Remembering Mike Nichols 1931-2014

Written by Scott Orris

“The words are secondary and the secrets are primary. That’s what interests me most,” Nichols expressed in a 1965 interview (Weber Mike Nichols, "Urbane Director Loved By Crowds and Critics dies at 83").  This keen observation of the human condition sparked the career of the young stage director and led him to become one of the few people to win the Academy Award, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Awards.  With his death on November 19th, Nichols left an indelible legacy in directing some of the most important movies in the history of film.  Known more recently for films such as Charlie Wilson’s War (Nichols, 2007), The Closer (Nichols, 2004), and Wit (Nichols, 2001), Nichols explored the depths of human relationships and humor in his films, and stage productions for over fifty years.  But it was in directing movies such as The Graduate (Nichols, 1967), Carnal Knowledge (Nichols, 1971) and Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf  (Nichols, 1966) which he became most associated with as a director of coming of age stories within the context of the 1960’s. 

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Mike Nichols (right) with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft on the set of The Graduate

The Graduate has always been an important film in my life, but after graduating from Messiah in 2008 at the height of the recession, the film took on a new meaning.  In the midst of trying to figure out my future, I found myself heavily identifying with the Benjamin Braddock character, which Dustin Hoffman plays in the film.  Hoffman had not had a starring role in a film before, and it was Mike Nichols who gave him a chance for stardom.  In coming from the stage, Nichols had experience in how to relate to actors making two films and a television mini-series with Meryl Streep, and four films with Jack Nicholson.  In a Variety interview Streep spoke about the director, An inspiration and a joy to know, a director who cried when he laughed a friend with whom, well, we can't imagine our world, an indelible irreplaceable man (Lang, "Mike Nichols Remembered By Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks as ‘Irreplaceable Man’").  Mike Nichols was never considered an auteur like Hitchcock or a Martin Scorsese for that matter, but he will always remain the true epitome of an actor’s director.


Works Cited:

"The Graduate." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Lang, Brent. "Mike Nichols Remembered By Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks as 'Irreplaceable Man'"
    Variety. Variety, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

"Mike Nichols." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Weber, Bruce. "Mike Nichols, Urbane Director Loved by Crowds and Critics, Dies at 83."
    The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.