Film Director Mike Nichols has passed away aged 83.
Nichols directed some of Hollywood’s most memorable films including ‘The Graduate’ and ‘Working Girl’ but he also delivered a number of LGBTIQ related projects.
In 2003 he directed the ground breaking TV production ‘Angels in America’. The six hour epic that focused on the AIDS epidemic. The mini-series won a stack of Golden Globe and Emmy Awards.
Nichols was also at the helm of the film ‘The Birdcage’ starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. The film, which was a remake of the 1978 French film La Cage Aux Folles’, was a box office hit in 1996 earning over 186 million dollars.
Nichols will be remembered for his iconic film ‘The Graduate’. The 1967 film make a star out of Dustin Hoffman who played young college graduate who is seduced by the older Mrs Robinson. The late Anne Bancroft played Mrs Robinson uttering the memorable line ‘Would you like me to seduce You”.
The film also featured a soundtrack composed by Simon and Garfunkel which featured the song ‘Mrs Robinson’.
Nichols also directed the classic ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The screen adaptation of Joseph Heller’s novel ‘Catch-22’, ‘Carnal Knowledge’, ‘Silkwood’, ‘Heartburn’, ‘Biloxi Blues’, Postcards from the Edge’ and ‘regarding Henry’ were just some of the films Nichols directed.
Nichols often worked with the same actors multiple times. Art Garfunkel, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Harrison Ford and Julia Roberts all made several films with the acclaimed director.
In 1988 he scored another hit with the romantic comedy ‘Working Girl’ which starred Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith alongside Joan Cusak and Sigourney Weaver. The film’s theme song ‘Let the Rivers Run’ performed by Carly Simon won the Academy Award for best song.
In 1998 Nichols brought the best selling novel ‘Primary Colors’ to the screen. The novel, which was originally published anonymously, was a roman à clef that shared the story of a presidential candidate. The novel was clearly a comment of the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. John Travolta took on the lead role of Jack Stanton, while Emma Thompson played his powerful wife.
Nichols’ last film was ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’, written by Aaron Sorkin the film starred Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Alongside his film work Nichols also has a strong of Broadway hits including ‘Barefoot in the Park’, ‘The Odd Couple’, the musical ‘Annie’, ‘Hurly Burly’, ‘Death and the Maiden’ and the musical ‘Spamalot’.
Mike Nichols passed away after suffering a heart attack at his New York apartment, he is survived by his fourth wife, newsreader Diane Sawyer. Nichols had three children from previous marriages.
OIP Staff
