By Susan King, Contact Reporter
Mike Nichols was a stranger in a strange land when he and his family fled Nazi Germany in 1939 and immigrated to New York. He was 7.
"When he came here, he only knew two lines of English: 'I don't speak English' and 'Please don't kiss me,'" said a good friend, producer Julian Schlossberg ("American Masters: Nichols & May: Take Two.")
Less than 20 years later, Nichols and improv partner Elaine May were changing the face of American comedy with their sharp, brilliant banter. As a director, he won numerous Tony Awards, including for Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park," "The Odd Couple" and "Plaza Suite," and the 2012 revival of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman."
He earned an Oscar nomination for his first feature, 1966's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and won the Academy Award for 1967's "The Graduate," which made a star of Dustin Hoffman.
Along the way, he directed such films as 1970's "Catch-22," 1971's "Carnal Knowledge," 1983's "Silkwood" and 1988's "Working Girl," plus the Emmy Award-winning 2003 HBO miniseries "Angels in America."
And now, 14 months after his death at age 83, this Renaissance man is the subject of a new documentary, "Mike Nichols: American Masters," which premieres Jan. 29 on PBS.
Directed by May, the documentary features a fun, revealing interview with Nichols from last decade conducted by Schlossberg, interviews the producer did with Nichols' friends and colleagues, including Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, Bob Balaban, Tom Hanks, Simon, Matthew Broderick and Hoffman, and clips from Nichols' film, theater and TV projects.
(A second Nichols documentary - "Becoming Mike Nichols" - premieres on HBO on Feb. 22.)