Mike Nichols

Director

November 6, 1931 (83 years)

† November 19, 2014

Berlin, Germany

Biography

Mike Nichols (born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was a German-born American film and theatre director, producer, actor and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of their acting experience. Nichols began his career in the 1950s with the comedy improvisational troupe, The Compass Players, predecessor of The Second City, in Chicago. He then teamed up with his improv par…

Filmography

6.8

Closer

The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.

7.6

The Graduate

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.

7.6

Angels in America

God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985: the Reagans are in the White House and Death swings the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Louis, his lover of four years, he's ill; Louis leaves but as disease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Louis. Joe Pitt, a Mormon Republican attorney, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the Justice Department. Pitt and Cohn are closeted: Pitt, out of shame and religious turmoil; Cohn, to preserve his power and access. Pitt's wife Harper is strung out on Valium, aching to escape a sexless marriage. An angel invites Prior to be a prophet in death.

7.1

The Birdcage

A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen partner agree to put up a false heterosexual front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's conservative parents.

6.6

Working Girl

When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she takes a risky chance to reclaim it by impersonating him and running the project from his position.

6.5

Charlie Wilson's War

A Texas congressman sets a series of events in motion when he conspires with a CIA operative to aid Afghan mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviets.

6.7

Catch-22

A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.

7.7

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.

6.6

Carnal Knowledge

Two lifelong friends navigate complex sexual encounters and emotional entanglements, wrestling with societal norms and personal desires.

6.1

Wolf

An aging publisher becomes a demon wolf and, with this newfound youthful vigor, fights to keep his job.

6.0

Heartburn

She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship heartburn, nothing will.

6.3

Primary Colors

In this adaptation of the best-selling roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, the young and gifted Henry Burton is tapped to oversee the presidential campaign of Governor Jack Stanton. Burton is pulled into the politician's colorful world and looks on as Stanton -- who has a wandering eye that could be his downfall -- contends with his ambitious wife, Susan, and an outspoken adviser, Richard Jemmons.

7.3

Wit

A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.

6.9

Silkwood

Like most of the people in her town, Karen Silkwood works at the local nuclear plant producing highly radioactive plutonium. Exposed one day to a lethal dose of radiation, Karen faces the blank walls of corporate indifference and denial. As her illness increases, her protest grows louder and she becomes an obvious danger to the powers that be.

6.5

Regarding Henry

After being shot, a lawyer loses his memory and must relearn speech and mobility, but he has a loving family to support him.

5.4

The Fortune

A couple of bumbling 1920s hustlers attempt to obtain the fortune of an heiress. Nothing will stop them, not even murder.

6.2

Biloxi Blues

A Jewish teenager sets three goals: lose his virginity, become a writer, and survive World War II.

6.6

Postcards from the Edge

A substance-addicted actress tries to look on the bright side even as she's forced to move back in with her mother to avoid unemployment.

5.4

What Planet Are You From?

A human-looking alien from a highly advanced but emotionless all-male society is sent to Earth to impregnate a woman and bring the child back to their planet. The alien ends up falling in love while a suspicious FAA agent tails him.

5.9

The Day of the Dolphin

A marine biologist teaches his dolphins to communicate in English but shady characters plan to kidnap the trained mammals for a more sinister purpose.