The Graduate director Mike Nichols dies, aged 83

[ntscuser]

Director Mike Nichols has died at the age of 83.



Nichols won the Best Director Oscar for his 1967 comedy drama The Graduate, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.

A note from president of ABC News James Goldston to staff confirmed that Nichols, the husband of former ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer, died suddenly on Wednesday evening (November 19).

"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 The Graduate, Working Girl, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf to Closer, Charlie Wilson's War, Annie, Spamalot, The Birdcage, and Angels in America," Goldston said.

"He was a true visionary, winning the highest honors in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic and was one of a tiny few to win the EGOT - an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony."

He added: "Mike had a sparkling wit and a brilliant mind. Beloved by so many in film, television and Broadway, there was no greater joy in his life than his family, and of course our own Diane Sawyer."

Nichols was born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky in Germany in 1931, moving to the US with his younger brother Robert in 1938 to escape the Nazis.

He met up with his father, who had fled earlier, and their mother joined them via Italy in 1940. Nichols became a US citizen in 1944.

Nichols had a career in improvisation, comedy and theatre before becoming a filmmaker.

His directorial debut was 1966's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis.

The film picked up 13 Academy Award nominations, including nods for Best Picture and Best Director.

His films ranged from a 1970 adaptation of Joseph Heller's war satire Catch-22 and 1988 romantic comedy drama Working Girl to the political Primary Colours in 1998 and 2004's award-winning Closer.

Nichols had been married to Sawyer for the past 26 years.

The director has three children from previous relationships, Daisy, Max and Jenny, and four grandchildren.