Mike Nichols, director of The Graduate, dies aged 83
Mike Nichols won an Academy Award for iconic film The Graduate and swept board of awards
Mike Nichols
1931-2014
Mike Nichols, the legendary film and theatre director who won an Oscar for the classic American movie , has died aged 83.
ABC television said Nichols died of cardiac arrest late on Wednesday.
Nichols was one of the rare figures in American entertainment who earned an "EGOT" - having been awarded at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. He was part of US entertainment royalty, being married for many years to celebrated ABC television news presenter Diane Sawyer.
Sawyer's employer confirmed Nichols' death in a statement yesterday that eulogised him as a directing genius with a "sparkling wit and a brilliant mind".
"In a triumphant career that spanned over six decades, Mike created some of the most iconic works of American film, television and theatre - an astonishing canon ranging from , , and ," among many other works.
"He was a true visionary, winning the highest honours in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic," said James Goldston, president of ABC News.
The son of a Russian doctor who escaped to Berlin, Germany, after the Russian revolution, Nichols started life as Michael Igor Peschkowsky. His family was forced to flee Germany for the United States to escape Nazism in 1939, and settled in New York City when he was just seven years old, wrote.
An early life of hardship, his father died when he was just 12, led Nichols to seek solace in cinemas and to pursue a career in the world of entertainment, eventually becoming one of its leading visionaries.
The ABC News statement quoted playwright Tom Stoppard, a close associate of Nichols, who lavished praise on the late director.
"He is a giver. He's good at comfort and joy. He's good at improving the shining hour and brightening the dark one, and, of course, he's superlative fun," the dramatist said. "To me he is the best of America."
It also quoted long-time Nichols collaborator Meryl Streep, who was equally passionate about her experience working with him.
"She once said of Mike, 'no explanation of our world could be complete and no account or image of it so rich, if we didn't have you', in hailing him as one of the essential artists of our time," Goldston said.
Nichols is survived by three children and four grandchildren.
