Quotes by Mike Nichols

About Mike Nichols:

Mike Nichols was a German-born American film and theatre director, producer, actor and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s with the improv troupe The Compass Players, predecessor of the Second City in Chicago, and as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. May was also in the Compass. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate. His other films include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, Silkwood, Working Girl, The Birdcage, Closer, Charlie Wilson's War (his final picture), and the TV mini-series Angels in America. He also staged the original theatrical productions of The Apple Tree, Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple and Spamalot.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures, and only you know the film you see in your head.

Mike Nichols

Clay Aiken is amazing beyond that glorious voice. Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character.

Mike Nichols

I asked a shrink: 'Everything is so great. Why am I still so angry?' He said, 'Anger doesn't go away.' I always thought it was kind of a good engine.

Mike Nichols

All movies are pure process. A commercial movie isn't less process than an art movie. You can't make your decisions about a film on the basis of, 'Is it important enough? Is it serious enough?' It's either alive or it's not for me. If it's alive, I w...

Mike Nichols

I was standing right behind Marilyn, completely invisible, when she sang 'Happy birthday, Mr. President.' And indeed, the corny thing happened: Her dress split for my benefit, and there was Marilyn, and yes, indeed, she didn't wear any underwear.

Mike Nichols

I've learned that many of the worst things lead to the best things, that no great thing is achieved without a couple of bad, bad things on the way to them, and that the bad things that happen to you bring, in some cases, the good things.

Mike Nichols

Directing is mystifying. It's a long, long, skid on an icy road, and you do the best you can trying to stay on the road... If you're still here when you come out of the spin, it's a relief. But you've got to have the terror if you're going to do anyt...

Mike Nichols

It's not a film-maker's job to explain his technique, but to tell his story the best way he can.

Mike Nichols

Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth.

Mike Nichols

Nerves provide me with energy... It's when I don't have them, when I feel at ease, that's when I get worried.

Mike Nichols

The degree to which you're peculiar and different is the degree to which you must learn to hear people thinking. Just in self-defense you have to learn, where is their kindness? Where is their danger? Where is their generosity?

Mike Nichols

In a weird way, when I was looking back, I didn't know I was going to be a director until I was.

Mike Nichols

Limitations are inspiring: they lead to thinking, so I don't mind them.

Mike Nichols

There's nothing in the American dream about character. It's a serious flaw.

Mike Nichols

If you lose a parent, it never goes away. As a kid, I dreamed about my father coming back for 15 or 20 years. I still do sometimes.

Mike Nichols

I had a high school girlfriend whose mother gave us theater tickets, so I saw the second night performance of 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' My girl and I could not get up during intermission, we were so stunned. To this day it's the only thing I've see...

Mike Nichols

Chicago is not a very fashion-driven place. Nobody says, 'Oh, you've got to come see these fabulous people!' Nobody cares.

Mike Nichols

I keep coming back to it, over and over - adultery and cheating. It's the most interesting problem in the theater. How else do you get Oedipus? That's the first cheating in the theater.

Mike Nichols

The thing about being an outsider... is that it teaches you to hear what people are thinking because you're constantly looking for the people who just don't give a damn.

Mike Nichols

I think that to make something alive, instead of on a page, is an honorable task. And it turns me on.

Mike Nichols

Author Bio

  • NameMike Nichols
  • DescriptionGerman-American television, director, writer, producer and comedian
  • AliasesMikhail Igorevich Peschkowsky
  • BornNovember 6, 1931
  • DiedNovember 19, 2014
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionFilm Director; Screenwriter; Film Producer; Actor
  • AwardsAcademy Award For Best Director; National Medal Of Arts; Primetime Emmy Award; Directors Guild Of America Award