Life isn't everything

An intimate portrait of the legendary filmmaker, theater director, and comedian, as told by his closest friends in show business and the arts.
Featuring candid conversations from the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Lorne Michaels, and many more.

The work of Mike Nichols pervades American cultural consciousness: The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Angels in America, The Birdcage, Working Girl, and Primary Colors, not to mention his string of hit plays, including Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple. If that weren't enough, he was also one half of the timelessly funny duo Nichols & May, as well as a founding member of the original improv troupe. Over a career that spanned half a century, Mike Nichols changed Hollywood, Broadway, and comedy forever.


Most fans, however, know very little of the person behind it all. Since he never wrote his memoirs, they don't know that Nichols, the great American director, was born Mikail Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin and came to this country, speaking no English, to escape the Nazis. They don't know that he withdrew into a debilitating depression before he "finally got it right," in his words, by marrying Diane Sawyer. Here, for the first time, Ash Carter and Sam Kashner offer an up close and personal look behind the scenes of Nichols's life, as told by the stars, moguls, playwrights, producers, comics and crew members who knew and remember him for his uncommon charm, wit, vitality, and genius for friendship.

A People magazine Book of the Week
"A fascinating oral history of Nichols's career." —Brooke Allen, Wall Street Journal
"Some of the best writing about Hollywood." —John Simon, The New York Times Book Review