Mike Nichols, one of the world’s premiere film, theater, and television director/producers, died Wednesday evening at the age of 83.
The death was confirmed by ABC News President James Goldston.
Nichols had a rare show business career that spanned 50 years, wherein he won the even more rare “EGOT” (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards, in one lifetime).
Actually, there were four Emmys, one Grammy, one Oscar, nine Tonys, and an assortment of other prizes and recognition, not to mention great wealth.
He bred horses, had four wives, divorced three of them, and stuck with the final one—the renowned ABC News anchorwoman Diane Sawyer.
Born on Nov. 6, 1931, in Berlin, he and his family dodged Hitler in ‘39. He was seven years old.
Nichols was a performer and a comedian in his early years, studying method acting with the great Lee Strasberg in New York.
Thereafter he teamed up with University of Chicago classmate Elaine May to become the comedy duo “Nichols and May.” They started working together in the Compass Players, which years later became the primary SNL-feeder source, Second City.
