NEW YORK (AP) – Mike Nichols was a master of self-satire, a man of wealth and education and connections for whom his best targets were those of wealth, education and connections, from the vapid Californians of “The Graduate” to the military brass of “Catch-22.” Here are highlights from the long film career of Nichols, who died Wednesday at age 83:
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966) – Nichols was already a top stage director when he made a spectacular film debut by adapting Edward Albee’s play about the bickering, self-loathing spouses George (a history professor) and Martha (daughter of the college president). Filmed in claustrophobic black and white, winner of five Academy Awards, it featured the world’s most glamorous couple, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, very unglamorous and almost unrecognizable – he in glasses and an old sweater, she in a knotty wig and dull, unflattering dresses and blouses. The film was highly profane and sexually explicit for its time, and was among the first releases that barred attendees under 18 who were unaccompanied by an adult.
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“The Graduate” (1967) – The movie which brought Nichols his lone directing Oscar, a touchstone for the 1960s that somehow never mentioned Vietnam, civil rights or any issues beyond a general scorn for money, authority and Southern California. “The Graduate” starred Dustin Hoffman, in his breakthrough role, as the aimless, awkward Benjamin Braddock and his disastrous affair with family friend Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). Many who saw it once, saw it again, and again, and savored the jump-cuts, the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack and such catchphrases as “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”, spoken by Hoffman, who (in an iconic shot) appears in the back of the frame, dwarfed by the looming close-up of Bancroft’s bent, exposed leg.
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