Mike Nichols

Full Name: Mikhail Peschkowsky
Profession: Theater and Film Director

Nationality:

Biography: Nichols was a versatile entertainer, both o stage and behind the scenes. He is one of 17 people to have won all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT).

The Nichols family fled Germany in 1939 when Jews were being arrested. He grew up in New York City. He began his career in entertainment in the late 1950s with a Chicago improv group, and then as a duo with Elaine May. Nichols and May were a hit act on Broadway, and won a Grammy for Best Comedy album (1962).

Between 1963 and 2012 he won 8 Tony Awards for Best Director, mostly for Neil Simon comedies, but also for musicals such as "Annie"(1977) and "Monty Python's Spamalot" (2005), and dramas such as Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" (1984), and a revival of Arthurs Miller's "Death Of A Salesman" (2012) .

He began directing film at the invitation of Elizabeth Taylor with "Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolfe?" in 1966. He won an Oscar for directing the 1967 film "The Graduate", and went on to helm almost two dozen Hollywood features.

He twice won Emmy Awards for the HBO projects "Wit" (2001), with Emma Thompson, and for the mini-series adaptation of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" (2003).

PNichols was married four times, and thrice divorced.

Born: November 6, 1931
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany

Generation: Silent Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Goat/Sheep
Star Sign: Scorpio

Died: November 19, 2014 (aged 83)
Cause of Death: Cardiac arrest