Mike Nichols was born in Germany and his family fled to America. He started his directing career in the theatre before moving into directing films and well as continuing to direct in the theatre. His second film was the very influential The Graduate and in this he was one of the first to use contemporary music as the sound track to the film. He was a good comedy director who also studied the intricacies of human behaviour and relationships. He started his career as an actor and had a successful double act with Elaine May. When that broke up he became a successful director of stage plays including several Neil Simon plays. His first film direction was an adaptation of the play Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It gained 6 Oscar nominations including Best Director. This was followed by the Graduate, which is made not least thanks to the Simon and Garfunkel sound track. This won him the Best Director Oscar. His next film was the adaptation of of Catch-22, the satirical novel of war. It was notable for the flying sequences. The Day Of The Dolphin was a Sci-Fi thriller. The Fortune was a return to black comedy set in the 1920's, though was not very successful at the box office. He went back to directing in the theatre, but came back with Silkwood as union activist in a nuclear plant who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. He again worked with Meryl Streep in Heartburn. Working Girl was a satire in big business in the 1980's and was a big success at the box office an won him a Best Director nomination. Postcards From The Edge is based on Carrie FIsher's autobiography. Wolf was a move into horror and was another film featuring Jack Nicholson, who appeared in several of his films. He returned to working with Elaine May who wrote the script for The Birdcage and Primary Colors. Primary Colors was his political satire. What Planet Are You From? was a return to science fiction. Closer was dark examination of disturbed relationships between two couples. His final film was Charlie Wilson's War which was another political satire.
