Mike Nichols: A Life

What is it about a man that entices me to read a book, a book about his life. Truthfully the comedy, the shocking insights, the gossip, the good stuff. All of it is here in this book written by Mark Harris. The author takes us to new ground, but he also explores the other stuff.A man who had always interested me is Mike Nichols. It was his romance and finally marriage to Diane Sawyer, that garnered attention. It seems the fourth time works, and they were married 26 years. This book written by Harris gives us the real deal, and Mike Nichol’s life comes to the fore in a manner that is fun to read about.As we learn, Mike, born of Polish parents, came to the US to escape Hitler. Mike lived a life of hardwork with his parents, attended a college that gave him a base for his career. While in college Mike met Elaine May. Elaine was a woman with great wit. She and Mike had a comic speil that was funny and attracted a lot of attention. Offers came in for both of them, and Mike found his niche in directing. 8 nominations for directing sold out Broadway shows, showed his true bailiwick..The book gives us big pieces of his life, the loss of his hair, eyelashes and eyebrows as a child resulted in terrible wigs and loss of self esteem. His addictions to cocaine and Halcion, his severe depression kept him in drug centers for months at a time. He married four times, his last marriage to Diane for 26 years. A man with many problems, some insights into his life but not enough to keep him out of the limelight. By the end of the book, I had garnered some of the flight of fancy. Mike Nichols kept to himself most of his life, and now we know a little bit more . A man to admire, with charisma to spare, who overcame many of his problems.Recommended. prisrob 02-02-2021

Still reading, and hate to finish. This is one of the finest biographies I’ve read. Interesting, concise, thorough, extremely engaging, intelligent, funny. It’s really an extraordinary tribute and summary to this great American life. I’m honestly sad about finishing it because it’s so enjoyable to hear from the people who worked with and knew Nichols, and himself. As well, the book itself is very well made — great design, illustrations, paper quality and typeface. It’s honestly one of the best made books I’ve ever seen — I think Penguin realized this would be the authoritative document on Nichols life and they wanted it to be something special, and it is. Mark Harris is an exceptional biographer; his insight, taste, investigative abilities, and writing are so enjoyable to read. He narrates the life elegantly and has carefully selected stories and details that present Nichols and his world without extraneous opinionating or gossip -- except what's relevant. The overall approach creates a focused, sophisticated atmosphere that makes one feel what it must have been like to be in Nichols' orbit. This makes a good complement to "Life Isn't Everything," a collection of stories and recollections from Nichols' friends that came out a few years ago.UPDATE:Sadly, I finished this book -- sadly, because I did not want it to end. I cried when it was over. This was really one of the most wonderful experiences I ever had reading a biography. Because many of the participants are still with us -- Streep, Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks etc -- the loss of Nichols from among them, among us, is so much sadder. We really realize that Mike Nichols made a lot of the cultural history of the second half of the twentieth century and set the twenty-first on a good path -- he advised and mentored Lin-Manuel Miranda at some point. So the loss of someone like this is so hard -- will we ever see such intelligence, insight, love of performers, talent, wit, sophistication again? I feel the loss of Nichols so much more after finishing this wonderful biography. Anyone who's interested in film, theater or the arts at all should read this, and wish they had met this amazing guy.

This is one of the best biographies of a contemporary artist in recent years, certainly the best since John Lahr's Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh about Tennessee Williams. The book covers both Nichols' private life and public work, with an emphasis on his work, a choice I always prefer. While Harris clearly admired Nichols, the book is quite candid regarding Nichols drug use, failed marriages and health issues. I did not think the book was gossipy, although it seemed as if everyone Nichols knew after he and Elaine May became rich and famous in their 20s, was a celebrity. In spite of that, people come across as real, not a minor achievement on the author's part. Mark Harris has become a favorite author of mine. This is his third terrific book. He previously wrote Pictures at a Revolution, about the best picture nominees of 1968 (one of which was The Graduate) and Five Came Back, about five film directors whose careers were altered by WWII. Highly recommended. If you are like me, you will likely find the chapters focusing on the movies and the life on the set of films like The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Catch 22 to be the strongest, but the rest of the book is terrific. I was surprised to realize he did more on Broadway than in Hollywood, but those sections also are quite good as well, even if they may not be as familiar. When the book talks about the Nichols' direction of Neil Simon plays, or The Death of a Salesman or Angels in America, the works are familiar enough for most to follow.

This is a well-written, insightful and funny biography of Mike Nichols, and, incidentally, almost a manual of tips for directing theatrical productions, stage comedies and for directing movies. Mike Nichols presented a prepared persona to the world from boyhood onward, and this adroit analysis uncovers much of his charming performance of life.

Mark Harris's thoroughly well researched tome on Mike Nichols is a must for any fan of the director's work. It sets out in chronological order every one of Nichols's stage, film and TV productions and performances and successfully gets under the skin of what made the man so accomplished. Through extensive interviews with his many collaborators it also reveals much about his life and personality and what made Nichols so driven. Harris, who knew Nichols, clearly has great affection for his subject whilst being realistic about his faults and occasional lapses. The book inspired me to revisit his best films and to seek out the classic Mike Nichols & Elaine May comedy sketches. Recommended

Written in a wonderfully fluid style, hugely entertaining and informative, this long bio is successfully riddled with anecdotes and comments from those who knew and worked with Mike Nichols. Despite being one of the greatest talents of his age in theatre and cinema, he had his share of turkeys and lean times. However, 60 years later I can still recite the tracks from “Mike Nichols and Elaine May at Home”, and of course there were the ground-breaking Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Catch 22, and so much besides. This is a highly recommended book.

Mark Harris has written a wonderful, juicy, fact-filled biography of one of the 20th Centuries most iconic directors. It is a book that is broken down into two-year bites so that one can dip in for a few anecdotes and theatre history and then return before boredom sets in.Most interesting to me was when Harris pulled the curtain back to show the indecisions, the process and the stumbling that even the best artists have.Anyone who loved Nichol's work will find this an indispensable read.

This was a fab bio of a very - interesting man. Very gossipy & filled with details of his life, I did not know. I would recommend it 2 theater lovers, movie fans & anyone who wants 2 read about a life well - lived.