It’s with a heavy heart that we bring you the news that Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols — the creative mind behind The Graduate, Closer, Who Killed Virginia Woolf and more — has passed away. He was 86.
According to a statement released by his family, the Germany-born filmmaker died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday evening. He is survived by his wife, Diane Sawyer along with three children, Daisy, Max and Jenny.
ABC News first picked up the tragic news, and James Goldston — president of the channel — shared the following heartfelt message, which signals out Nichols as one of the best.
“I am writing with the very sad news that Diane’s husband, the incomparable Mike Nichols, passed away suddenly on Wednesday evening. In a triumphant career that spanned over six decades, Mike created some of the most iconic works of American film, television and theater—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.”
Having worked between film and broadway, Nicholas was one of the few people to be awarded with an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy — a feat that has only been accomplished by twelve individuals. His final film, Charlie Wilson’s War, was released back in 2007 and united an ensemble cast that included the likes of Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Amy Adams and the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Nichols will perhaps be best remembered for his work on The Graduate back in 1967, which bagged the director an Oscar win. But still, in a career that spanned other memorable films such as The Birdcage, Annie and Angels in America, the esteemed director has no doubt left his mark on moviegoers over the last five decades.
Our thoughts go out to Nichols’ family at this time.
