Trivia

He and his younger brother, Robert, fled Berlin, Nazi Germany for the USA in April 1939 due to increasing Nazi atrocities. Their father had already relocated there some years back. The young boys arrived on April 28, 1939 in New York City, where their father, now known as Paul Nichols, had set up a medical practice and become a successful medical practitioner. The boys' mother was reunited with her family the following year in 1940.

According to Jack Nicholson's April 1972 Playboy Magazine interview, Nichols asked Nicholson and other cast members not to smoke marijuana while filming Carnal Knowledge (1971) on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, where cannabis was easily available. Nichols thought that it dulled an actor's performance.

Ninth person and sixth man to receive the status of EGOT. The other recipients are Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin, Robert Lopez, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, John Legend, Alan Menken, Jennifer Hudson,Viola Davis and Elton John.

While paying tribute to Nichols during his 2003 Kennedy Center Honors, Meryl Streep and Candace Bergen read Nichols' "Five Rules for Filmmaking": 1: The careful application of terror is an important form of communication. 2: Anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for. 3: There's absolutely no substitute for genuine lack of preparation. 4: If you think there's good in everybody, you haven't met everybody. 5: Friends may come and go, but enemies will certainly become studio heads.

Directed 17 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Elizabeth Taylor, Sandy Dennis, Richard Burton, George Segal, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep,Cher, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack, Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Taylor and Dennis won Oscars for their performances in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).).

Received the first straight $1,000,000 director's salary for Catch-22 (1970). When percentages were figured in, Nichols was the first director to earn $1,000,000, combination salary and percentage of net or gross, from a single film, for The Graduate (1967).

Was one of 10 directors to have won the Golden Globe, Director's Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie, all for The Graduate (1967). The other directors to have achieved this are Milos Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Oliver Stone for Platoon (1986), Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List (1993), Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018), Alejandro G. Iñárritu for The Revenant (2015), and Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water (2017).

In April 2009, Nichols told The New York Times that when he came to the U.S. from Germany seventy years earlier, he could speak only two English sentences, which were, "I do not speak English" and "Please, do not kiss me".

In an interview conducted shortly before his death, he admitted that he considered his adaptation of Angels in America (2003) to be the crowning achievement of his career.

Was interested in directing First Blood (1982) with Dustin Hoffman as John Rambo.

In Berlin, Germany (from whence the family later fled due to the rise of Nazism), Nichols' father was part of a young intellectual circle that included Russian immigrants such as Vladimir Nabokov's sister and Boris Pasternak's parents.

He considered Diane Sawyer to be the love of his life.

Richard Burton, who in his private diaries is frequently scathing about colleagues, writes glowingly about Nichols. Professionally, he believed Nichols was one of only three directors who brought out "something in me as an actor which I didn't know was there", and, on a personal level, thought Nichols and Noël Coward were the only "men of talent" whose company he actually enjoyed ("instinctively and without effort and unmaliciously witty").

Nichols was the original choice to direct the 1976 film The Last Tycoon (1976). He left the project due to creative differences with actor Robert De Niro.

Lost much of his body hair in his early teen years due to a bad batch of whooping cough vaccine.

Father of Daisy Nichols (born in 1964), Max Nichols (born in 1974) and Jenny Nichols (born in 1977).

One of 5 recipients of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors; other recipients were James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn and Itzhak Perlman.

From the early 1960s until his death, he was a well-known figure among Arabian Horse fans - as a breeder of over 400 registered Arabians, including owning and breeding many US National Champion horses.

On Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates Jr. (2010), Nichols learned he was a distant relative of actor Meryl Streep. A few years later on a different Gates show, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012), he also found out that he was related to Albert Einstein. They would have been 3rd or 4th cousins several times removed.

Taught occasionally at The New Actor's Workship in New York City.

Formed a comedy team with Elaine May, appearing in nightclubs, on radio and television and most notably at President Jimmy Carter's inauguration gala.

