. While attending the University of Chicago in the 1950s, he began work in improvisational comedy with the Compass Players, a precursor to The Second City, and later started the long-running Midnight Special folk music program on radio station WFMT.

Nichols formed a comedy team with Elaine May, with whom he appeared in nightclubs, on radio, released best-selling records, made guest appearances on several television programs and had their own show on Broadway, directed by Arthur Penn. They were accompanied by Chicago pianist Marty Rubenstein, host of the television show Marty's Place. Personal idiosyncrasies and tensions (the latter culminating in the out-of-town closing of A Matter of Position, a play written by May and starring Nichols) eventually drove the duo apart to pursue other projects in 1961. They later reconciled and worked together many times, with May scripting his films The Birdcage and Primary Colors. They appeared together at President Jimmy Carter's inaugural gala and in a 1980 New Haven stage revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Swoosie Kurtz and James Naughton.
Nichols was chosen to direct Neil Simon's Barefoot In The Park in 1963. He realized almost at once that directing was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Nichols's production of Simon's play was a blockbuster hit, running for 1530 performances. He went on to direct (and occasionally produce) many other Broadway hits, including several more by Simon. He has won numerous theatre awards, including the Tony Award for Best Direction for seven different productions.
He's also had an illustrious career as a film director, starting with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which he received an Oscar nomination, and The Graduate--the biggest hit film released in 1967--for which he won the Best Director Oscar. He's also won Emmy Awards for his direction of Wit (2001) and Angels in America (2003).
Nichols has been married four times, most notably to TV journalist Diane Sawyer, whom he wed on April 29, 1988. He has three children, Daisy (born 1964), Max (born 1974) and Jenny (born 1977). His daughter-in-law is ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols.
Nichols is a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. He is also a founder (along with George Morrison and Paul Sills) of The New Actor's Workshop [1] in New York City, where he occasionally teaches. These three world class Master Teacher/ Directors have coached the likes of Jeff Keogh from Melbourne, Australia; Matthew Clarke, from Vancouver, Canada; Damian (Maximum) Gerard Coyle from Belfast, Ireland; Kathy Hendrickson, Noelle Lynch, Jason Hale, Aditi Das, Josh Day, John Zibell, Caroline Sanchez, Martha Rainer, Douglas Gorenstein, Diane Paulis, Katie Caufield, David Turner, Brendon Bates and Matt Skollar of the USA including many others.

Nichols was married four times. His first wife was to Patricia Scott from 1957 to 1960, followed by Margo Callas in 1963. After having one child his marriage with Callas ended in 1974. His third marriage a year later was to actress Annabel Davis-Goff with whom he had two children, actors Max Nichols and Jenny Nichols. After his divorce from Davis-Goff in 1986, he married his current wife, 60 Minutes news correspondent Diane Sawyer on 29 April 1988.

Nichols was the director of theese films:
Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
Closer (2004/I)
"Angels in America" (4 episodes, 2003)

Perestroika: Chapter Four - Stop Moving! Heaven, I'm in Heaven (2003)
Wit (2001)
What Planet Are You From? (2000)
Primary Colors (1998)
The Birdcage (1996)
Wolf (1994)
Regarding Henry (1991)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Working Girl (1988)
Biloxi Blues (1988)
Heartburn (1986)
Silkwood (1983)
Gilda Live (1980)
The Fortune (1975)
The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Catch-22 (1970)
Teach Me! (1968)
The Graduate (1967)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Mike Nichols (született: 1931. november 6.) amerikai TV, színház és filmrendező, író és producer. Egyike azon keveseknek, akik minden jelentősebb díjat megkaptak, amit a szakmán belül kiosztanak. Polcán sorakozik Oscar-, Grammy-, Emmy-, és Toni-díj is. Olyan fontos filmtörténeti alkotások köthetők hozzá, mint a Diploma előtt, A 22-es csapdája, a Dolgozó lány, a Farkas, a Közelebb, valamint a Charlie Wilson háborúja, továbbá az Angyalok Amerikában című TV sorozat négy epizódját is Nichols rendezte.
Díjai és jelölései:
1968 - Oscar-díj - a legjobb rendező (Diploma előtt)
1968 - Golden Globe-díj - a legjobb rendező (Diploma előtt)
2005 - Golden Globe-jelölés - a legjobb rendező (Közelebb)
1994 - Oscar-jelölés - a legjobb film (Napok romjai)
1989 - Oscar-jelölés - a legjobb rendező (Dolgozó lány)