Well this is certainly unexpected, ABC has broken the news that Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning director Mike Nichols passed away suddenly on Wednesday at the age of 83. He is survived by his wife, ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer and his three children — Daisy, Max and Jenny — and four grandchildren.
I’m not personally familiar with his stage work, which earned him eight Tony awards including his most recent two years ago for his revival of “Death of a Salesman” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield, but I am incredibly familiar with his incredible filmography, which includes The Graduate, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Carnal Knowledge, Working Girl, The Birdcage and Closer.
Nichols’ work will live on to only become more and more appreciated through the years as more and more people find his marvelous ability to mix serious drama with biting, satirical comedy. Let me just leave you with this following clip from Carnal Knowledge, which is probably my personal favorite from Nichols’ filmography, though there are still a few admitted omissions.