Worked at the Howard Johnson's restaurant in New York's Times Square when he was 17 years old.

Had cardiac bypass surgery in New York in 2008, from which he appeared to recover fully.

Attended the University of Chicago where he became close friends with fellow student Susan Sontag (then Susan Rosenblatt).

Six of his nine Tony Awards were for Best Direction of a Play, a record. He won for "Barefoot in the Park" (1964); "Luv and The Odd Couple" (1965); "Plaza Suite" (1968); "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" (1972); "The Real Thing" (1984); and "Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman" (2012). He also won once for Best Direction of a Musical, "Monty Python's Spamalot" (2005); and twice for producing, "Annie" (1977) and "The Real Thing" (1984). He was also nominated seven additional times for Direction of a Play or Direction of a Musical: musical "The Apple Tree" (1967); "Uncle Vanya" (1974); "Comedians" (1977); "Streamers" (1977); "The Gin Game" (1978, also as producer); and further as producer of "The Play What I Wrote" (2003) and "Whoopi, The 20th Anniversary Show (2005, Special Theatrical Events).

Presented both Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep their AFI Life Achievement Awards.

His father's family had been wealthy and lived in Siberia, leaving after the Russian Revolution, and settling in Germany, around 1920.

He suffered from Alopecia Universalis, a condition which results in the loss of all hair on the head and body, from the age of four due to a bad allergic reaction to a whooping cough vaccine. He then wore wigs and false eyebrows for the rest of his life.

Two of his films are on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All time. They are Working Girl (1988) at #87 and Silkwood (1983) at #66.

Recipient of the Producers Guild of America's Visionary Award.

His favorite films included A Place in the Sun (1951), Persona (1966) and 8½ (1963).

Won more Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Play than any other individual. His won for "Barefoot in the Park" (1964); "Luv and The Odd Couple" (1965); "Plaza Suite" (1968); "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" (1972); "The Real Thing" (1984); and "Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman" (2012). He also won best direction of a musical for "Monty Python's Spamalot" (2005); and as producer for "Annie" (1977) and "The Real Thing" (1984).

Director of hit Broadway musical 'Monty Python's Spamalot' ("lovingly ripped off from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).") (February 2005)

He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 2001 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.

His parents, his mother, Brigitte (née Landauer) Peschkowsky, was a housewife and his father, Pavel Peschkowsky (A.K.A. Dr. Igor Paul Nichols), was a physician.

Although he was born in Berlin in 1931 and lived there until April of 1939, he was never a German citizen, something he and his brother did not discover until well into adult life. Their father was a Russian who relocated to Germany and their mother was Austrian. They were never granted German citizenship, and were classed by the authorities as Russian.

Father-in-law of ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols.

One of the Directors Guild of America's annual Honorees in 2000.

He has directed two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Graduate (1967). He has also appeared in one film that is in the registry: King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1969).

He was nominated for a 1978 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Director of a Play for "The Gin Game" on Broadway in New York City.

Like Steve Martin, Paul Simon, and Lorne Michaels, Nichols has had his portrait painted by Eric Fischl.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 704-710. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

When he won his Oscar as Best Director for The Graduate (1967), the statuette was presented to him by actress Leslie Caron.

Was a member of the Democratic Party.

His mother, Brigitte Peschkowsky, died on January 10, 1985. She lived to be 78.

He was nominated for a 1977 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Director of a Play for "Streamers" on Broadway in New York City.

Directed four Emmy Award-winning performances: Jeffrey Wright, Mary-Louise Parker, Al Pacino and Meryl Streep in Angels in America (2003).

Decades before his death, he had reconciled with Elaine May and had worked on many projects together.

Directed three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Graduate (1967) and Working Girl (1988). He was also nominated for Best Director for each film, winning for The Graduate (1967).

His parents, Brigitte and Pavel Peschkowsky (A.K.A. Dr. Igor Paul Nichols) had been married in 1925, the couple would have Mike, almost 7 years later.