mike nichols

Born Michael Peschkowsky, has made uncommon career by consistently producing very smart pieces of work that are, at the same time, completely accessible to mainstream audiences. After a brief but celebrated career in acting, Nichols began to direct plays in 1963, putting out a number of hits including Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Odd Couple." It was sensible, then, that Nichols would make the switch to movies by adapting a play for film with Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" It paid off. The film was nominated for an astonishing 13 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress. Nichols hit gold again with his next film, 1967's "The Graduate," starring the then-unknown Dustin Hoffman in the lead role.

He followed these up with yet more acclaimed and landmark hits "Catch-22" and "Carnal Knowledge," but by the late 1970s his career took a pretty serious nosedive, and eventually retired from movies for 8 years before making his return in 1983 with "Silkwood," the film that would revive his career and would be nominated for 5 Oscars. He has continued putting out hits ever since, including such great outings as "Biloxi Blues," "Working Girl," "Cage Aux Folles (The Birdcage)" starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, and the highly controversial and popular "Primary Colours." Not surprisingly, Nichols' most recent outing, "Closer," has garnered Golden Globe nominations for stars Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.

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