-
01
Fleeing Nazi Germany in April 1939, Mike Nichols and his younger brother Robert arrived in New York City on April 28, 1939. Their father had already relocated and established a medical practice as Paul Nichols. Their mother rejoined them the following year.
-
02
According to Jack Nicholson’s April 1972 Playboy interview, Nichols asked cast members not to smoke marijuana while filming Carnal Knowledge 1971 in Vancouver, where cannabis was easily available. He believed it dulled an actor’s performance.
-
03
Ninth person and sixth man to achieve EGOT status. The other EGOT recipients include Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin, Robert Lopez, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, John Legend, Alan Menken, Jennifer Hudson, Viola Davis, and Elton John.
-
04
Directed 17 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Elizabeth Taylor, Sandy Dennis, Richard Burton, George Segal, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep, Cher, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack, Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Taylor and Dennis won Oscars for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966.
-
05
Received the first straight $1,000,000 director’s salary for Catch-22 1970. He was also the first director to earn $1,000,000 total from a single film, including salary and percentage, for The Graduate 1967.
-
06
During his 2003 Kennedy Center Honors tribute, Meryl Streep and Candace Bergen read Nichols’ Five Rules for Filmmaking: 1. The careful application of terror is an important form of communication. 2. Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for. 3. There’s absolutely no substitute for genuine lack of preparation. 4. If you think there’s good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody. 5. Friends may come and go, but enemies will certainly become studio heads.
-
07
In April 2009, Nichols told The New York Times that when he came to the U.S. from Germany seventy years earlier, he could speak only two English sentences: I do not speak English and Please, do not kiss me.
-
08
One of ten directors to win Golden Globe, DGA, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same film, all for The Graduate 1967. The others are Miloš Forman, Richard Attenborough, Oliver Stone, Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Danny Boyle, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Guillermo del Toro.
-
09
In an interview shortly before his death, he admitted that he considered his adaptation of Angels in America 2003 the crowning achievement of his career.
-
10
He considered Diane Sawyer the love of his life.
-
11
In Berlin, Nichols’ father was part of a young intellectual circle that included Russian immigrants such as Vladimir Nabokov’s sister and Boris Pasternak’s parents.
-
12
Richard Burton, often scathing in his private diaries, wrote glowingly about Nichols. Professionally, Burton believed Nichols was one of only three directors who brought out something in him as an actor that he didn’t know was there. Personally, he thought Nichols and Noël Coward were the only men of talent whose company he actually enjoyed.
-
13
Was interested in directing First Blood 1982 with Dustin Hoffman as John Rambo.
-
14
Originally chosen to direct The Last Tycoon 1976, he left the project due to creative differences with Robert De Niro.
-
15
One of five recipients of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors; the others were James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn, and Itzhak Perlman.
-
16
Suffered from Alopecia Universalis from age four due to a bad allergic reaction to a whooping cough vaccine, resulting in loss of all body hair. He wore wigs and false eyebrows for the rest of his life.
-
17
On Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates Jr. 2010, Nichols learned he was a distant relative of Meryl Streep. Later on Finding Your Roots, he discovered he was related to Albert Einstein 3rd or 4th cousins several times removed.
-
18
Worked at the Howard Johnson’s restaurant in New York’s Times Square when he was 17 years old.
-
19
Taught occasionally at The New Actor’s Workshop in New York City.
-
20
His father’s family had been wealthy in Siberia, leaving after the Russian Revolution and settling in Germany around 1920.
-
21
Formed a comedy team with Elaine May, appearing in nightclubs, on radio and television, and most notably at President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration gala.
-
22
Although born in Berlin in 1931 and living there until April 1939, he was never a German citizen. His father was Russian and his mother Austrian; they were classed as Russian by authorities.
-
23
From the early 1960s until his death, he was a well-known figure among Arabian Horse fans as a breeder of over 400 registered Arabians, including owning and breeding many U.S. National Champion horses.
-
24
Presented both Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep their AFI Life Achievement Awards.
-
25
Two of his films are on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time: Working Girl 1988 at #87 and Silkwood 1983 at #66.
-
26
His six Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play are a record. He won for Barefoot in the Park 1964; Luv and The Odd Couple 1965; Plaza Suite 1968; The Prisoner of Second Avenue 1972; The Real Thing 1984; and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman 2012. He also won Best Direction of a Musical for Spamalot 2005, and as producer for Annie 1977 and The Real Thing 1984.
-
27
Recipient of the Producers Guild of America’s Visionary Award.
-
28
Won more Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play than any other individual, with wins for Barefoot in the Park 1964; Luv and The Odd Couple 1965; Plaza Suite 1968; The Prisoner of Second Avenue 1972; The Real Thing 1984; and Death of a Salesman 2012. He also won Best Direction of a Musical for Spamalot 2005 and as producer for Annie 1977 and The Real Thing 1984.
-
29
Awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2001 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
-
30
His parents: mother Brigitte Landauer Peschkowsky, a housewife; father Pavel Peschkowsky Dr. Igor Paul Nichols, a physician.
-
31
Directed the hit Broadway musical Spamalot, lovingly ripped off from Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975.
-
32
Attended the University of Chicago, where he became close friends with fellow student Susan Sontag then Susan Rosenblatt.
-
33
Had cardiac bypass surgery in New York in 2008, from which he appeared to recover fully.
-
34
Directed two films selected for the National Film Registry: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 and The Graduate 1967.
-
35
Only twelve when his doctor father died at age 44, after which he, his mother, and brother lived in considerable poverty until his mother remarried.
-
36
Father-in-law of ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols.
-
37
One of the Directors Guild of America’s annual Honorees in 2000.
-
38
His favorite films included A Place in the Sun 1951, Persona 1966, and 8½ 1963.
-
39
Nominated for a 1978 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play for The Gin Game on Broadway.
-
40
Like Steve Martin, Paul Simon, and Lorne Michaels, Nichols had his portrait painted by Eric Fischl.
-
41
Directed four Emmy Award-winning performances: Jeffrey Wright, Mary-Louise Parker, Al Pacino, and Meryl Streep in Angels in America 2003.
-
42
Was a member of the Democratic Party.
-
43
His mother, Brigitte Peschkowsky, died on January 10, 1985, at age 78.
-
44
When he won his Oscar for The Graduate 1967, the statuette was presented by actress Leslie Caron.
-
45
Directed three films nominated for Best Picture Oscar: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966, The Graduate 1967, and Working Girl 1988. He also produced one Best Picture nominee: The Remains of the Day 1993.
-
46
Biography included in John Wakeman’s World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985 pages 704-710.
-
47
Decades before his death, he reconciled with Elaine May and worked on many projects together.
-
48
Nominated for a 1977 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play for Streamers on Broadway.
-
49
Resided at the Hotel Des Artistes, 1 West 67th Street, in Manhattan, New York.
-
50
Hobbies included swimming, dining out, reading, dancing, watching movies, and horse-breeding.
