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Mike Nichols biography

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Mike Nichols in an American theater and film director, best known for his 1967 classic, The Graduate. He's won an Academy Award, as well as multiple Tony and Emmy Awards.


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Synopsis

Mike Nichols was born as Michael Igor Peschkowsky on November 6, 1931, and immigrated to the U.S. from Germany with his family at the age of 7. Nichols made his Broadway debut with Barefoot in the Park, which earned him his first Tony Award. His early films include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate,

for which he received an Academy Award for best director. In June 2012, Nichols accepted his sixth Tony Award—for best director of a play—for his work on the recent revival of Death of a Salesman, a play originally written by Arthur Miller.

Early Life

Mike Nichols was born as Michael Igor Peschkowsky on November 6, 1931, and immigrated to the U.S. from Germany with his family at the age of 7. Nichols studied acting under Lee Strasberg, and made his Broadway debut with Barefoot in the Park—for which he earned his first Tony Award. His first film was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? followed by The Graduate, for which he received an Academy Award for best director.

Director, Producer and Writer

Nichols has won a number of critical awards throughout his lifetime—for his work as a writer, producer and director—including two Tony Awards for best direction of a play in the 1960s, for Luv and The Odd Couple and Plaza Suite. In the 1970s, he won a Tony Award for directing The Prisoner of Second Avenue. Other Tonys for Nichols's directing came in 1984 and 2005, respectively, with The Real Thing and Spamalot.

In June 2012, Nichols accepted his sixth Tony Award—for best director of a play—for his work on the recent revival of Death of a Salesman, a play originally written by Arthur Miller in 1949. The play, a Broadway production, stars acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Personal Life

Nichols married ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer in April of 1988. Prior to his marriage with Sawyer, Nichols was married to Patricia Scott from 1957 to 1960; to Margo Callas, from 1963 to 1974; and to Annabel Davis-Goff, from 1975 to 1986. He has three children: Daisy (born in 1964), Max (born in 1974) and Jenny Nichols (born in 1977).

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