Mike Nichols, who directed such landmark films as “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “The Graduate” and who was among the few to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony, has died. He was 83.
Nichols’ representative, Leslee Dart, told the Los Angeles Times that Nichols suffered cardiac arrest at his home in New York Wednesday night.
Nichols, who was married to Diane Sawyer of ABC News, his fourth wife, won an Oscar as best director for “The Graduate” and multiple Tony and Emmy awards. He earned his eighth Tony two years ago for a revival of “Death of a Salesman.” He also received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in 2010.
His movie credits included, along with “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “The Graduate,” “Catch-22,” “Carnal Knowledge,” “Silkwood,” “Working Girl” and “The Birdcage.”
“This is a seismic loss,” director Steven Spielberg said in a statement. “Mike was a friend, a muse, a mentor, one of America’s all time greatest film and stage directors, and one of the most generous people I have ever known.”
A refugee from Nazi Germany, Nichols is survived by Sawyer, three children and four grandchildren. Funeral plans were not immediately announced.
